Woodbadge Critters

It's been that time of year again when the Shenandoah Area Council holds Woodbadge training for scouting leaders.  Jake was asked to be on staff for this course.  He was quite lucky because he had an excellent staff to work with.  Of course it roped him into some other scouting duties, but that's what happens when you're willing and able.

Many don't have a clue what Woodbadge Critters are...  As a WB participant, you are placed in a patrol.  Each patrol is given a critter to symbolize them.  And for WB all over the US (maybe even the world), the critters are the same...

Beaver

Bobwhite

Eagle

Fox

Owl

Bear

Buffalo

Antelope

In our council we often only have the first 6 critters unless we have a REALLY BIG course and then it trickles into the others.  I've heard that for even bigger courses there are other critters but I have no idea what they are.  These are the most prominent ones that can be identified all over.

Jake is a Beaver and I am a Fox.  I get a little bugged because neither critter is easy to find cutesy things to go with it.  (When we have reunion dinners, many people come donned with aspects of their critters.)  Although Jake thinks trinkets and symbols of his patrol are dumb, I quite like it.  Like many of my fellow scouters, I like expressing that I'm a fox.  But since fox things are quite rare, I thought I'd take matters into my own hands.

Here is the little bean bag beaver I made for Jake.  (He thought it was dumb, so now it sits as a paperweight on some of our stuff.)  The boys thought it was cute!

 For my fox, I saw a similar one on etsy.  Of course there was no pattern, so I tried to develop my own.  My fox pillow isn't quite perfect, but I think it represents pretty well.

I'm sure you're now thinking I'm a bit crazy and that these critters are "weird".  Rest assured, there are others out there that are way wackier with their stuff than I am.  Maybe I'll take pics at our next reunion dinner so you can see!