Work with Scouts on WS?

I earned it myself, waaay back when I was a scout. We even did a "survival weekend" campout, where we brought only sleeping bags, knives, fishing poles, and the clothes on our back. The nice thing about scouts is, they're young enough to fish without a license. We dined on sunnys and dandelion stew. The stew was bitter, but the fish filled us up. It even rained that night. Our fern-thatched lean-to kept us dry. Tons of fun.

In some of my picture threads, you'll see the merit badge velcroed on my Maxpedition water bottle holder!
 
i did my w.s badge in the adk at camp curtis s read...we went with knives, flashlights and 1 liter of water.
 
Thats funny I used to instruct wilderness survival at camp reid for a few years...you guys bag the summit of mt stevens??
 
I taught this merit badge a few summers while scoutmaster at our troop's annual week long wilderness encampment.
 
Long time ago... What I remember the most about working toward that badge is ringing a chickens neck and the body flying through the woods.
 
I showed my friend the eagle scout how to start a fire this last weekend does that count?:rolleyes:

Actually, I just showed him a better method.:D
 
My troop's WS trip was always one of my yearly favorites. Alas, it was a little short on WS skills. Scouts wishing to earn the badge had to prepare a survival kit and build a shelter to sleep in for the night. We didn't have to procure or cook anything. Then the older scouts would go through your survival kit and basically critique it while explaining what was or was not important. We did a little first aid training, talked about staying where you were, making signal fires, basic, basic stuff. Then the next morning you had to sit inside your shelter while the older scouts tested it with a 5 gallon bucket of water. :) Good times!
 
I remember getting this merit badge. We combined it with an OA event and ended up going out for a week solo with a knife, first aid kit and a canteen. We also had a flare and a walkie-talkie for emergency purposes. Had to start a fire with what you could find in the woods be it flint/steel or some other method and build a shelter and "rough it" for a week, but you could come out at anytime. Great time. Wish I had a week to get away like that now.
 
Tom
Eagle Scout Class of '87. Wilderness Survival Merit Badge earned at Camp Ranachqua summer camp probably in '84.
I am currently a Merit badge counselor and committee member of the local boy scout troop one of my sons belong to. The other two are in cub scouts.
Yes I am a counselor for WS but I haven't had any brave souls to teach yet.:D
 
Cap, if you are referring to the repeated advice to "stay where you are" if lost, that advice disappeared from the 2007 edition of the MBP (same text in 2008 edition but with colored pictures).

Consistent with its generally bad/disorganized writing, the current MBP is more ambiguous. It talks about how you might be able to "retrace your tracks" if lost and how you might determine your location (useless unless you are going to move). But it also advises you to "wait as calmly as you can for help to arrive."

Given several pages of criteria for an acceptable survival camp location, how do we know, in advance, that a "survival situation" will arises at a location within the range of the acceptable? ("Things rarely fail as planned.") What, for example, if you are on a steep scree slope in the blazing sun with no water when someone breaks an ankle. Just "wait" until rescue arrives? Maybe, but not likely.

What if someone gets severely injured or sick on Day 2 of a 14-day trek. Wait twelve+ days for the SAR effort to even start? How about some advice on planning self-rescue? How many stay? How many go? Who goes and who stays? That was once covered by B.S.A. literature.

The reality is we need to teach our youth that in the wilderness, as in life in general, there will be situations where they will have to use their best judgment. Move or stay? Buy or not? Join or avoid? Arbitrary rules give only the illusion of preparedness.
 
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