meyerc13

An interesting question to ponder, when is it not hunting season? In Wisconsin, when you consider the various seasons for different types of animal, it is always hunting season. The one season that stretches throughout the spring and summer in Wisconsin is Coyote, it's a continuous open season on coyote. Just because it isn't Deer season with hundreds of thousands of people out in the woods with guns, there is still a chance you can get shot even with a small number of hunters out there. I think it is in your best interest to wear bright clothes when out in the woods, just in case there is

"Overnight camping by Tiger Cub, Wolf, and Bear Cub Scout dens as dens is not approved, and certificates of liability insurance will not be provided by the Boy Scouts of America." (Source: http://www.scouting.org/scoutsource/HealthandSafety/GSS/gss03.aspx) BALOO is absolutely required for Pack Overnighters, as you quoted (repeating with emphasis for my next point: "At least one adult on a pack overnighter must have completed Basic Adult Leader Outdoor Orientation (BALOO, No. 34162) to properly understand the importance of program intent, Youth Protection policies, health and safety, sit

Hmmm, the plot thickens. So you aren't the den leader, but would like to be. Talk to your Cubmaster and Pack Committee Chair. Rarely do we have someone step up who wants to lead a den. I'm sure they will welcome you with open arms. The question is, will the current Den Leader and Assistant want to step down or move to a different position? If they want to stay involved with their sons' den, they may not want to step aside to let you in as a registered Den Leader. As a general rule, I don't recommend a hostile takeover in Cub Scouts. We're all supposed to be having fun, right? Paren

Hello NKaye, and welcome to the forum! I'm just wrapping up my term as Cubmaster, and also have been working with a Bear den this year. I'm going to answer your questions out of order. How long does it take for Bear? Well, this den is going to be cutting it close. I think the main reason is the material in the Bear rank. Take Bear Necessities - it combines camping, a campfire show, cooking, and weather all into one adventure. Compare that to Webelos, where Camping and Cooking requirements are split between two adventures. Same thing with Fur, Feathers, and Ferns - it combines bo

This is Cub Scouts, where we "Do our best," so you can count it, but the question is should you count it? The old Tiger Cub program had five 'Go See It' requirements. The new advancement program has five required adventures, a Duty to God required adventure, and an elective. Most adventures have an outing as one component. So it seems to me that the smart folks who put together this new program for us wanted us to get the boys out and exploring at least 6 times per year (the Duty to God adventures are recommended for a boy to work on with his family). If all we do is sit in a classroom, t

One of the most interesting courses I took in my professional career is Situational Leadership. I learned a lot about myself and a lot about leadership in that course. In a nutshell, there are several types of leadership style - from close to micro-managing to an almost completely hands-off approach. Which style you need to use varies by the person and the situation. For example, a new hire may need very specific directions, and lots of guidance. On the other hand, if you try to give an expert on a topic step by step directions on how he needs to get the work done, he's likely to hate it.

An Eagle should be a leader - no question about it. Why do you think we have boys lead a service project? It isn't because we need more service projects - we all should be doing those whether we have Eagle candidates in our units or not. It's a test. Really it's the final exam. If the boy can lead the project, he is ready to be an Eagle. If he can't lead the project, then he shouldn't advance until he can. One thing I really hate is all the focus on what was built for an Eagle project. My feeling is that it doesn't matter what was created or done. When I ask an Eagle about his service

I think Venividi sums up my feelings on the matter quite well - the only thing I would add is that an Eagle is a Scout - a Leader who is Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful and all the rest of the things in the Law, Oath, Motto, and Slogan. I expect all Scouts to be what we promise in the Oath, Law, Motto, and Slogan, but by the time they have reached Eagle they need to be a natural leader as well (whereas we expect younger Scouts to demonstrate leadership qualities, by the time they reach Eagle there should be no doubt that they'll take charge if left alone in a room with a bunch of younger kids), a

My daughter became a Brownie this year. I learned two things about the cookie sale. 1.) They sell themselves, pretty much every house will buy at least one box. 2.) The unit gets very little from the sale of each box (like 5-6% compared to our Boy Scout Council giving us 35-40% back on popcorn sales). I completely agree selling popcorn is hard, my son was a top seller in our District and we found that on average he had to knock on 10 doors to get 1 sale. However, that one sale brought $4-$8 back to the unit. Contrast that with the Girl Scouts, my daughter might get 10 sales but onl

Our Council had a Friends of Scouting video they put together this year, and I kid you not, this is a quote from an Eagle Scout Camp Staff member they interviewed during part of it: They put that in there right alongside all of the good stuff that Scouting does. When I heard that the first time it was quite the facepalm moment. I still cringed every time I was in front of an audience playing that video for them. That's about 10 seconds of an interview that should have been left on the editing floor, albeit it is too true. Somehow, "Join Scouting and learn to do paperwork" isn't a big

Wow, what a messed up situation. OP, I really hope that after some time to let emotions settle that you reconsider your last two sentences. Scouting can't be all things to all people all of the time, and there are definitely times where I strongly disagree with some policy or action of the BSA, the Council, or even my unit. However, I know that there is a lot of value in our program overall, and the good far outweighs the bad. I volunteer as a Roundtable Commissioner, and not to defend what happened with the Unit Commissioner, but the sad truth is that in many Councils, there is a disti

Hi Samantha! First off, thanks for volunteering. It sounds like your Pack should be in good hands. Chisos is absolutely right, to expand on it, here's an article I wrote last year on this topic:

I work in information security for a Fortune 25 company. To be fair, information technology changes much more rapidly than fire building technique or proper knife/axe safety. So I can almost understand needing to 'recharge' the Cyberchip. That is, if they actually changed the material regularly, which I'm not sure they do.

Then I think we should ban anything involving the ground. Because I think the problem isn't so much with the slide as the surface underneath the slide. Also, when did it stop being common sense that if you dive headfirst into the GROUND, that you could end up with head or neck injuries? Thank goodness we have the government to warn us of the dangers.

I first heard of this last summer at Webelos Resident Camp. The Camp Ranger is a Cast Iron collector, and teaches a Cast Iron Cooking class to the adults while the boys are working on their adventure pins. He mentioned that he makes his own 'pucks' out of a mixture of beeswax and Crisco. He said if you don't want to make them yourselves, you can buy the 'Crisbee puck' but warned that they are pricey (but do work quite well). I haven't tried using this yet, but have a couple of pieces that I need to strip and reseason and might give this a try.

I read this before other replies, and wanted to say much he same thing as Stosh but held back wondering if I was being too cynical. I think it is great what the Scout did, but I'd hope that every Scout would do that. I try to use situations like this as teaching opportunities for my son and daughter. While out selling popcorn one day, my son and I found a wallet on the ground. There was nothing in it, no money or ID. Yet, when we were done selling we drove down to the police station and turned it in. I doubt anyone ever went there looking for it, but still it felt like the right thing to

The thing that amazes me, and this applies at the Council level as well as National, is that non-profits such as the BSA seem to be oblivious to their volunteers' day jobs. I am sure there are top notch web designers, database admins, programmers, graphic designers, etc. who volunteer large portions of their lives to the BSA. Yet how often do organizations such as the BSA allow their volunteers to share their professional skills? If you are a carpenter, electrician, or plumber the BSA is happy to have you come and fix up their camps... but outside of those trades I don't think I've ever

When I was old enough to get a paying job, instead of working at summer camp I decided to work in the office for the factory where my dad worked (he was a die caster out on the shop floor). Fast forward to late July, and the company had to save money so laid off the summer help. I found myself with 1/3 of my summer and no job. Boy Scout camp was almost wrapped up, but after the Boy Scouts left they ran three weeks of Cub Scout Day Camp. I did that for two summers and loved it. Absolutely one of the best jobs I've ever had. Spending three weeks at a place I loved, with an interesting grou

I've heard of some Districts and Councils doing it this way, but I don't agree that IOLS covers everything that a good BALOO program covers. BALOO in our Council focuses heavily on planning a Cub Scout campout (including outdoor games, nature hikes, etc.), differences in gear (Boy Scout camping gear suggestions are different than Cub Scout camping because the level of intensity is different), planning a campfire program, and other useful things such as alternate methods of cooking (reflector ovens, foil packet meals, etc.). It's a lot more about how to make the campout Fun, than it is about

As mentioned above, it isn't necessarily a rule, but it is strong enough guidance that they put it down on paper. However, as seen in this thread, I suspect many Scout leaders may not be aware of it. If this is a concern to you, the best thing you can do is bring a copy of this to the unit leader and ask him/her if that is how the Troop handles tenting arrangements. As others have stated, boys tend to bunk with their friends, generally of a similar age, so it usually works itself out. In those cases where assignments need to be made, by bringing this to the leader's attention, I suspect

Noe sure when it was added, I noticed it about a year ago when we were planning our Pack's first Pack Overnighters. One of the moms didn't want to come, but wanted to know if her son could come. In short, by my reading of the rules the answer was "Yes, but he can't sleep in a tent with any other adult who isn't a relative or guardian, but could sleep in a tent with another boy, as long as the boy isn't more than two years older, and he'd have to be under the responsibility of an assigned adult while on the Pack Overnighter, which per the aforementioned rules would not necessarily include sle

It sounds like you are the best recruiter for a Tiger Den Leader that a Pack could hope to find. You had fun as a Den Leader, and have been using the Leader Guides, so you can pass along hints and tips to the new Leader(s) you recruit. Looking at your plan, I can't find much to add. We recruit in both the spring and the fall, but if you are going to recruit in the Spring I'd say it is important to have at least one activity per month scheduled to keep new recruits interested and engaged. It doesn't have to be much, maybe marching in a parade, a picnic, a trip to the ball park or the rac

I am a computer guy, and I also find it very confusing. This morning, from two different browsers the navigation menu for "I am a... Youth, Parent, Volunteer, Alumni, Visitor" isn't working for me. Who knows if it is my computer or the site. I don't even want to take the time to figure it out, because I can just use Google to find what I need faster.

Am I the only one who finds the Scouting.org site to be worse and worse every time I visit? I just got a BeAScout contact from a parent who is confused because her son will be in the 1st grade in the fall, but will only be six years old at the time. Not understanding why this should be a problem, I checked the FAQ on Scouting.org and found this: Now I can see why she was confused, because when I read that, it seems to me like they are saying that Scouting is for 7 to 10 year olds. I'm sure that the official policy (which I couldn't find on the site) is something like "Boys who are

Perdidochas asks a good question, but I will add that even if you have outdoor experience, was it as a Boy Scout or outside of Scouting? I was a Boy Scout, and did a lot of family camping growing up. A few years back, my family started camping again and we've camped with some friends who were never Scouts. I've witnessed some things that made me cringe. For example... starting a fire. As a Scout, you get your tinder, kindling, etc. and start small. As a non-Scout, apparently the method is take the biggest log you can find, and get out the blowtorch. Another example, saw a Webelos