Survival campout

[scoutfreakdad]

I was inspired by this forum last year to step up our survival campout this year. We are on a local private ranch; the owners son is in our troop. In the past the scouts seamed to thrive more to tougher it was. Heres what I have going so far.

We assigned scouts to teach classes leading up to the survival campout, they included survival( a general overview of priorities and skills needed) survival shelters, water treatment, fire without matches, emergency signaling, trapping and snaring, land navigation and a class on making survival bracelets.

 

1. The patrol challenge will be to survive overnight with the contents of a cache.( ammo can or backpack)(cache/kaSH/ A collection of items of the same type stored in a hidden or inaccessible place.)

 

 

 

They will do their own meal plan out of the chuck box for breakfast Saturday and Sunday and lunch Saturday, the bush will provide dinner Saturday night, they will place snares, traps/ make bows etc. if they work they get small prey to cook on the fire, (if we are lucky it will be fresh game from the owner of the ranch:) fires will be made without matches or lighters.

 

They will have to land navigate as a patrol to find the cache, then navigate back to the shelter area (A zone where they can build survival shelters close enough together to be watched for safety, and be able to Quit the challenge and go back to base camp)

 

I need help on the land navigation portion, I want to have 5 legs of navigation with different methods practiced for each, bearing, reciprocal bearing, etc. each member of the patrol takes a leg of the challenge and can receive help from his patrol (they stay together) Honestly I need work on this part myself and am looking for some good references.

 

They will have to prioritize their own resources to build shelter, obtain water, obtain and prepare food, effect a rescue.

 

The cache will be different; they will be easier for the younger patrol.

Scouts not wishing to endure the challenge can practice survival skills at base camp

 

Challenge survivors get funnel cakes on Sunday morning

 

As always I appreciate your suggestions

[Twocubdad]

Our guys love this stuff and the challenge is coming up with something different.

 

We did the same thing last month. During the month leading up the the campout, the boys assembled personal survival kits which they carried on campout. The kits had to fit in a sandwich bag but patrols were allowed to coordinate kits (you bring matches, I'll bring cord). When they got there they "found" a piece to tarp and a can. They were also told to expect a number of challenges like land nav, fire building, treating water, etc., most of which didn't occur, but they still had to be prepared.

 

Dinner was a small steak, potatoes, carrots and a piece of fruit. (Our campsite has no opportunity for really foraging for food). One patrol made kabobs, another grilled the steaks on a flat rock, a couple boiled the veggies in their tin cans.

 

It was a really cold weekend (okay, not if you live in Beavahland, but dang cold for God's Country) so the guys spent most of the day beefing up their shelters and staying hunkered-down by the fire. They had a great time.

 

We have a couple ex-military pilots in the troop and a few years they taught a session on military Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape training. The kids went bonkers. They ran a scenario where each patrol was a para-rescue team and had to pick up a downed pilot. The "rescue helio" was a minivan which pulled into the clearing and the patrol deployed a security perimeter around the van. The PL was on a radio with the pilot and had to exchange passwords before the rescue. The dads ran the whole protocol for a rescue. They shot one pilot who started running for the helio before giving the password. It was a hoot. I don't care who you are, playing army is always fun.

[boomerscout]

Scoutfreakdad:

While any good book on orienteering may help you, I would ask around to find a local orienteering club to volunteer their services in laying out the course. Maybe try all the nearer colleges; see if any have orienteering clubs. Also, maybe ask your local National Guard?

[JoeBob]

If your site has terrain features (hills, trees, streams, etc.) they'll enjoy land navigation after dark.

 

With lights off, take them 3 or 4 legs (straight lines of travel, with direction changes between legs)into the wilderness. No GPS or compass. No Google maps on an Android! Then let them find their way back, using their lights, if they wish. Turning on your lights after your eyes have adjusted to the dark usually isolates you in your little cocoon. The world looks totally different. It's much easier to evaluate terrain features without a flashlight. You can see them in the distance against the night sky. This a great way for the boys to learn that for themselves.

 

Caveats:

1- If your site is featureless like northern Canada, flat with all the trees looking the same, this won't work. If backtracking the route in daylight isn't a piece of cake, you can't do it in the dark.

2- Tell them what you're doing so that they'll know to look at the terrain going in, so that they can backtrack.

3- A savy adult should stay silently attached to the patrol. You don't want to lose them overnight.

4- If they disagree on the return route, DO NOT let them split up.

[Eagle92]

Why can't the older scouts create the orienteering course? Back in the day, that's what we did. A few years later with a JROTC field exercise, a few other scouts and I who knew orienteering were the ones who laid out the 3 courses for the unit. Personal favroite was the nite time one we set up in which the ones who set up the course were also the markers. That was a fun nite

[scoutfreakdad]

Twocubdad: Brilliant guys! I run a charity haunted attraction; Im a physicians assistant and a former navy corpsman with the marines. Im seeing a casualty situation complete with moulage, I have been practicing my airbrush special effects make up, maybe I can make some prosthetics for it.heheehe, zombie survival camp any one?

 

JoeBob: This is the South Texas Gulf Coast, semi wetlands, there is a river, ponds, some old structures, fence lines, farm roads. No map that I know of. Skulls and palmettos everywhere.

 

Eagle92: I do have some of the older scouts setting up the course, I just wanted to equip them with the tools to do it right, we are going to practice the skills at a meeting before we go. The scout is going to teach an orienting class, them play some orienteering games with the troop at a meeting in a couple of weeks.

 

[JoeBob]

Scoutfreakdad,

 

I know that type of terrain: Eglin AFB has a few topos that contain nothing but the four frond symbol for swamp. You and your buddy belt yourselves to trees to sleep! Not a good place to get lost, day or night.

 

I'm scouting now in the rolling hills of GA. Lots of terrain features to mark.

[Stosh]

Along with Joe Bob's issue, one can also add weather. Not all survival situations occur on a sunny summer afternoon. The dead of winter in North Dakota where survival is a daily concern, one must also "Be Prepared". Surviving inside a car for 24 hours at -25 with wind chills at -80 is always a strong possibility for those traveling every day there. As a former school bus driver in ND, one can be assured that on certain days school was called off because the bus kids lived so far out. If the bus broke down, even with 2-way radios, a rescue bus couldn't be sent out in time before the kids froze.

 

Urban survival skills too could be considered. What would happen if one lived in New York or Miami and the power went out for 3-4 days. Food would freeze in NY, but spoil in Miami, cooking options? Can't build a fire in Central Park.

 

There are a lot of survival skills needed for various emergencies no matter where one is. One is not always going to need skills just for getting lost in the woods on a summer afternoon.

 

Stosh

[scoutfreakdad]

How to survive a zombie apocalypse is even covered by the CDC

http://www.cdc.gov/phpr/zombies.htm

Director, Dr. Ali Khan, notes, "If you are generally well equipped to deal with a zombie apocalypse you will be prepared for a hurricane, pandemic, earthquake, or terrorist attack."

it creates a fun way to consider general preparedness issues. But it makes me think more about how to drop walkers lol, Im liking an ar-15 silenced, and a Hatori Hanzo type samurai sword with some kind of ventilated, biohazard armor.. but thats a different subject. Maybe we will cover this at a meeting later, cover preparedness kits and play some kind of zombie survival game.

 

[boomerscout]

"Food would freeze in NY, but spoil in Miami, cooking options? Can't build a fire in Central Park."

 

Nah, vacant lots and steel barrels for burning are all over NYC. Any of the local survival experts will be happy to instruct you if you share your food