yknot

Bear behavior during the supposedly dormant months doesn't have much to do with locale but rather other factors such as ambient temperatures and the health of the bear. Black bears are not true hibernators but enter a state of torpor from which they can readily awaken. A January thaw, ill health, or stimulation can entice many bears to wake up randomly and seek food. We all have that image in our head of bears snug in a deep cave during winter months but in reality a black bear den can simply be a depression under a fallen log or thicket. Even slight human activity in the immediate vicinity c

Also worth considering is that black bear populations have increased dramatically over the past couple decades especially in the east so what has worked in the past may not continue to work as bears get more habituated to humans and smarter about accessing food. We live in bear territory and supposedly bear proof measures for trash or livestock often don't work. Bears are one of the reasons why I would like to see some of the emphasis on cooking and food lessen in the program for both cubs and scouts. The less you pack the less they can smell.

I've been thinking about this. Starting at the cub level, things like knife skills, fire skills, camping skills, citizenship skills, etc., are taught. A cyber chip has been added. I don't really see anywhere though that we specifically teach the basic tools of leadership which is kind of core to the program. The program creates leadership opportunities and situations but there's nothing about what is a team, what is leadership, what do you do when not everyone agrees, how do you run a meeting, what is compromise, etc. Older kids that seek out the training can get some of this through ISLT an

We run the financing through the Troop as a pass through account but the trip is wholly the responsibility of the crew from the get go. Someone from the crew has to front the money and if someone backs out they are either liable for the funds or need to get someone else to take their spot. The problem is that you need to reserve these spots well in advance and things happen. But that's why we are hands off. It's an elite experience open only to those who can afford it or are willing to put significant time into fundraising so we don't underwrite anything other than leader training.

That's my point. From the comments on this board, its clear we were all raised that way. I was free range. I roamed the neighborhood and local woods with a large pod of kids. We had drama, crises, fights, danger, you name it. We worked it out among ourselves. No parent involved. No parent even knew unless someone squawked. We learned how to interact with each other. We had bigger families and learned how to handle sibling relationships and responsibilities. Kids are not growing up with those opportunities and skills anymore and that's why I think it might be useful to look at whether scouts ne

This is a very interesting discussion. The patrol method is integral to scouting but you almost wonder how it can possibly work in today's environment. David CO mentions the trend towards individualism in education. I agree. And that is exactly why many scouts, and even more importantly their parents, have an issue with peer leadership. Kids today are not taught to work in a team or in a subordinate position to anyone else, they are taught and raised to do what they want and what works for them. Tahawk mentioned trauma. The trauma I'm talking about is when you've got a room full of kids taught

I agree with you. I think difficulty in navigating the patrol method could be a possible reason why so many kids leave scouting within a year or two of crossing over. There is no road map on how to do it and most of the recent crossovers I've seen have been traumatic. The patrol method is based on the idea that scouts come into the program with some basic skills. However, it's pretty accepted that today's kids do not have the opportunities to develop the same kinds of interpersonal skills that are so necessary for the patrol method to work. My school district, for example, no longer assigns gr

This explodes the idea that the outdoors going public, scouts included, can rely on limited, high impact, marquee destinations like premiere National Parks. There are too many of us trying to crowd into the same spaces. Scouting, as an outdoors oriented organization, could do a world of good in trying to leverage every tool available to keep local green spaces available to scouts as well as to the general public. Local unit, district, and council campgrounds and reserves; municipal and county parks. I so wish scouting would become advocates for keeping camp grounds and open spaces viable and

I don't think it's a badge of honor if your program ultimately does not appeal to the 75% of the youth you are lucky enough to sign up in the first place. We need to be able to retain more kids and recruit more among those youth we missed at the cub level. I don't think the problem, as your comments suggest, is that scouts is too hard or too elite for modern day scouts to cope. I think the real problem is that the program has been shaped too much by national marketing and corporate interests and we've lost our focus on the youth engagement that makes it fun as well as the character aspe

Don't spray stainless steel items with bleach or they will rust.

Whoa. I think you misinterpreted what I said. There is no issue in my mind with having LDS Chartering Organizations and units. LDS units, as any other religious or community contact, should be completely welcome in scouting, and I have often said I hope many of them come back in time. The issue is how the core scouting program was adapted over the years to fit specific LDS needs. The program, with perhaps minor tweaks to fit local circumstances, should be largely the same for all. I disagree about the structure. I have my own theories about why the Catholic Church and Scouting have both b

Yes. The prime reason scouting is in such a dire place is because of deep rooted, long term internal problems. BSA should never have allowed a single religion to run a shadow program within a program the way it did with LDS. BSA should never have limited its managerial talent pool largely to people within the organization. BSA should never have shifted its focus to marketing and membership instead of remembering that it is a movement focused on service, citizenship and character first. And the out of doors. BSA should have never allowed its organizational components -- national, council, unit

Our Council is the same. In our area popcorn is pretty much dead except for the folks who like to do it online. Food sales of any kind are getting increasingly hard to do because of all the allergies and preferences based on either health or ethical concerns. Our Council also pretty much lets units do whatever they want to raise funds short of asking for outright donations. Parents also increasingly no longer have the time or interest to spend a half a day in front of a store somewhere, especially on top of fee increases. People are either working long hours or multiple jobs or if

I am starting to see more and more of them. From legal entities and now the court ordered advertisements by the BSA. The difference between the legal "documentaries" and the BSA spots is that the "documentaries" depict victims who appear teen to young adult while the BSA spots generally use older talent to depict their victims, closer to middle aged. The "documentaries" are reinforcing the public perception that significant abuse is still occurring in real time to present day youth.

A few random thoughts: Wouldn't your scout fall under the extension option if COVID has affected his timeline and he is close to aging out before getting Eagle? I'm aware of some cases similar to this and the real issue was that while a scout may have held the position for X amount of time, it was in name only and they did not actually do anything in the role. The SM, with the backing of others, might actually be using the delays as a stick to get the scout to actually fulfill leadership in a leadership role. However, in such times as COVID, even if this is possible, it really seem

All our CO does is provide us with space and benign support. It's a church with an aging and declining congregation. All they know is that we meet in the basement. We avoid bothering them for anything. If we asked them to get involved in anything like this they would be incredulous lol.

The same for us plus big local dues for total fee last year of $200 and likely to increase a good bit again this year. At the same time, all the youth organizations around here have refunded or discounted rates.

We've discussed this elsewhere. All these requirements can be met in a properly administered test even in a backyard pool as long as it has the appropriate features. Not ideal, but the letter of the requirement can be met. It says at least one turn, not that you may not turn more than once, so almost any larger pool with a true deep end can be used for the test. Competent test administrators have discussed how youth must complete turns without touching or pushing off from sides. As long as the swim is continuous it is achievable even in a non Olympic sized pool.

I just watched one of those hour long infomercials running in my area that pegs BSA potential exposure at $1.5 billion.

Congratulations to you and your son. Wishing him all the best.

I don't know about that. Is Eagle really the penultimate reason why most kids join scouts, or is it something BSA has used to market scouting to parents? I remember standing with my final AOL den of very excited cubs at crossover listening to welcoming words from our new scoutmaster. They couldn't wait to be scouts. Until he started talking. Sure, he mentioned Philmont and Seasbase, but then it was mostly all about advancement. All about walking the Eagle path. All about what that would mean to help them get into college and how it would help put their resume at the top of any pile when it wa

I'm not sure Lone Scouts will fly. It might fit the kid model of fun, which I've endorsed elsewhere, but Gen X and Millennial parents are looking for something different. A good hybrid of Lone Scout (which would need to be renamed because it sounds like Lone Wolf and an army sniper program neither of which are PC today) and as a Covid/Rural option for scouting might work under the umbrella of a larger program. Parents today want kid showcases and accomplishments for the time they invest as families. The only thing saving scouting right now apart from those who love the outdoors aspect or the s

You know what? This summer I have seen the closest thing to the way I, and it sounds like you, grew up. Yesterday driving around town I saw multiple pods of kids on bicycles, with fishing poles, hiking around parks and skimming stones in places I usually never see kids. It's not as bad out there as we think. The problem is BSA has no idea on how to reach these kids or any mechanism or true desire to modify its program in order to do so. I'm not a kool aid drinking scouts person. I got involved with scouts because I want to see kids outdoors, because that's what I love and is what I think is go

I don't know if scout units would be interested in these but I had proposed putting them together for some programming I was working on for our local schools and parks department. They were green lighted but then we lost funding so I can't give feedback on how they worked: - Bird study -- cheap binoculars, field guides, and Audubon and Cornell University educational materials. There are also some free apps you can download so printed instructions for those. Everything laminated. - Water study -- nets, buckets, specimen boxes, field guides, educational materials from local watershed

I often agree with your viewpoints but this is one where I can't. I have heard this argument before as well from the Catholic Church. That it's the media attention and political interests that are at fault and not the organization. But both BSA and the Catholic Church are in very different positions than schools or sports. None of those other groups ever held themselves up as bastions of morality and character and trust. In both scouting and the church, we allowed monsters to cloak themselves in the respect that our organizations conferred within the community and it allowed them to operate. W