Scoutmaster Musings

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There are many things you and your scouts can do to promote your troop to prospective new scouts that don't require a huge effort or expense. If your troop is hoping to grow, think about giving these tips a try:

1. Eagle Scouts - Tell Webelos den leaders you have two Eagle Scouts that would love to visit a November or December den meeting and answer questions about Boy Scouting, not to promote your troop. If you have no Eagles, go with Life Scouts. Make sure they wear their uniforms, sashes, high adventure patches, and take other mementos from their adventures.
2. Communicate - Call the Cubmaster and Webelos den leaders in May to let them know what you have planned for their scouts in the fall to help with Arrow of Light and transitioning. Call them again in September to remind them, make sure you still have the correct contact, and ask how many scouts they have in their dens.
3. Scout Skill Day - A scout-o-rama is a great way to show Webelos some fun scout skills and impress their parents and den leaders. It doesn't have to be a big deal, but does take some planning effort.
4. Pinewood Derby - offer to help with running the races, moving cars, anything they need on that one day.
5. Special Awards - Our council has a Summit Achievement Award for scouts that earned the Arrow of Light, joined a troop, and did a few other requirements. Check if your council has any special awards for Webelos and promote them to the dens so they are aware.
6. Open Troop Meetings - Invite Webelos to visit any troop meeting in the fall.
7. Catch One Early - If you get one Webelos scout to commit to join your troop early in the fall, chances are good that many of his den mates will follow him, especially if he lets them know where he's going.
8. Twofers - When a Webelos decides to join, or when he has his scoutmaster conference for the Arrow of Light award, let him know that this is the perfect time to have a non-scouting buddy join him in Boy Scouts. He can get a Recruiter strip if he gets a friend to join with him.
9. Den Chief - This one does take a big effort on the part of one scout, but it is also a troop Position of Responsibility for advancement. In May, help one of your First Class scouts decide to be a Den Chief for a 5th grade Webelos den from October to March. This gives the Webelos contact with your troop right up to their transition from Pack to Troop. And, he might continue on as a Troop Guide for the next 6 months.
10. Use Roundtables - Make an effort at every district roundtable meeting to look for and say "Howdy" to the leaders of the Packs in your area. It's easier to send their scouts to someone they know than just to a troop number.

Read more transition tips.

Got any more to share?

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Our troop has 32 tents currently in service. With 80 scouts in the troop, I've had lots of opportunity to see how tents wear out, break, or get damaged. Sometimes it is due to nature, other times it is neglect, and on rare occasion it is malicious.

We need to remember that learning is our goal, not perfection. When a person is first learning to do something, he makes mistakes and equipment can take a beating. Teaching how to use equipment will save a lot of money, hassle, and frustration along the way. Teaching early and reminding often for the first few campouts will help the learning become habit.

Here's my Top 10 Tent Tips to help extend the life of your troop tents, the more important first:

1. Mind the Door - When entering or leaving the tent, always open the zipper almost all the way, but not all the way. Opening just a crack and squeezing through is the biggest cause of tent damage I've seen. The stress on the zipper causes failure which is impractical to fix. Opening it all the way causes failure at the end of the zipper.
2. No Clutter - The best way to keep a tent floor intact is to keep gear outside. Pulling gear in and out through the door is hard on the zipper and fabric. If the tent has a vestibule, that is fine for items you'll need during the night or first thing in the morning, such as boots and raincoat, but packs covered and kept outdoors are even better. Teaching this one behavior to scouts is probably the one best way to improve their tenting experience.
3. Clean and Dry - After every use, turn the tent inside out to get everything out and wipe it clean. Set it up to dry completely and then pack it away. Store it in a dry area. This prevents mold and mildew.
4. Complete Setup - Poles break because stress is not evenly distributed. Ensure all clips, sleeves, velcro, guy lines, and hooks are connected correctly, completely, and sturdily. Leaving a couple velcro straps unhooked during high wind places increased pressure on single spots on the poles instead of spreading it out and SNAP! A broken pole instantly makes a hole in the rainfly.
5. Use a ground sheet - This protects the floor from the outside, mostly from the dirt. A ground sheet is just a cheap piece of painter's 6mil plastic. It comes in 8.5 foot side rolls, so it's simple to slice off a piece for a 2-, 3-, or 4-man tent's width. Have scouts request a new piece from the quartermaster when their piece is too ripped to continue.
6. Be Consistent - Always leave the zipper in the lower-right corner of the door if it is a double zipper, or the lower-left if it is a single zipper. It makes it easier to find and ensures the door gets opened fully each time.
7. Store the Bag - When setting up, put the stake bag and pole bag inside the tent bag immediately. Bags blowing away is an all too common waste of gear. Store the bags inside the front-right corner of the tent - it's easy to get to and consistently easy to find.
8. Mind the Wind - Set up your tent to protect it from wind. The rainfly on an A-frame style tent makes a great kite when the wind blows directly at an end. Instead, set up so a side is facing the wind. A dome-style tent with full rainfly to the ground can weather very strong winds and it doesn't matter much which way the wind hits it. Be sure to stake down all points and use the longer, higher guy lines at least on the upwind side for that bit of extra support to protect the poles.
9. Seal It, Tape It - Using a seam sealer annually will help keep the rain out. Duct tape on both the inside and outside of holes and tears works well. Colored duct tape is available so the silver won't stand out so much. Higher quality tape stays much better and doesn't fall off leaving a gooey mess.
10. No Fires - never, ever, ever have fire inside a tent. That's candles, stoves, matches, any flame.

A couple more tips:

• Know how to set up, use, and take down your tent before ever stepping into the wilds. Teach and practice the right way to use the tents before scouts go on their first campout. Friday night, in the dark, fighting the wind and rain, is not the time to learn how to set up the tents.
• Stakes don't usually break, but they get lost all the time. Painting a couple stripes of bright colored nail polish on each one makes them much more visible when breaking camp. If they have been driven into the ground, the only part you'll see is the head, so painting it bright is key.
• No matter how well you take care of your tent, an animal can destroy it easily. Having any food or smellables in your tent is inviting disaster, and much more than just a ruined tent.

You should strive to create an environment in your troop where experienced scouts understand the value of maintaining their gear and passing that understanding on to newer scouts. Having a couple Instructors or Troop Guides or Eagle Scouts teach these ten tips to new scouts as soon as they join the troop will do wonders for your budget and quality of camping experience. If it's just the scoutmaster lecturing them about how expensive tents are and how they have to use their tent for seven years and blah, blah, blah, ... there's not nearly the impact.

Do you have other tips about tent use to share? comment away.

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We held our annual Scout-o-rama today - another perfect day with sun and rustling leaves. One of these days, we're going to get wiped out by a huge storm - all our outings this year have fallen on wonderful weather. It's just a matter of time and averages.

We had a new twist to the scout-o-rama this year. It was planned by a single patrol as a regular outing rather than by the troop at large and we invited the other four troops in town. Two said they would participate and one actually did. They did an excellent job running a CPR station and Emergency Carries. There were 10 skill stations all together and 25 Webelos, just as in past years.

Our goal is to ultimately make this day a community event where boys that are in 5th grade but have not been in Cubs get a chance to check out Boy Scouts along with the Webelos. It has a way to go, but having the other troops involved is the first step. Next year, we'll start the planning earlier so all the troops have ample time to join in if they want.

Scout On

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2.5 years ago, I blogged about the silliest ScoutStuff products which included wooden forks, knives, and spoons.

Evidently, I wasn't the only one that thought they were silly and they are now cut in price to only 17 cents a set! For $2.00, you can get 12 forks, knives, and spoons. That's 68 cents per scout for a weekend of four meals.

Now, I still think it's silly, but they do make a fun prize for patrol competitions and that sort of thing. (I've actually used them for that and the scouts got a kick out of it.) How about you help out the ol' BSA and pick up a case or two of these things so ScoutStuff can make room for more fleur-de-lis cookie cutters or grandpa's fireforks.

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Followed eight scouts on a 5-mile hike yesterday around the town. Each one successfully oriented their map, showed our direction 3 times, and led the gang for over a half mile with at least 3 intersections and changes in direction.
We've got miles and miles of sidewalks, paved trail, and unpaved trail throughout our town and we used them all. We even had a short stretch along a road with no trail, so we use our hiking safety skills.
We also found some big, beautiful, red poison ivy as well as many other plants ranging from wild grape vines to red pine to still gree buckthorn. No one quite identified 10 plants, but some got close.
Animals were more scarce with just a squirrel, Canadian goose, blue jay, and red-wing blackbird being identified. We did see a flock of white pelicans floating high in the bright, clear blue sky but none of the scouts could identify what they were.
As the sun began to set, a couple scouts were getting concerned we wouldn't make it back in time since they hadn't brought flashlights, but they did a great job and we were only 4 minutes late on a 2 hour estimate.

After that, I got to attend a district committee meeting - not nearly as much fun. :-)

If you're in the NorthEast, batton down the hatches. The rest of you guys, get your scouts out to enjoy this great hiking time of year.

Scout On

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It's Fall! For the next few weeks, we've got perfect camping and scouting weather - at least up north here. In a couple weeks, we can have snow and that can really limit the opportunity for advancement for T-2-1 rank requirements.

Now is a perfect time for those 5-mile hikes and 1-mile orienteering activities - no bugs, cool weather, and beautiful colors. Well, no bugs here except those crazy boxelder bugs and an occasional suicidal mosquito.

Yesterday, I had four Tenderfoot scouts lead me around our town on a 5-mile hike. It was spectacular! We saw geese, a squished frog, squirrel, crows, birch, poplar, red oak, white oak, and other plants and animals. In a month, it will be a lot more difficult to identify those plants without their leafs and the animals will be less plentiful.

Try to get your scouts out for those few nature requirements now. The first aid, memorization, and 'explain' requirements can more easily be done indoors in the winter.

Scout On

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So, here's a trick question: What rank is required to attend Philmont, Northern Tier, or Sea Base?

You can find many troop websites listing a minimum rank requirement of First Class. You can even find council requirements listing First Class as a requirement. But, those are not BSA high adventure base requirements. They've been set up by that particular unit or council to help ensure the scouting skills of participants.

There actually is no rank requirement at all for any of the national high adventure bases. A 17.5 year old Boy Scout that has yet to earn Tenderfoot can be on your crew!

Would I recommend that? not normally, but if you have a boy experienced in the outdoors join your troop in 10th grade to do exciting camping with his buddies, you don't need to force him through months of sign-offs and three boards of review before doing the high adventures.

What, you still don't believe me? :-)

• Sea Base - Participants must be thirteen (13) and graduated from the 8th grade or fourteen (14) years old to participate in all programs.
• Northern Tier - Youth participants must have attained the age of 13 by the year that they attend.
• Philmont - Philmont participants must be 14 years of age OR completed 8th Grade and be at least 13 years of age prior to participation.

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Whre does all that popcorn come from that scouts sell?
Well, don't try finding it at any of these places - you'll most likely get lost in your efforts. There are corn mazes across the country this month and many of them have been designed with Boy Scout themes to commemorate the centennial.

There are way too many to list, but here's a few...

• Jonamac Orchard, Malta, IL
• Fender's Farm, Jonesborough, TN
• Alstede Farms, Chester, NJ
• Govin's Meats & Berries, Menomonie, WI
• Wild Adventure, Firth, ID
• Orchard, Deerfield, WI
• Apple Country Farm, Spring Valley, OH
• Cornbelly's, Lehi, UT
• Honeysuckle Hill Farm, Springfield, TN
• Mayfield Farm, Athens, TN
• Funtime Farms, Lowry City, MO

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An exciting time for Scouting here in Minnesota. The Base Camp open house happens tomorrow (Oct. 2). If you're in the area, or traveling through soon, you really should check it out.

I got to tour the facility earlier this week and it is amazing! I expect it will be heavily used during the winter months when it's too cold for some folks to camp outside. Base Camp has lots of meeting spaces, a library, offices, plus a few real attention-grabbers:

• A space flight simulator - I didn't get to see this. It's just tugged into a corner room, compared to the vastness of the whole place.
• The indoor ampitheater is a cool, sunken seating area where there will probably be a propane fire or something similar. It even has a flag pole to the audience's left for scouts to use for ceremonies.
• The ropes course will be a real challenge for anyone. I mean the indoor ropes course, but there is also a massive outdoor double tower and high ropes cours!
• My favorite part - by far - is the climbing facility. In the photo you can only see the front view. But, there are climbing surfaces completely surrounding the structure and on the back wall behind it.

This climbing facility is just too cool for words - you've really got to see it to understand what I mean. There are manual and auto-belays as well as a great bouldering wall and the equipment is stored in a hidden area under the mountain.

The climbing surface is so realistic, you have to touch it. I bet most people that come to climb will say - "Where's the handholds?" - expecting a climbing wall with screwed in holds. This wall is a completely natural textured cliff with handholds whereever you can find purchase.

Even the floor will surprise you - it looks just like pea gravel, but when you walk on it you notice it is shredded, colored rubber.

The coolest thing about the climbing is right outside. Walk just south of the building and look at the rock beside the road - it is exactly like the artificial rockface inside! They've done a super job of making the wall match what you would climb if you were on the rive bluff faces.

If you've followed my blogging much, you've read me criticize some BSA things. I'm usually concerned with how our money gets spent. This Base Camp facility has been a big expense, but it appears to me to be a great investment for the future of scouting in the Northern Star Council. With our bitter cold winters, an indoor facility to practice scouting skills year-round has huge potential.

If you are not based in the area, but your troop makes plans to visit Northern Tier for canoeing, you should consider stopping at Base Camp. It is right at the MSP international airport so you might be able to do a lay-over night right here on your way 'Up North'.

Check out more at the official Base Camp site.

Scout On

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To help scouts keep track of the various requirements of miles, nights, hours, and adventures for the National Outdoor Badge awards, I've created some documents.

Hopefully, they'll make the broad range of requirements more manageable for your scouts.

See the National Outdoor Badges page for the PDF files.

Scout ON

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There's not a hunting merit badge yet, but that doesn't mean scouts can't excel at hunting skills.

A Webelos scout is the winner of the inaugural duck calling contest at Whittlesey Creek National Wildlife Refuge, WI. He completed a 3-day waterfowl course at the refuge and then entered the calling competition.

The course is for 10-15 year old hunter-certified youth to learn waterfowl identification by sight and sound, silhouette, wing beats, flock patterns and behavior.

The contest included these calls: long-distance call, mating call, feeding call and comeback call. The emphasis is on difficulty, accuracy and repetition.

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PS: The scout is my nephew. :-)

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