Archery

[MollieDuke]

If you were an archery "range master" (that may not be the right term) for Cubs, can you be one for Boy Scouts/Venturers as well? If not, what do you do to be cerfified for Boys/Venturers?

 

Also, if you have a police officer that is a gun shooting instructor to the police, can they be a "range instructor/master" to Boys/Venturers without any/or much more training for shotguns/rifles?

 

We're trying to find range instructors for these for our district and were just curious.

 

Thanks,

Mollie

[ScoutNut]

Your best bet would be to check the BSA Shooting Sports literature. Your DE should have a copy handy at the council offices. The literature should spell out how instructors become BSA certified & what instructors can be used.

 

I know that for guns you can use an NRA certified instructor, but I am not certain of the specifics & do not have a copy of the literature handy.

[theysawyoucomin']

For firearms, The last I checked, You had to be an NRA instructor CERTIFIED in the discipline that you were instructing. That is if you shot a .22 rifle with the boys you had to be an instructor for rifles. Shotgunning same . Muzzleloading same. I've spent a lot of trigger time and I have yet to meet a person who is certified in all three implements.

 

50 years ago we had more youth involved in shooting sports and no school shootings and much less crime. Real progress on that front.

Today Johnny sits in the dark of his room playing "Grand Theft Auto" on the video and Mama buys him a $200 dollar paintball gun, but wouldn't let anybody teach her kid healthy respect for a firearm. After all Rosie O'donnell and sharon Stone say guns are bad,

 

Right now our district is trying to get some people certified. It ain't cheap. Nor is the class offered within a hundred miles of where we live.

We cannot use a NYS certified Hunter Safety Course intructor. But as Nut said check with your DE. Good luck and thank you for exposing your boys to a healthy sport.

 

side note: My Gun Club has an outdoor range, an indoor range, 2 trap fields a skeet field and sporting clays. About ten years ago they wanted to build a softball field and small consession(sp?) stand. The liability insurance was going to be more for the softball field than all the shooting sports combined. Softball causes more pain and suffering than shooting sports. I guess blown out knees on 50 year old men aren't cheap anymore.

Your actual mileage may vary.

[Eagle1973]

A potentially easy way to get an NRA certification. All you need is an active 4H Shooting Sports organization in your area. Go to the 4H certification course, then with those credentials in hand, apply for your NRA certification. It currently costs 10 bucks plus NRA teaching supplies to convert the 4H cert to NRA cert.

 

Or in my area, I've been successful in using just my 4H certs. If you read the Guide to Safe Scouting, I believe it says "or a certified in your state" or words to that effect. 4H is run by the state.

 

In our council, archery certs are achieved by meeting w/ our camp ranger and getting "checked out" in archery.

[Theyoungeagle]

MollieDuke, to be an archery range master or instructor for Cubs you should have gone through training and you should have earned certidications to instruct by the NAA and by the BSA. BSA certification applies to all BSA sponsered groups (Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Tigers, Venturing, Explorers, Varsity, etc). As long as you have BSA certification you should be more than qualified to be a range master or instructor.

[Lisabob]

TheYoungEagle wrote: "As long as you have BSA certification you should be more than qualified to be a range master or instructor. "

 

 

Technically this may be true. I went through the BSA shooting sports training/certification in order to be qualified to run the archery ranges at cub day camp for our district. From that experience I can say that I did not learn the skills necessary to, say, be an effective MB counselor for the boy scout archery mb. Neither was the training designed for this purpose, so I'm not knocking the training experience here. What I got from that training was sufficient to run a cubs day camp range, even if I'd never picked up a bow before (not the case, thankfully).

 

However, I would expect that a range master at a BOY SCOUT summer camp program would be competent enough to teach the boys the more advanced skills they need to work on the archery mb, if they want to do it.

 

Lisa'bob

A good old bobwhite too!

 

[ScoutDad2]

I'd have to agree with Lisabob.

 

I've had the certification for several years, when I first took it it was for Cub camp. I was told "we're just trying to get them to hit the target and be safe". The training is applicable at/for all levels of the BSA programs. My last re-up was during summer camp and I ran a session during open archery while the instructor worked next to me with MB attendees.

 

I've had small groups attend sessions at a local club where I got into more specifics and different types of bows, arrows, equipment, and safety as part of their merit badge.

 

Now as an Archery MB Counselor, you would need to have a much more in depth understanding of Archery to really give the youth the right experience.

 

 

[Eagle74]

The NAA/BSA certification is not intended to be an archery course - you would be correct that it does not qualify one to be an Archery MB counselor.

It's intent is to cover the basics (how to introduce basic archery to the neophyte), safety practices and procedures to manage the range. The merit badge counselor application states " . . . to qualify as a merit badge counselor you must . . . be proficient in the merit badge subject by vocation, avocation, or special training." and further indicates that one explains that experience on the back side.

A combination of the two would qualify one to be an Archery MB counselor / rangemaster at camp.

[Oak Tree]

I'm a qualified range officer for Cub Scouts. The book "Shooting Sports for Cub Scouting" lists the training required to be a range officer, and it has Cub Scout specific items in the training, with sections like "Training Cub Scouts", "Tiger Cubs and Archery", and "Cub Scout Shooting Sports Award". Having taken this training, I felt comfortable overseeing Cubs, and I'm sure most of it applies to Boy Scouts, but it does seem like a different class. And the gun training was with BB-guns, which seems very different. I would have thought that separate training was required for Boy Scouts.

 

Oak Tree

[Eagle74]

From Guide to Safe Scouting (some wording abridged here to save space). See GTSS for complete info.

Boy Scouts and Varsity Scouts are permitted to participate in shooting activities outlined in the Cub Scout standards and in the standards listed. Boy Scouts are permitted to fire bows and arrows, BB guns, .22-caliber bolt-action, single-shot rifles, air rifles, shotguns, and muzzle-loading long guns under the direction of a certified instructor, 21 years of age or older, within the standards outlined in current Scouting literature and bulletins. BSA policy does not permit the use of handguns in the Boy Scouting program.

All training and shooting activities must be supervised by a currently NRA-certified (shotgun, rifle, or muzzleloader as appropriate) instructor who is 21 years of age or older.

Only Venturers may participate in handgun trianing / activities under the supervision of a currently NRA-certified pistol instructor or a pistol instructor of a local, state, or federal agency who is 21 years of age or older.