Question on Hunting Merit Badge

[scoutmasterbob]

I am a rifle/shotgun shooting MB counselor.
If a scout has completed hunters safety, he has completed all the requirements for the rifle shooting MB and more.

If a scout will bring me his completion certificate, I will sign his blue card for the badge.

[hops_scout]

So if they completed Hunter Safety course, they dont have to do any shooting for the merit badge??

[RWSmith]

I was wondering if anybody was gonna see the same twist I did.

[Guneukitschik]

I think that as long as a scout has completed a hunter safety course that all the scout would have to do is the actual shooting part of the merit badge requriements.

[scoutmasterbob]

The State of Utah's hunter education program includes a shooting proficency test as a requirement to complete the program.

http://www.wildlife.utah.gov/huntereducation/

[Guneukitschik]

Pennsylvania's is only classroom instruction I think? It's been a long time since I've gone through!

[wagionvigil]

Shooting a firearm will be part of the badge. Killing an animal will not be part of the Badge.

[Guneukitschik]

maybe they'll make Hunting MB like the Fishing MB where the scout has to catch, clean and cook!

[wagionvigil]

No that will not happen!

[Guneukitschik]

I realize that they will ONLY be taking pictures of animals, etc.


However, I do think it would be advantageous for the scout to know how to clean and prep an animal if they ever did actually go hunting!

[turkeyhunter_1]

I was under the impression that you had to do the requirements after you started the merit badge. My son passed the Indiana Hunter education course when he was 8 years old. Marksmanship is not a requirement in Indiana, but I don’t think that he should be able to just show his card and get signed off on the other requirements.

[Rick Tyler]

I was under the impression that you had to do the requirements after you started the merit badge.

The short and best answer is that it is up to the merit badge counselor. The longer answer is the counselor should use some judgement here. I counsel all three Citizenship MBs. If a Cit Nation candidate said they wrote a letter to their congressperson two years ago, I'd ask them to write another one. If a Cit World candidate said they had just finished taking two years of Spanish, I wouldn't ask them to take it for another year. Reasonable is good. I am not a Rifle Shooting MB counselor, but I would think that a training program done at age eight is long enough ago that I would expect the Scout to demonstrate their skills and knowledge for me.

[turkeyhunter_1]

I wouldn't ask him to take it for another year either, but that is only one of his choices for that requirement.

9) Do ONE of the following:
A) Attend a world jamboree
B) Take part in an international event in your area
C) Visit with a foreign exchange student and discuss his or her country and customs
D) Study a foreign language for a year
E) Write an embassy or consulate for material about its country and discuss the material with your counselor
F) Examine a particular international issue and give a brief oral presentation and written report to your counselor

[Scouting179]

This should generate debate too -- is it okay to count things done while not a registered Troop member toward Boy Scout requirements? IE, if you're a Cub and do XYZ at age 8 and not even a Boy Scout and hence not working on a rank or signed up for an MB, is okay to count it 4 years later when he's 12 toward a Boy Scout requirement?

[ASM-142]

Requirements must be done while a registered Boy Scout.

[Rick Tyler]

I wouldn't ask him to take it for another year either, but that is only one of his choices for that requirement.

9) Do ONE of the following:

I know the requirements. I've counseled about 50 scouts through this merit badge (there should be an adult award for this -- Cit World is a lot of work for the counselor...).

If I understand you correctly, you are suggesting that the scout choose another of the requirement 9 options so that when BSA arbitrarily changes the requirements he won't have to start again? I can just imagine me in a counseling session telling this to a scout: "You shouldn't pick that option because the rules might change and then, well, you are just screwed. I recommend you pick something really fast and easy so that we don't change the rules on you and cheat you out of a merit badge."

Doesn't matter, though. BSA policy is that once you start a merit badge you can complete using the requirements in force at the time you started it at any time before your 18th birthday, whether the requirements change or not. So, no problem!

[Rick Tyler]

Requirements must be done while a registered Boy Scout.

This discussion has been done before on this board, and this is, I believe, not correct. For merit badges, it is up to the counselor's discretion. There is a strong presumption that requirements should be completed after the merit badge application is initiated, but it is not required. Remember the discussion of a scout's stamp collection, and the foreign language study requirement?

I agree that this is a good policy for 99% of the MB requirements, but I wouldn't want to see a counselor's judgement restrained when it makes sense to allow a stamp collection to include work done before he became a Boy Scout.

[ASM-142]

Requirements must be done while a registered Boy Scout.

This discussion has been done before on this board, and this is, I believe, not correct. For merit badges, it is up to the counselor's discretion. There is a strong presumption that requirements should be completed after the merit badge application is initiated, but it is not required. Remember the discussion of a scout's stamp collection, and the foreign language study requirement?

I agree that this is a good policy for 99% of the MB requirements, but I wouldn't want to see a counselor's judgement restrained when it makes sense to allow a stamp collection to include work done before he became a Boy Scout.

The blue card (which is only issued to registered scouts) states "..is qualified to begin working for merit badge noted on the reverse side"

Therefore, if the boy must be a registered scout to get the blue card they must be a registered scout to begin working on the merit badge.

[JazerNorth]

Everyone is so busy looking at the details of the bark on the tree, that everyone has forgotten about the forest. Take a few steps back and look at the big picture, then make your decision accordingly.

JazerNorth