Boy Scout Wilderness Survival
Every year the Boy Scouts have a wilderness survival trip. In the month before the trip scouts will learn some basic skills. These include fire building, shelter building, collecting water, and camp gadgets.
The scouts leave on a Friday afternoon and arrive at the property around 6. They are given a few necessaries and some coordinates and distances to find their campsite. Right away they start collecting firewood and making a shelter. The boys spend the first night under a newly built shelter and might make a fire. The next morning they meet where the adults are to go to activities. Some of these include first aid, fire building, fishing, and a map and compass trek.
In fire building, scouts are given a magnesium stick. A string is tied about a foot or so off the ground and they are to make a fire underneath it. Once the boys start striking the magnesium, the timer starts going. When the string is burned in half, the timer stops. Everyone gets points depending on how fast they are able to burn the string in half.
Scouts can earn points for their campsite. It should be neat with a well-defined fire ring. Also, the shelter counts as part of the campsite. The shelter should be just large enough for the entire group to squeeze in. Furthermore, it should be thick enough to keep the rain off. Additionally, any camp gadgets made will add points here. Water collecting devices are made and set to use here.
In the first aid activity, one of the members is hidden in the wilderness as if he were wounded. The rest of the group has to find them, address the problem, and carry them out to safety. Everything is timed and points will be deducted for a terrible job carrying the person out or anything left out or if it takes a long time to find the victim. Usually they tell the victim not to make any noise, but if your victim is smart he will wave around a stick to try and get your attention. The faster you are able to find them the better your score will be. Also try and use all the resources you have when rescuing the person. Make sure everyone is involved and that everything you have is used when making a stretcher or bandaging their supposed wounds.
In the map and compass trek, the scouts are taken off in the back of a car. The leaders set them in a field somewhere and tell them to find their way back to the campsite. Scouts are timed to see how long it takes them. Points are deducted if it takes them too long. After these activities the boys have some down time to rest or have fun. The easiest way to do this is to use your compass and map and look to the horizon to point out a marking point. Jog to the point and make another marking point far off. The faster you are able to do this the more points that will be awarded to you.
Scouts sleep one more night in their hut before breaking down camp and trying to make everything look as natural as possible. The adult leaders come around and tally some final points on how natural it looks. Everyone gathers around where the adults camp and there is a feast. Then everyone travels back to their homes. Later, a winning team is selected and is give a prize. Prizes have included knives, camp cups, and head lamp lights.
One year I remember eating a live cricket. Corey and I both ate the crickets to get some extra points for our group. Two years ago, the adults put a live chicken on an area of land surrounded by a ditch. With a little bit of rope, we had to build a bridge to cross the ditch and capture the chicken. We were shown how to kill them humanely. We all went back to camp and I had a pretty difficult time snapping its neck. Finally, it worked and the chicken died. We then cleaned it and ate every little scrap of meat we could off of its carcass. The meat tasted so good after a weekend of little to nothing to eat.
To win, I would suggest always having an extremely nice hut. Make sure it is as thick as you can make it; the thicker it is, the less rain will come in it at night and the more points you will earn for it. Also, you should always have much more than enough firewood than you really need. While two people build a hut, the other two should continually get firewood. Always eat all the food that is given to you, because it will keep you energized. Also, try to stay hydrated or else you will have no energy at all and will most likely get sick.
By: Clayton S - March 2004