Ranger Award and woods tools?

[shortridge 184]

I've been looking through the Ranger Award requirements, and am a little disturbed to find no reference to proper use and safe handling of woods tools - knife, axe, hatchet, saw.

 

Lots of other topics are covered - including stuff on eating wild foods, which I always thought was verboten - but I can't find any Venturing equivalent to the Totin' Chip or even Paul Bunyan requirements.

 

Are Venturers simply expected to learn these basic skills as part of the general course of working on the Ranger Award? Were they deemed not important, or contrary to modern-day LNT techniques? Any insights?

 

 

... or did I just miss it, and y'all are now laughing at me? ;-)

[emb021 16]

"but I can't find any Venturing equivalent to the Totin' Chip or even Paul Bunyan requirements. "

 

AFAIK, Venturers can earn both. So I don't think there needs to be 'venturing equivalents' for those...

 

[shortridge 184]

Sorry, that was imprecise. I meant the equivalent of the requirements, not TC/BP themselves.

 

It just struck me as odd that there's nothing in the core or elective Ranger requirements that focus on this topic. Could easily be worked into Backpacking or Wilderness Survival requirements, it seems.

[RangerT 10]

shortridge

 

Venturing is not like boy scouts in the instances you describe. Someone going for Ranger usually has already completed the Bronze Award in Conservation where they have learned their basics through their advisors, and if they do not have the knowledge they use consultants who are suppose to be experts in their fields. Much of the Ranger Award is left up to the teens own initiative to obtain the necessary knowledge needed for the various requirements for that award instead of being totally dependent on the advisors. Many Venturers going for Ranger attend classes put on by wilderness organizations, REI, and other groups usually at no or minimal cost. However most crews with an outdoor emphasis have a good selection of knowledgeable advisors and consultants so learning about axe safety is not usually a problem.

[shortridge 184]

RangerT,

 

Thanks. I realize the Venturing program is structured very differently than Boy Scouts. I think it's good in some ways to leave the details up to experienced consultants and other groups that have a much deeper knowledge base than the average Scoutmaster, for example.

 

What piqued my interest in this particular topic was that I saw a lot of other details included in the various Ranger Award requirements - from basic knots to types of climbing harnesses - but nothing for woods tools. It seemed odd to me that some details were left up to the discretion and interest of the individual Venturer, but others weren't.

 

Added: Carrying out a conservation project doesn't necessarily mean that a Venturer would learn proper use and handling of woods tools.(This message has been edited by shortridge)