Howdy, from the Natural State

By: Posted On: 2010-08-11

Hi, my name is Scott McClure and I have volunteered to start writing here on the blog. I wanted to take this first post to introduce myself and to give you an idea of what I 'll be writing about. To start off with, I'm 39-years-old and have been continually in Scouts, one way or another, for about 29 years now. I live in Russellville, Arkansas pretty close to where I grew up. I spent 11-years in the military, I drove a truck over-the-road, been a fireman, a private security officer and lots of other things as well. I'm a photographer with a small studio but mainly shoot nature, wildlife and action sports just for myself.

   I'm currently a Parks and Recreation major at Arkansas Tech University. I was a journalism major both here at ATU and at the University of Central Arkansas. I have worked as a photographer, photo editor and writer for three college newspapers, three small family-owned weekly newspapers, my local daily newspaper and my state-wide daily newspaper. I was a staff photographer for my local daily for two years. While there, I wrote a weekly column that was a photography-based travel thing that ran in our Sunday edition for over a year. I finally got burned out after working 80-hour weeks for those two years and quit to put myself back into my classes.

   Currently, I'm a self-employed photographer/ wilderness skills instructor. I have recently started a small outdoor skills school and I cater mainly  to all of my local Boy Scouts. I primarily teach wilderness survival with some of the basic camping, backpacking and pioneering type stuff thrown in. Later on, I'll also be offering guided backpacking and canoeing trips.

   That brings me to what I'm going to write about in my next installment... In June of this year, I guided my (and my son's) Boy Scout troop on their first 50-mile canoe trip. We spent a week on the Buffalo National River in Northern Arkansas. I'm not sure who had the most fun, me... or the Scouts. I took two other adults and eight boys along on this trip, not bad considering that it's a small troop. We mainly did this because of the rising cost of summer camp. We were able to borrow enough canoes for the week and after the cost of food and gas to get there, we only spent about $300 for 11 people for the week. Last year we went to a regular camp and with three adults (not counting the two that were free) and 12 boys, it ran almost $2500.00. If the church hadn't paid for most of it, we wouldn't have been able to go. But, the point is, you can see haw much we saved by doing our own thing this summer and that trip is what I'm going to write about..Everyone that went is looking forward to the next one. I know that I am.

   So, until next time... Get up, get out there and have some fun... and most importantly - Be Prepared


 
 

Materials found on InsaneScouter'.org is © 1998 - 2025, but may be reproduced and used for anything consistent with the Scouting and Guiding programs. Unless otherwise noted on the page. If you believe we are republishing your copyrighted material without permission, please Contact Us including the url to have it removed or your copyright information added. All opinions expressed on these pages are those of the original authors. All holdings are subject to this Disclaimer.

Please be advised that InsaneScouter is NOT affiliated with any Scouting or Guiding Organization including Boy Scouts of America.

Scouting resources for Den Leaders, Cubmasters, Scoutmasters, Girl Guides, Girl Scout, Cub Scout, Venturing, Exploring, Beavers, Joey, Boy Scout Leaders