Boy Scout Partcipation

[Guest ckey]

My son wishs to have his scout troop participate in this sport. Before his scoutmaster officially approves the activity he wishes to know: Do any current scouters, Boys or adult, indivdual or by troop, participate? Would any of the former scouts who do participate be willing to find a nearby troop and teach the sport? My son's troop would use the obviously conceptulize / learm map reading and compass skills finding and hiding caches but would also use as a indirect communication tool with the log books.

[Guest jeremy]

Bob Renner's Troop 824 in Arizona were the first BSA troop to go out and hide a cache. Here's the latest one they planted (there are two)

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=820

 

Hope that helps!

[Guest bob_renner]

ckey,

 

Contact me at renner001@yahoo.com and I'll be glad to answer any questions you have about our troop's involvement in geocaching and The Degree Confluence Project. You can also check out the following links.

 

Bob Renner

 

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=123

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=820

http://www.confluence.org/us/az/n34w112/index.html

http://www.troop824.org

 

[This message has been edited by bob_renner (edited 03-08-2001).]

[Guest koshea]

Thinking of a whole troop of boy scouts geocaching in the back country frightens me. I guess I'm imagining the worst... not everyone can afford a GPS... too many kids per group without enough *responsible* adult supervision?

 

[This message has been edited by koshea (edited 03-09-2001).]

[Guest Paul Lamble]

There are all kinds of Boy Scouts and all kinds of Troops. Well behaved and curious boys (they do exist!) can gain immense benefit from this kind of sport as well as a lot of fun. They can learn skills, be in the outdoors getting exercise, and learn a bit about the natural world. Under the right circumstances, I see geocaching and Scouting being a good fit. But that's just a general rule.

[Guest Moun10Bike]

I was just wondering the other day when we might see a GPS merit badge, one that might incorporate some aspects of geocaching. (I suppose such things might get incorporated into an expanded orienteering merit badge.) I agree with Paul -- scouting and geocaching seem to go together very naturally to me. I have encountered very courteous troops out in the woods, as well as a handful of discourteous ones. But anything that encourages youth to develop an affinity for the outdoors seems to be only a positive.

[Guest CaptHawke]

GPS usage has been incorporated into the BSA's outdoor program for older kids, Venturing. In the land navigation requirements for the Ranger award is the following: "Learn to use a global positioning system (GPS) receiver. Demonstrate that you can find a fixed coordinate at night using a GPS receiver."

[Guest Moun10Bike]

Is the Venture program a recent one? Or is it one aspect of Explorers? (I don't recall hearing of it before.)

[Guest CaptHawke]

Venturing is a couple years old.

 

As Exploring became more career oriented, especially towards police, firefighting and other fields that frowned on BSA's non-PC view of the world, it was decided to spin-off the Explorers into an entity distinct from the BSA. Venturing was brought in to fill the void. Primarily high adventure oriented, there are Venturing crews that concentrate on hobbies, sports and youth ministry. Sea Scouting also falls into the Venturing program. It's co-ed, ages 14-20.

 

The crew I work with has some crack navigators (Last year they got interested in orienteering and came home from the New England Scout orienteering competition with 5 trophies) so they're thinking about hiding a cache this spring.

[Guest Moun10Bike]

Explorers always seemed very distinct from BSA to me in terms of spirit and goals, so it doesn't surprise me that it was spun off. I wish that Venturing had been around when I was of the right age -- sounds great!

[Guest Cape Cod Cache]

Step 1 would be talk to you local council, there may already discussions going on at the national level. Step 2 might be to set up a Cache in the local Scout Camp. I teach Sailing Merit Badge, navigation on a pond is pretty limited, so I often bring Scouts out on a larger boat in a bay. I used to tell them about Loran, but that is over now. GPS is so common now, that I see no reason to teach about it. Maps or Charts are still used, and compass use is still part of the excersize.

 

"Be Prepared!" (bring extra batteries !)

[Guest jeremy]

My wife was a Sea Scout and later a leader for quite a while in Maryland. I also wish there were groups like that when I was a Boy Scout!

 

As an aside, there is a keyword search on the extended search page now. You can do a search for "T824" (no quotes) and get both of the caches listed for the BSA Troop.