Snipe Hunting

[SctDad]

I was thinking about when I was a scout and was wondering something. Do your scouts still teach the long lost art of snipe hunting to the younger scouts on one of their fisrt campouts.

 

I know that this can be considered a form of hazing in some peoples eyes, but I was just rememberingthe right of passage that I went through when I went snipe hunting.

 

Soes this still happen??

[FScouter]

It's like a bad penny, it keeps turning up. How to kill the beast?

[OldGreyEagle]

yes Snipe Hunting still goes on, not that I am proud of that(This message has been edited by oldgreyeagle)

[evmori]

Since snipes are native to New Zealand, there wouldn't be any state laws that would apply, OGE. Now the nearest relative to the snipe is the American woodcock which is common to the eastern USA. You would have to look up the regulations for those individual states to get your answer.

 

Ed Mori

1 Peter 4:10(This message has been edited by evmori)

[raisinemright]

If the boys get sick of hunting snipe, try a new challenge. There is another tough flightless member of the aviary family that is a real challenge. The bill yard is a multicolored bird. The male of the species has a single stripe around the body. If you take the boys bill yard shooting they'll remember it for life. After that, go hunting for Nauga's. Nauga hides make great furniture and casual coats.

[OldGreyEagle]

It was a long time ago, in a place far far away, well, actually Chicago area, about 1965 or so. I was a bright young scout, really Gung Ho. I thought being a scout was the bestest thing in the whole world, I was part of the World Brotherhood of Scouting, it was the 60's and love was around us.

 

On one summer campout, we drove for what seemed like hours. We got to the campsite and set up. The Troop used an Army surplus 16X16, that thing was huge, and it was heavy and we all loved it. It was so big the entire Troop slept in it. The cooler older guys on one side and us other guys on the other. After the tent was up and the gear stowed, Charlie, the SPL came over and told me he needed my help. I was in like 7th heaven. Charlie was like a god to us younger scouts, he had his license and his own car. It was a 57-58 Chevy, it was painted candy apple red and roared like a jet, that car was cool. Rumor was he shaved everyday and had a girl friend. He had muscles and was talking about joining the Army. I fairly floated as we walked over to the group of older cooler scouts. Finally I was going to be part of the in crowd.

 

Then I was informed I was to be the bag man on a snipe hunt. It was simple, all I had to do was stand on the Snipe trail and hold the bag open and the Snipe would run straight into it. Now, wait I said, I know what a Snipe hunt is, and I am not going to do it. I felt a lot let down that Charlie thought I was stupid enough to fall for a gag like that. So then Charlie says, well, you are right, but you know, Snipes are birds (As Ed is sure to point out)and we happened to have driven into where they live. So badly did I want to be a member of the "Inner Sanctum" that I bought it. I went out and held the bag, and held it, and held it and held it. Well, back at camp the older scouts sure were having a party at my expense, they had this kid who knew about Snipe Hunts out on a Snipe Hunt, it was glorious. The adults on the trip knew what was going on, and reminded them that I was supposed to be brought back to camp about 1 am if I didnt show up first.

 

Back at the Snipe Trail I stood, bag open. I knew Snipes were rare birds and figured we had driven long enough to get in their range. I waited, and waited. Along about dawn I figured I had waited long enough. Seems the older scouts got their signals crossed and everyone thought someone else would get me, but nobody did. I got back to camp as breakfast was being made, and when I was spotted, the whole camp cheered, laughed and hooted. I was not having a fun time. I remember thinking, remember this moment, remember how hot your cheeks feel, how angry you are, you are never ever going to feel this way again, I must admit had I means to physically harm Charlie, I may have availed myself of the opportunity. A few months later it was the Fall Camporee. Charlie again asked me for some help. I asked him what, I was more than a little suspicious of anything he said at this point. He told me he needed the Camps Canon Report. It has the schedule of the Camporee on it and it was floating around the camp and people would get it, copy it down and pass it on. So, after being assured it was real, I made him say "scout's honor" I went off.

 

Gol dang it if every troop I visited had just had it but passed it along minutes before I got there. I went to over 10 troops before a kindly old scoutmaster who knew my dad from work asked me if I had ever been on a Snipe Hunt,. I almost fainted. The rage, anger, fear, humiliation just ran through me like an electric shock. He had done it to me again. I walked back to camp, slinked actually, imagining all who saw me were laughing behind my back, pointing me out as that absolute and complete idiot, first he falls for a Snipe Hunt and then he beleives the Snipe Hunt guy and looks for the Canon Report. When I got back to camp, I walked up to Charlie and told him I was sorry, but I didnt get it, but I would go after it first thing in the morning. I never did go after it and I never talked to Charlie again. I never did anything he said and completely blocked him and all his older buddies out. I had learned never, ever to trust what a boy leader said because they were out to get me. I resolved that they did not exist in my world. As time went on, I made sure that no other scout ever went through what I did. I would tell all the new scouts about snipe hunts and canon reports and left handed smoke shifter, 50 ft of shoreline and all that. I told them if anyone asked them to do anything that didnt sound right, to ask me first. I had a few angry older scouts, but I didnt care and I was getting big enough that nobody retaliated. I eventually was elected Senior Patrol Leader because the scouts knew I would not betray them.

 

Having posted this story before, I pretty well know what will be forthcoming. I do ask one thing, is it worth placing a memory like this in one of your scouts heads?

 

[Gold Winger]

Snipe hunts, keys to the sea chest, mail bouy watch, 6 ft of shore line . . . they are all part of testing a new guy to see if he has sand, to use the Louis L'Amouresque term.

 

There was a Cheers episode in which Fraser was taken on a snipe hunt. He returned snipeless and volunteered to go on another. Diane asked how he could go because there were no such things as snipes. Fraser said that he was going to sneak back, take the car and leave the others out there because "that's what guys do. They screw each other to the wall."

 

A snipe hunt or any of its analogs shows whether a guy has a sense of humor or if he's someone who has to be tiptoed around.

 

I found something on the internet that explains much: If Laura, Kate and Sarah go out for lunch, they will call each other Laura, Kate and Sarah. If Mike, Dave and John go out, they will affectionately refer to each other as Fat Boy, Godzilla and Four-eyes.

 

Mike, Dave and John are guys who accept snipe hunts for what they are. If they didn't they'd be calling each other Michael, David, and John.

 

'nuff said.

 

 

 

 

[MarkS]

SctDad asked, "Do your scouts still teach the long lost art of snipe hunting to the younger scouts on one of their fisrt campouts."

 

No. Hazing and initiations are prohibited in our unit and may not be included as part of any Scouting activity. Hazing can result in the revocation of a Scout's membership in our unit.

[evmori]

I know we have looked at this before but couldn't the OA tap out be considered hazing?

[Gold Winger]

That's why they don't tap anymore. However, the Ordeal could be considered hazing. Heck, making a kid set up a tent or start a fire could be hazing.

 

Everyone hold hands. First we'll sing Kum-by-ya and then we'll follow that with a rousing chorus of We Are the World.

[scoutldr]

Hey, "Fat Boy" was my name when I was a scout! That is until I won the Lodge Marksmanship contest with my antique Winchester Model 74 with open sights...then it was "Sir".

[OldGreyEagle]

heck GW, there are those who say standing close enough to me to hold my hands and hearing me sing We Are the World and Kum Ba Yah is the most agregious form of hazing

[MarkS]

Agree that a call out is a good precaution for preventing the one-in-a-million risk of a broken collar bone from a tap out but I don't see where these ceremonies or any of the other activities mentioned by GW really constitute subjecting someone to unnecessary meaningless or disagreeable tasks, abuse, harassment, humiliation, or ridicule--especially for the entertainment of others.(This message has been edited by MarkS)

[evmori]

Agree that a call out is a good precaution for preventing the one-in-a-million risk of a broken collar bone from a tap out but I don't see where these ceremonies or any of the other activities mentioned by GW really constitute subjecting someone to unnecessary meaningless or disagreeable tasks, abuse, harassment, humiliation, or ridicule--especially for the entertainment of others.

 

Tossing rocks in buckets, minimal food, not allowed to talk, wear an arrow around your neck all day. Yep those are things I do each & every day of my life!

[CalicoPenn]

There is a snipe that is native to North America. Gallingo delicate, aka Wilson's Snipe, is a shorebird that is mostly found in wetlands. It is somewhat similar to the American Woodcock, though it is a bit taller and slimmer.

 

There are states in this country that have hunting seasons for Wilson's Snipe.