Wilderness Survival MB help --Natural Shelter vs Leave No Trace

[Tampa Turtle]

I guess he must have missed all the announcements, kit review, demonstrations. Maybe he is an aspiring Marine and the only kit he needs is a knife.

My own older son is the youth leader for the campout. Is he prepared...no. (ARRRGH #2) I told him you are gonna be embarrassed..he says "Its Wilderness Survival...it's mental...I don't need to bring stuff with me!".

 

He better not be asking to borrow anything from me. On the other hand he is tough enough.

[gsdad]

My favorite memory of wilderness survival was dinner. We built our shelters (not a problem in scrub oak Oklahoma - TONS of stuff on the ground). Cleared fire rings and got fire started. Then we heard an engine.

 

Up drove a pickup, from the back the unmistakable sounds of chickens. Live chickens.

 

Each team of 3 Scouts was handed a live bird, with the direction to kill, clean, and cook a bird for dinner. Final sign-off came after you ate dinner.

As long as they don't choke it.

[Stosh]

I guess he must have missed all the announcements, kit review, demonstrations. Maybe he is an aspiring Marine and the only kit he needs is a knife.

These are the kids that need to be reminded that there isn't any Trading Post where they can go to get a basket weaving, necker slide whittling, or wallet lacing projects in the area. They're going to be in a world of hurt.

 

Stosh

[Tampa Turtle]

Oh yeah and it looks like it's gonna be 60 degrees and raining for about 12 hours...

[Tampa Turtle]

Was a successful campout. 10 Candidate scouts all completed their Wilderness Survival MB. Younger Scouts (mostly Tenderfoot 6 graders) struggled the most but did do it, Rain was tolerable and we lucked out it rained hard 10 miles away, Very primitive campsite--really just a few roads and a couple signs. Boys had to navigate to sites for testing (fire, water purification, first aid, etc) as taught by scouts who had MB. Fire was a challenge for the younger guys. Upon completing of their training they were issued a #10 can with some hazel nuts, berries, tangerines and coordinates to the riverside survival campsite. Once their a few enterprising boys tried fishing unsuccessfully but found and cooked some oysters. Later an older scout arrived with some raw buffalo and elk that they roasted on palmetto fronds over a fire. Meat on stick was big hit. They got a whole egg for breakfast which was a challenge for them to cook...They were starving by Sunday...

 

I found out myself that a debris shelter was hard work! And a night slept of palmetto fronds is mighty uncomfortable. I regretted not buying that headnet last weekend and adding to my survival kit--the mosquitoes were terrible. I will never diss my camping hammock again.

 

Regrettably some of the younger scouts missed some key concepts: like leaving camp without your kit (they did without), keeping your map (they lost them), and leaving the survival camp at night and quickly getting lost, panicking, and leaving their light and kit behind. Big fail there. We adults had cell phones and communicated between the sites so we kept an eye out--it always seemed to be one of the leaders' boys. Older scouts did great as instructors, that is the way to do it! They would not let guys go until they passed the test or demonstrated the requirements.

 

While there we had another Troop ,with "The Eagle Troop" emblazoned on their trailer, doing the same MB. Their Survival campsite and basecamp were about 100 yards away. Their candidate scouts left their tents up so they could dash to them in case of rain. (eye roll) I only mention it as they were from a local rural area and acted very superior to our city scouts but I did not see their boys getting that challenged--a lot of adult lecturing going on and quick signs offs...culture I guess...