B S A Survey

[dannyb55]

I was wondering: How many of us got into the hobby through the Boy Scouts? I learned woodcraft at summer camp, earning merit badges, Indian Lore with the Order of the Arrow, Camping and paddling once or twice a month. Black powder and archery from all of the above, Blacksmithing and carpentry from working at the Philmont High Adventure Base, Specifically at the Kit Carson Museum at Rayado. The Scouts rely heavily on British patrol and irregular warfare technique of the late 19th cent and in the US on Indian crafts, lore and a dash of old fashion maritime skills. If you get a chance, go to a used bookstore or Amazon and find an old Boy Scout Field Book, It covers all the bases in North American Fieldcraft. Dan Beard's A Young Boys Handybook covers useful ground also. Beard started the US Boy Scouts at the end of the 19th century and he was an old man with memories. Beard was also a good friend of Sam Clemmons, and I do not think the two ever grew up. Also Huck Finn is a gold mine of edge of the frontier lifeways and detail. Danny

[eseabee1]

I didn`t get my start in the boy scouts I was doing this stuff long before I could join them The only grandparents I knew were my stepgrandparents and they were sioux my grandfather and great grandfather thaught me there ways when growing up....

[dannyb55]

I did a seacrh and found that this topic was covered much earlier. Maybe some new members have something to share too.

[Frenchie]

I got my start with Royal Rangers. they have a group that is similiar to the O/A, called the Frontiersman Camping Franterity. It is based on mainly the Mountainman, but starts at the F&I War thru the Civil War.

I have the rank of Wilderness in the FCF and the Brotherhood rank in the O/A. I now work with the BSA as an ASM in T-47 in OKC, OK. In the Last Frontier Council, of the BSA, most everyone knows me as the Mountain Man.

Erick Noah
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[antoine]

Got involved with my 2 sons as cubs to webelos to scouts. They both earned their Eagle rank and we went to summer camps (them more than me) and one went to Philmont twice and Catalina Island. We all went to Boundary Waters. We backpack as a family outside of scouting.

My sons are in college now so I'm not very active with the troop other than the annual pioneering campout in the winter and presenting a winter camping dress and food session in December. Went into pioneer camp last year from a beaver trap line in 1820s gear and we skinned it and I cooked up the legs and backstrap and tail muscle for the scouts. I have occasionally visited other troops in period dress to talk about the mountain man era and the skills and organization of trapping parties.

I served as outdoor program coordinator for several years and as committee chair for Troop 21, Eagle District, Last Frontier Council out of Edmond, Oklahoma. I'm a O/A Brotherhood member. I've served as a crew advisor at Philmont and in the Boundary Waters and as acting scoutmaster at summer camps.

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"As the year has been a very bad one, they are mixing peas with the flour in making bread"
translation of Bougainville's diary Nov. 22, 1756

[CT03]

That is more or less how I got started. I was working as a Boy Scout camp councilor at Camp Averyhand Mansfield, Ohio in about 1994 some guys brought in their muzzleloaders and put on a bit of a show. A few years later when I turned 18 scraped up $300 and bought a Dixie Tennesse Rifle at the Log Cabin Shop by Lodi Ohio and have been adicted to flintlocks ever since.

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At last he rose, and twitched his mantle blew Tomorrow fresh Woods, and Pastures new

[Loyalist Dave]

I learned that Daniel Carter Beard ("Uncle Dan") formed The Sons of Daniel Boone in 1905. He changed the name to The Boy Pioneers of America after a name dispute. He merged his group into the BSA in 1910, after the BSA was founded and incorporated by W. D. Boyce. Mr. Beard was 60 at the time. He passed away in 1941.

A lot of what is contained in those early BSA manuals is based on the writings of Earnest Thomas Seaton, who founded the Woodcraft Indians in 1902, as well as the writings of Beard. Boyce and Seaton were both friends of Lord Baden Powell who started the scouting movement in England. It was through his friendship with Seaton that Beard was introduced to Baden Powell. The Woodcraft Indians were also merged into the BSA. Seaton was Chief Scout for the BSA from 1910-1915 and Beard is reported to have been the founder of BSA Troop 1, in Flushing NY, the oldest troop and still operating.

Another author from that time period who influenced early woodcraft ideas, and preserved some of the skills, is Horace Kephart. You can find a reprint of books merged into one volume under Camping and Woodcraft. I recommend it for it's information on early cooking recipes, especially the bread and the rations sections.

I got into "survival" when we read My Side of The Mountain in 5th grade. I wanted to learn more, and read all that I could, but I was only 10, so my dad got me into scouting. I've kept at it ever since, and a stint in Marine Corps Infantry helped a great deal.

LD

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It's not what you think you know; It's what you can prove

[Boulanger]

Many of my closest friends are still guys who I was in scouting with in Europe and in Missouri. Still attend roondy voooos with many of them every year.

This is a great website that has alot of old manuals online (and free!!) from Seton, Powell, Beard and others. Great resources for outdoor skills and re examining what kind of experiences a boy needs to become a man (IMHO)

http://www.inquiry.net/traditional/index.htm

Boulanger- Eagle Scout and Vigil Honor member, who worked tonight on his daughters Brownie science badge.

[hhaworth]

i am an eagle scout. though my dad had always wanted to do the rendezvous stuff but never did i have a pair of buck skin pants from when i was about 4 or 5. we have recently in the past 5 years started getting heavy into trekking and woodcraft. i have been reenacting at fort nisqually here in washington for about 10 years and have in the last 5 years started going 100% correct. when i was in boy scouts i tried to learn as much as possible. my goal was to be able to live in the woods with my pocket knife. i have never tested this but i will someday. i learned knot work, wilderness survival, canoeing, and many more. i would hike as much as possible. i have recorded in the few years of boy scouts over 2500 miles hiked including 5 mountains. i did as much as i could to teach anyone and everyone who wants to learn the things i know and still do this day. i enjoyed my time in boy scouts and was an adult leader for a while after i had finished.