How many in your unit?

[Scoutfish 16]

Just wondering about how big your unit is.

 

We just tallied up and double checked that all our I's were dotted and T's crossed( for the 4th time) for recharter and we have 86 scouts.

 

Now, when my son and I first joined, there was maybe something like around 55 scouts .

The next year that number jumped to about 120 scouts.

 

Last year it was around 70ish scouts or so. ( conflicting numbers between sign ups, transfers, drop outs, etc.....

 

So now we have 86 scouts.

 

Originally, I thought that was a normal amount of scouts. Then I saw that alot of packs might have 20 scouts total in all ranks combined.

 

Never realized we were a big pack.

 

Of course, size does not equate to having the right to puff out our chests and brag. I really do see the comfort and closeness in having a smaller pack.

 

So, just out of curiousity, how many scouts do you have?

 

Do you wish you had more?

 

How about less?

 

[OneHour 11]

Our troop had 24 boys, when my oldest son joined 9 years ago.

 

When my 2nd son joined, the troop stood at 48.

 

Last March, when my third son joined, we were up to 94 boys.

 

Right before recharter in Dec = 113

8 aged out / 4 Eagled out / 2 moved / 3 dropped

 

Currently, we have 96.

 

Next month, anticipating 29 Webelos from 2 packs crossing over.

In March, we'll be back up to 125.

 

... and we have two troops in the immediate area ... Our brother troop has ~44 boys.

 

... wishing we have less boys! Too many moving parts and boys! It is tough for a 14-16 years old SPL and his staff to handle this size of troop!

[jgreenewv 10]

We just rechartered, and have 33 boys in our pack. We're probably on the high end in our area. Most packs in our council seem to have 10-25 or so, so I'm downright thrilled with our headcount, especially since most of the boys come on a regular basis!

[Roadkill Patrol 23]

We just re-chartered and we are down to 9 boys. Our feeder pack is down to 16 boys, 5 of which were going to cross over next month. Now I found out that only 2 of the 5 may actually join the troop.

 

We were up to 20 last year at this time.

[Scoutfish 16]

Well, wwe know trhat numbers are not the best judge4 of how great your program is.

 

Truth be told, even though I feel our pack has an awesome program, and I feel we really work it hard...it is not outside of reason that some parents may have chosen our pack only due to location, the night we meet on, because "X" goes there too.

 

Know what I mean? I know we do have a pretty good reputation in our area, but reputations really only go as far who is already somewhat involved with scouting.

 

Then of course, we might have only 15 scouts next year due to boys loosing interest in that kinda thing, parents deciding they aren't interested anymore, some finding out the pack isn't there soley to accommidate their specific child, etc....

 

Boy are funny that way too: The program may be working just fine, but if your child is a die hard video game playing computer IT geek....scouting may not hold his interest even in Baden Powell himself were running the pack.

 

Then you have soccer, football, basketball, single parents with multiple kids where the oldest son may have to babysit due to mom or dad being at work, etc....

 

I look at it this way: If your pack only has 4 kids, and they are having a blast and enjoying it - then you have a great program!

 

[qwazse 4342]

We had one scout (a First Class First Year type, by the way) drop out because he wanted more time to play his video games. I kid you not. That's precisely what the boy said!

On the flip side, one younger brother signed back on after being away for a year becaus he wanted to come backpacking with us. He came, enjoyed the hike and is sticking around. needless to say he's not the FCFY type.

 

As far as numbers we're down to 18, which I think is as low as I've seen it.

[eagle90 125]

We have 59 scouts in our troop, all active. We have a possible 4 crossove3rs next month. I really don't want to grow much bigger. The logistics are enough of a problem now. Plus I, as SM, really have a hard time getting to really know the boys when we are this large.

 

Dale

[Lisabob 13]

My son's troop is at about 65 right now, after a very large group of cross-overs and the addition of a number of high school aged friends-of-scouts & transfers last year. That's quite big, in my experience. Most troops around here are in the 30-40 range. When he was in cubs, the pack ranged from about 20 to about 50, depending on the year.

 

I found mid-30s to be a nice number for the pack. Get a lot smaller and the dens don't have critical mass. Get a lot bigger and things start to get pretty crazy at pack meetings. But that was just me.

 

 

[resqman 108]

Son's pack hovered around 40-60 members. Active.

 

Son's troop hovers around 40-60 members. Active. No feeder pack. Pick up about 10-14 every yr for the last 4 out of 5 years. One year we got no rising webelos at all. Picked up a few from a nearby troop that was going through an adult leadership change. Pick up a few from people moving into town. Council frequently sends prospective members to son's troop.

 

Troop culture is at least one complete crew will attend one of the 3 national high adventure bases each summer. 75% or higher of all scouts 14 or older have attended at least 1 high adventure base but many have attended two. This summer will be the third trip for at least 2-3 scouts.

 

The rest of the troop attends summer camp. Troop rotates through about 5-7 camps within a 5 hour radius. Those that can't attend high adventure bases due to age, will have attended 3 different summer camps by age 14. While the idea the troop will attend summer camp every summer, the variety of different camps helps keeps things interesting and different.

[Eagle732 27]

We have a few troops around here that have 80 - over 100 boys. I don't think this is in the best interest of the boys or BSA. My troop has 20 Scouts and we have a tough time competing with these mega troops. I call the phenomena "gravitation pull" which is defined as large groups of boys being pulled into a mega troop because all their friends are there, irregardless of quality of program. Case in point, our district just held it's winter camp last weekend. My troop had 50% attendance with 10 scouts present, neighboring mega troop had less than 10% with only 6 boys. I bet there drop out rate is 4 times what ours is. Boy's not camping and dropping out is not a good thing but these mega troops get all the support from District (along with the big Cub packs) where the small troops are forgotten. BP said that 32 was a good number for a troop.

Just my opinion which isn't worth much.

[lrsap 10]

We have seven in our 6 month old troop right now, with some heavy recruiting coming up. As far as what I would like to see, I think 24-32 would be just about right for me. Of course, I would never tell a boy we have reached our limit, but that doesn't seem like an issue I will need to deal with for a while.

 

If you can effectively run a unit with anything over 50 youth, I will not only applaud you but also ask you for organizational and time management skills. But for me Scouting is something I do for enjoyment and running a small corporation does not sound fun to me.

[Austinole 43]

32 in our pack

[Engineer61 19]

I'm guessing about 65-70.

 

Suburban pack...

[Thomas54 10]

 

 

We are down to 24 scouts. Nearly all are Life scouts. The 3 youngest are in 7th grade. Nearly all are in High School. We have been good at retaining the scouts just very poor at recruiting.

 

We peaked at about 40 scouts in 2007. We lost 5-6 scouts almost immediately when the economy turned bad. This was mainly from relocations. We have been putting out about 3 eagles a year, so our attrition is likely on par with other troops. However, no cross overs from the pack for three years straight.

 

Our pack is huge but as I have mentioned before in these forums the Webelos parents come and see us and then decide not to join. The first year "our program was too advanced" They did not want to go out of state for summer camp. The next year, we weren't eagle focused enough. They wanted their sons to eagle by 13. Last year it was to disorganized at the meeting. (The mom was right on that night, SPL was not prepared)

 

Other stray scouts have come through but our ski trips, trips to Washington DC, and wilderness canoe trips all look too advanced or too expensive. Or all of the above. Anyway, the age gap is now so big that when a 5th grade mom comes in and sees a bunch of six foot "boys" she decides right then and there that this is too old for her son.

 

Sorry, to keep writing about this but it weighs heavy on my mind. If the trend continues we will be down to less than 10 scouts in two years.

 

 

 

 

[Eagledad 2777]

Our pack varied from 90 to 140 scouts. Most of the difference depended on the the timing of Webelos crossing over to scouts. Crossing over really depended on the den and some dens crossed over before rechartering while others crossed over after rechartering.

 

Barry