MichScouter

Thank you for the advice. I am fairly new to being a merit badge councilor.

The boy already has those two merit badges. He is really interested in animals and nature. I will let him know that he should build a bird feeder or bird bath. He may build the wood duck house anyway. Which is a good thing to do anyway. Birds are his main interest now so I think he will be fine with building something else. The only reason I thought it would be alright was the wood duck house are one the main ways to attract them. Thus he would be creating habitat for the animal per the requirement. Like I said knowing him he will build one anyway just to try an attract the wood duck. He already has area to place the house.

I am a new merit badge councilor and have been asked if building bird house design for wood ducks would count for this part of the requirement. I think it should but before I tell the scout to go ahead I wanted some other opinion. He clearly know what bird he is trying to attract. I just not sure if I have to follow this to the letter or can I give a little wiggle room. Do ONE of the following. For the option you choose, describe what birds you hope to attract, and why. a. Build a bird feeder and put it in an appropriate place in your yard or another location. b. Build a birdbath and put it in an appropriate place. c. Build a backyard sanctuary for birds by planting trees and shrubs for food and cover.

Where do I find a list of historic trails mention in this article? http://scoutingmagazine.org/2014/02/need-know-earning-historic-trails-award/ "ARE THERE NATIONALLY APPROVED HISTORIC TRAILS? Yes. More than 300 trails have been approved. The BSA recommends that hikers use only the historic trails that have been nationally approved." I am looking for trails in Michigan.

Also if this award is completely gone could troops make their own camping and hiking awards? There is a local patch making company that could make the patches reasonable price. Obviously this would have the same importance as a national award but we have some scouts and scouters in our pack who like to do these to earn patches.

I know this award is cancelled. However Scout Stuff still list it although they say local council needs to approve paperwork. http://www.scoutstuff.org/national-camping-250-nights-days-emblem.html Are these awards cancelled or can you still earn them depending on the local council? My son and I were talking about it and we thought it might be nice to track how much camping we do and earn them. This of course was before I saw that they were cancelled and replaced with the National Outdoor challenge awards which I believe is only for the scouts.

IMHO, this is a horrible idea. Just too young. I think it depends on the program. It has to be age appropriate. The lions might not meet as often or for as long. i already bring my yougest son to some events. I have taken him on hikes with the pack and he love pinewood derby. Last year at B&G I gave him a hiking patch. Of course I paid for it my self. He loved getting it. Our council does a haunted forest at one of the campsin October. He loved that. Candy, hay ride, crafts and a patch. He loved it. 2014-2015 will be to late. He will be a Tiger cub by then.

I have seen cub scout lions for 5 year olds on this site a few times. Is this a BSA program or is it just being tested in a few places? My youngest son is only five but he wants to start cub scouts now after watching his older brothers get to do everything.

Thanks for all the advice. I think we need some sort of tent. We haven't been camping that long so We are not tent option types yet. I have seen the hammock not sure it I could sleep in one of those. I have never been in one but I think I would get a bit clastrophobic.

I was thinking about buying one for each of us. I just don't want to spend $200 or $400 for something we oly use once. Anyone have any suggestion?

My son and I are going on a weekend backpacking trip in August wit the troop. Anyone have an recomendation on a cheap backing tents? I am not sure how much he will be into backpack so I don't want to spend a ton until I know it something the troop will do more off. This trip is our troops first foray into backpacking. We are preparing now by doing a bunch of day hikes of varous length to get the boy and adults ready. We could use one of the troops tents but they are a little big. Any recomendation would be great. Here is what I have found Eagle's Camp Crystal Canyon Backpacker Dome Tent $49.99 at Cabelas

Our unit does have ISA. We give a portion of the money earned for fundraiser to the scouts for there scout accounts and some goes into the pack or troops coffers. We do a 50/50 split of the profits. This way the boys get some money to cover expense like camping fees or cost of an event. The pack and troop also get money they need to buy awards and equipment. When the pack has a really good year of fundraising then they will pay for part of day camp for every scout going.

I find all this concern about churches leaving BSA to not follow what I am experiencing. My pack is charter in a catholic church. When I was informed this winter that the church will not be able to charter the pack afher this year. (Due to the school building being rent to a charter school and thus us not having access and nothing to do with the vote.) The first group I contacted was the other catholic church in town. They not only agreed to charter us but they were excited about it. Even after the vote when I took the paperwork over to the father to sign he was happy the pack would be there. I informed the new church that over half of the members of the pack our not catholc. In fact the boys very from catholic, baptist and muslim. Again new church said no problem.

We have a few activities in the summer but not regular meeting. We will have a few bigger events day camp and family camp. We also will meet to go on a hike or go fishing. We have done bike rides in the past also, We try to meet at least once or twice a month. Sometimes I wish we would meet more even if it is just for short hour or two outings. I think it would help with retention of cubs.

Just to check how the poll works it appears that it will let each user name vote once. I tried to vote second time to see and it gave me an error saying please select an option first. I tried about three time so as far as I can tell you can only vote once per user name. I guess you could create mutiple accounts but why would you?