Introducing Cub Scouts to Archery and my
"Wildlife Room"
By Bob DeLaney
I enjoy talking with Cub Scouts in my wildlife room to try to kindle the fire in youngsters to take up the sport of archery. These youngsters have never seen many of these animals up close and to be able to run their hands through the fur of a bison or black bear is an exciting experience. Although most of these boys are in the third grade, they ask many interesting questions and yearn to learn more. We live in a very urban area and these scouts probably have not had the opportunities to discover the outdoors as much as scouts in rural areas.
I learned to shoot a bow and arrow at Boy Scout Camp some 50 years ago and have enjoyed it immensely since I first learned. I participated in several State tournaments in those early days and shot my bow at field archery ranges. Then I met some bowhunters and harvested my first whitetail buck in 1971 with a recurve bow and fiberglass arrows. I liked hunting with a bow because of the greater challenge and the skill required to become successful.
So, I wanted to give back to scouting what scouting gave to me - the love of the bow and the mystical flight of the arrow. When I was a lad, I read every book I could find about bows and arrows and the history of archery in England and America. I would shoot my bow in my back yard and when I got tired, I would read some more articles about Fred Bear and his adventure stories.
I am presently working with the executive Director of the Greenwich Boy Scouts and his staff to bring small groups of the cub scouts into my wildlife room to talk about habitat, conservation, geography, horns vs. antlers, carnivores, and diet of the animals and the nutritional value of wild game. We also discuss the various types of archery equipment from English long bows, recurve bows to the current popular compound bows. The cub scouts come in uniform with their leader, Craig Lanzoni, on Thursdays and we also talk about American Indians, Early American History, bowhunting and big game animals.
I have a 1200 square foot wildlife room in a separate building from my home with 23 mounts representing more than 15 species including American Bison, Alaskan wolf, Alaskan-Yukon Moose and Mountain Lion. About half of the species are from Africa (South Africa Namibia and Zimbabwe) and the others are from North America. These animals were all harvested with a bow and arrow, with the exception of the Alaskan Wolf.
It is my plan to demonstrate archery to the cub scouts and hopefully inspire these cub scouts to get excited about target archery and ultimately perhaps bowhunting. It is also my plan to acquire some beginner bows and teach the cub scouts to shoot at balloon targets. Who knows? We might develop an interest that would evolve into a dedication for archery competition at the Olympic level.
So far, the thank you notes from the Cubs (most are in the third grade) have been reward enough for me to continue this effort as long as the cubs wish to continue to visit my "wildlife room" and learn about the sport of archery and bowhunting.
