Recent Events Scouts in Troop 109 Have Enjoyed!
(Current events are in the private section of our site)
February 20th, 2010 - Beau Turner Youth Conservation Center
We will focus on Shotgun Shooting, Rifle, Archery, and Fishing!
We will meet at the Scout Hut at 7:30 AM Saturday morning. We will leave at 8:00 AM sharp. We need to be at the youth camp ready to start our training by 9:00 AM. We will be camping near the pavillion. We are going to be working on the Shotgun Shooting, Rifle, and Archery merit badges. We will cook as a troop on this campout, the older scouts and adult leaders will do the cooking so the scouts can concentrate on the merit badges.
We will not stop for breakfast so you should have eaten breakfast before we meet on Saturday morning. I have four certified instructors from FWC that will be teaching these classes. Everyone must understand that we will be VERY STRICT inforcing safety rules, there will be no tolerence for unsafe acts.
The weather looks like it is going to be nice for the weekend. I need everyone that is going camping to attend Monday's meeting so we can get an accurate count of participants. I need to inform the instructors of the number of participants.
The Beau Turner Youth Conservation Center, 30 miles east of Tallahassee, was created to preserve the tradition of ethical hunting and active conservation by introducing Florida's youth to the shooting sports and the great outdoors. Beau Turner formed a partnership with the FWC to open the Center in March 2008.
The center, the first of its kind in Florida, encompasses 160 acres that Turner has leased to the FWC. The goal for the center is to develop a stewardship ethic among youth through programs designed to develop their outdoor skills and to instill an appreciation and knowledge of the longleaf pine ecosystem and wildlife management techniques.
The center offers sporting clays, a .22 rifle range, 3-D and Olympic-style archery ranges, nature trails and a stocked fishing pond. Events held at the center include hunter safety courses, advanced hunting and fishing classes, volunteer training workshops, as well as youth hunting opportunities.
January 22nd, 2010 - Ochlocknee State Park
Our January campout will be at Ochlocknee State Park, the focus will be First Class cooking and Cooking Merit Badge.
There will be a meeting on Martin Luther King Day (1-18-2010). All parents and scouts that plan to go camping the following weekend need to attend the meeting Monday night. Asst. Scoutmaster J.D. Hicks needs to collect $15 from each person (scout and parent) planning on attending the campout. Mr. Hicks has volunteered to purchase all of the food for the campout so he needs an accurate account of who is planning to go camping.
Here's the back story to the photos and the reason your Scout may have returned home 7 or 8 poinds heavier...
This weekend Troop 109 went to Ocklochnee River State Park to work on the Cooking Merit Badge. Asst. Scoutmaster Hicks had a full array of meals for the Scouts to make during our stay. I'm just going to share the highlights, trust me, there was plenty to eat!
Friday night's dinner consisted of hamburgers and corn. Saturday breakfast was a real feast with hash browns (they went quickly), eggs of their choice (Scouts made eggs for the adults too), Dutch oven biscuits, pancakes, hot chocolate and coffee. Lunch consisted of Sloopy Joe's (made from scratch) and grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. Dinner was Chicken and yellow rice. The chicken was browned on a grille and then added and cooked in with the yellow rice, and black bean soup. Dessert, ah dessert, was a choice of peach cobbler or spiced apple cobbler.
Sunday breakfast was the down and dirty = dry ceral, milk, bananas and apples.
And, in spite of all the eating, we managed to squeeze in a service project for the park, a campfire, the retirement of three American flags, cleaning out of the Troop trailer, and - oh yeah - some push-ups care of Asst. Scoutmaster Heath!
December 4th, 2009 - Little St. George Island
As we discussed last night, our Little St. George Island adventure camping trip is this weekend.
Please be at the church by 4:30 PM. We need to be prompt and get out of town before the traffic hits. We will be stopping in Crawfordville for a quick dinner so make sure you bring some money for pizza.
Now to the important subject of the adventure. We have planned quite a journey for both scouts and the dads who will be coming. After dinner in Crawfordville we will proceed directly to St. George Island. We will stop at the BP gas and grocery store for any last minute supplies and then we will head directly to the Plantation. Mr. Baldino has a house in the plantation and this is where we will leave our cars. We will then be dropped off at ‘The Cut” that marks the end of the island as this is a channel that cut the island in half many years ago. Here we will hook up with Mr. Waddell who will be waiting for us in his boat. He will take us across the waterway, which is about 100 years wide and drop us off on Little St. George Island. The island is a state park and is completely uninhabited. Once on the island, we will begin a 4-5 mile hike down the beach which should be amazing as we are scheduled for a full moon Friday evening. We will then have to navigate across the island until we reach our camp site. Our camp site is the youth camp by the eastern most pier, when you look at Google earth this will make sense.
Since this is a very remote island, there are no stores unless you want to swim to Apalachicola! Therefore, you need to BRING EVERYTHING WITH YOU! You will need tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad (recommended), and warm cloths! (Head covering such as a beanie, gloves, and very warm jacket) I would suggest wearing cloths in layers. Start with a base layer of under armor or long Johns, and then a fleece, vest, insulator, and a shell. This way you can peel off layers while we hike and then layer back up once we stop moving. Let me be very clear, it is going to be quite cold. Tallahassee is schedule for 32 degrees Friday night and the island will be 5-7 degrees colder due to the wind, so BE PREPARED.
As far as food, you will need to be completely self sufficient. Bring food for Saturday breakfast, lunch and dinner and snacks. And Sunday breakfast. Again I would recommend oatmeal, freeze dried food for dinner and lunch. Again Trail and Ski has the Mountain House brand of frees dried food which is quite good. All you do is boil water and pour it in. So go see JC over there and tell him I sent you in! Some Pita Bread and those personal Jiff peanut butter cups are nice, filling and easy to carry as well. Water will be at a premium this camp out as there is only one local resource and it takes like sulfur. So bring at least 64 oz of water with you as well as a small bottle for the hike in. We will have some stock water on Mr. Wadells boat, but don’t use this as a crutch as good tasting H2O will be scarce.
As far as gear, bring a personal first aid kit, flash light or headlamp (recommended) fire making kit, knife and compass, metal cup and small mess pot for boiling water. I want to make sure I am clear that you will each need a personal light source for the hike in! I would like each of you to have one glow stick as well for the crossing and the hike. This way we can see all of you at all times! Remember everything you bring must fit in your pack and you must carry this pack so don’t bring unnecessary gear! This type of campout is quite an education because you will have limited supplies and limited gear so this creates a forced self reliant situation. It also creates an opportunity to trade and barter with your fellow campers. Last camp out, I traded a package of hot coco I had for two candy bars!
The younger scouts will have the opportunity to cook on an open fire, do an orienteering course both during the day and at night. The older guys will have to comfort their own challenges that will be detailed once on the island. (Hint, be prepared to interact with fish and oysters and crabs as a food source).
We will break camp on Sunday morning and hike back to “the cut” and be ferried back across and then we will return home. I suspect we will be back at the church by 2:00 PM.
October 16th, 2009 - Torreya
Just a brief reminder about the details of this weekend’s camp out.
We will be meeting at the church on Friday afternoon. Please be at the scout area no later than 4:30 so we can get out of town before the 5:00 traffic. We will be stopping at the Flying J truck stop off I-10 for a buffet dinner so make sure your scout has money for his dinner. After dinner we will be heading to Torreya State park. http://www.floridastateparks.org/torreya/ if you are dropping off your scout, have no fear as we have plenty of drivers to get him safely to the park.
Once we get to the state park, we will park the cars and pack up our gear and head into the woods. The hike to the first camp site is around 1 mile and should take around 20-30 minutes. The camp site is called Rocky Bluff and is a wonderful spot on a 50 foot bluff. It is really cool. We will be camping primitive style, meaning you will need a tent, sleeping bag, rain gear, and what ever personal camping items you choose to bring. For first time scouts, make sure you bring your SCOUT BOOK! This type of camp out will allow you guys to knock off many-many requirements that you need for Tenderfoot, Second Class and First Class. For you guys, make sure you bring a knife, matches, compass, and basic first aid kit. The weather should be nice and it might even get a little cool in the woods so make sure you have a fleece or jacket. Did I mention make sure you bring some rain gear too? You must “Be Prepared”
As far as food, you will have to be self sufficient. Since we are eating dinner at the truck stop you will only need a snack of some sort for Friday evening. You will need Saturday breakfast, lunch and dinner. I would suggest, oatmeal, soup and sandwich, and some kind of canned soup or pasta, or freeze dried food. You can get Ramain noodles for cheap or you can splurge on some nice freeze dried food from Trail and Ski. Make sure you bring a canteen for your H2O! When we get up on Saturday morning we will break camp and hike back to the cars where we can “resupply” if needed so if you want to bring some extra food you can leave it in one of the cars and pick it up Saturday morning. We have a special activity for you guys on Saturday and after this activity we will then hike to the next camp site. The scond camp site will be around a 3 mile hike and it is kind of “hilly” to get there, it is a primitive camp site on the Torryea Challenge Trail and is a very secluded spot. We will set up camp again, build fires and work on scouting skills.
This camp out will be a great introduction to the wonderful world of primitive camping and hike/camping. So make sure you are prepared with a good backpack, extra socks, and your food and basic gear. For a quick FYI, no pack should weight over 1/3 of your body weight so please do not let the moms pack for the scouts! (sorry moms J)
Dear Pumpkins Lovers:
It is almost that time again. The pumpkins are coming........and coming.........
and coming some more.
Faith Presbyterian Church has asked that I pass along to all Scouts (and their families) that there will be a truck with pumpkins in the parking lot of the church needing unloading on the following October dates:
October 7, 2009 4:00 P.M.
October 14, 2009 4:00 P.M.
October 21, 2009 4:00 P.M.
Selling pumpkins is the primary fund-raiser for the church youth groups. Since the church supports our Troop, this is an easy (and fun) way to give a little back to them. Each unloading date will take about an hour and a half. There is no "automated" way to get pumpkins off of a semi except to hand them out one at a time. That is where each of you come in.
Please plan to attend one or two of these events. It is work but it is also a good time. Come try it.
September 19th, 2009 - Wacissa Canoe Trip
Remember the camp out is Saturday - Sunday. Please be at the Scout Hut at the church by 8:00 AM. We will leave from the church and head down to the head springs of the Wasisa at the end of Hwy 59. If you get lost on the way down, you basically take Applachee Parkway. Once you pass Chairs-Cross Road, it is roughly 11 miles to Hwy 59. Turn right and it is 4 miles to the end of the road and the parking lot of the river.
Please remember to bring your own lunch for the paddle to the camp out and make sure it is water proofed! We will paddled the first 9 miles to the Walkers property and set up camp there as our gear and tents will come by car. We will camp there for the evening. You also need to bring a basic breakfast for Sunday morning such as oatmeal, pop tarts bananas etc. Something that does not need to be cooked. We then will do three more miles of paddling to reach Goose Pasture and out poll out. We should be back at the scout hut around 2:00 on Sunday assuming all goes well............
There is a good chance of rain, so make sure you have rain gear for camping and plenty of tarps, and a change of dry cloths
Saturday September 12th, 2009
Another opportunity to earn the waterskiing merit badge! Let's do it before the water gets cold (or goes down the sinkhole)!
It will be offered it on Sat, Sept 12th at 2:00 PM for interested Scouts! Wear your suit, and come out to the dock on Lake Jackson behind 1899 Millers Landing Rd. I'll provide all gear; just bring a positive attitude. Those with tattoos and excessive body piercing can also do the "watersports" MB, which allows the use of wakeboards to qualify.
RSVP so I can get an idea on the count, and recruit other boats & drivers if necessary.