5 ms·

I too have fond memories of droppings in my boyscout times (Belgium) ... I remember a particular one where we had to find our way through a forest before midnig

by c1sc0 7y ago

I too have fond memories of droppings in my boyscout times (Belgium) ... I remember a particular one where we had to find our way through a forest before midnight ... it was then followed-up by midnight (catholic) mass at an abbey close to the edge of a forest to calm us down (bummer) ... another one was a multi-day thing where we had to find our way in small groups. As described in the article there were adults observing us but refusing to help. There were also staged “kidnappings” where we had to free the kidnapped at night. Pretty crazy thinking about that today but it was pretty much normal at the time (eighties) & I am sure a lot more vivid for impressionable kids ... overall I give a 9/10 rating ... “would recommend let your kids get kidnapped at night in the forest”

jacobush 7y ago
We had something similar in school in Sweden. We were to walk a path in the woods at night to get back to camp. And the teachers would jump scare us along the way. In retrospect I wonder how well that would be received today. We were 12 or so, in the 80s.
Insanity 7y ago
Just to confirm, this still happened in the early 2000s for sure. It didn't stay in the eighties :)
Schoolmeister 7y ago
Also from Belgium, but a whole lot younger. This still happens.
6thaccount2 7y ago
"Night Infiltration" is one of the coolest activities I've had the pleasure of doing and I'm in my 30s now. I'm not sure how many troops do it. In my area, only our troop did it on our monthly camp out and I'm fairly certain our troop invented it, but that could be false. https://boyscouttrail.com/content/game/night_infiltration-421.asp https://boyscouttrail.com/content/game/night_infiltration-42... The above blurb does it poor justice though. Imagine a boy-led troop with around 60 scouts on a camp out and nearly zero adult involvement outside of transportation. We had a leadership group of boys in highschool (usually 16 & 17 year olds) and they performed the roll of sentries (~6 boys) and they had flashlights. These represented sniper rifles. Each sentry got one shot (straight line...they can't wave it around) before having to loudly count to 10 representing reload time. I'm from the American south where hunting is big, so it wasn't uncommon for full on camoflauge from nearly all participants...even those rediculous suits you see snipers wear in movies. There is one hidden individual making a quite noise every 20 seconds or so (you'd have to be pretty close to hear it). There are two teams and each scout (X or O team) tries to sneak their paper message (X or O on it) to the hidden individual if they can find them. At the end of the game, the team with the most messages wins. This is always at night and very dark in pretty thick woods. Running is absolutely forbidden as so many scouts have twisted ankles or even broken collar bones by running at night. If you get "shot" by a sentry, you have to go back to base to get another message (like respawning) and I think there is a wait period. If someone in your group finds the hidden agent, they'll naturally want to get the word out to all their fellow group without letting the other team notice, but it can sometimes be difficult. A fascinating and super fun game. In all the years I played as a non-sentry, I only found the hidden agent on my own a few times and with help a few more times. There were games when I never even found him and had to ask afterwards and was blown away by the location sometimes (inside a thorn thicket wth). It was always an amazing experience though. We played on a very large area too depending on forest density. The thicker the foliage, the smaller the need for additional area. Keep in mind that this is a pretty dangerous game from an injury frequency perspective. I'd also recommend the buddy system is used to prevent someone from getting injured and lost (think unconscious). I'd also only recommend playing in areas with no predatory animals (I wouldn't play this in New Mexico where bears and cougars exist).
- em-bee 7y ago
  in germany, games like these are common. though more often during the day than at night, and usually with an elaborate backstory. think LARP. also each game was usually developed new, either from scratch or as a variation of a previous game. rarely the same game was played multiple times, though some groups have developed traditions to play the same game at each camp.
  - 6thaccount2 7y ago
    That sounds like a lot of fun to be honest.
cure 7y ago
Yeah same here, fond memories of the 'droppings' I did as a kid. It's probably worth pointing out that Belgian (and Dutch) woods are relatively safe: it would be difficult to get truly lost. The wooded areas are never more than a few km from civilization. I wonder if there is a spot that is more than 10 km from the nearest road/house/suburb. Also, there are (almost?) no acutely dangerous animals. The only thing we were watching out for were wild boar, but there weren't that many of those around back in the 80's/90's. These days there may be more wildlife to watch out for. When we went on a 'dropping', there were no cell phones nor gps receivers. Just 'stafkaarten' (topographic maps) and a compass. It's easy now ;)
- Gustomaximus 7y ago
  We did 'escape and evasion' orienteering courses that ran 12hrs from 6pm to 6am from about 13 years old in the 90s. This was through bush and farmland in Australia. There were always incidents like cases of hyperthermia, being chased by wild pig, running into things blindly etc. But the 1000's of kids partaking always ended up ok at the end.
  - xtiansimon 7y ago
    >> ‘escape and evasion’ From who? Wow. I can’t read the article because I used up my free, so I don’t know if this is mentioned, but ee sounds paramilitary, and not just orienteering skill. What is the reason behind this?
    - Gustomaximus 7y ago
      Nothing that dramatic. Was school camp for cadets. Kinda like Boy Scouts but with more of a military bent. Guys in older years would try, and usually succeed, to catch you.
tverbeure 7y ago
I used to be the 'bad guy' kidnapping kids from my sister's girl scout troop who were camping out somewhere in the Ardennes. Early nineties, I think? We had midnight droppings during the week-long school outings as well. It's been a long time, but I think a teacher would indeed stay back 50m to observe but not intervene. So much fun. I don't think I ever heard anything about parents having issues with it.

by c1sc0 7y ago

jacobush 7y ago

We had something similar in school in Sweden. We were to walk a path in the woods at night to get back to camp. And the teachers would jump scare us along the way. In retrospect I wonder how well that would be received today. We were 12 or so, in the 80s.

Insanity 7y ago

Just to confirm, this still happened in the early 2000s for sure. It didn't stay in the eighties :)

Schoolmeister 7y ago

Also from Belgium, but a whole lot younger. This still happens.

6thaccount2 7y ago

"Night Infiltration" is one of the coolest activities I've had the pleasure of doing and I'm in my 30s now. I'm not sure how many troops do it. In my area, only our troop did it on our monthly camp out and I'm fairly certain our troop invented it, but that could be false. https://boyscouttrail.com/content/game/night_infiltration-421.asp https://boyscouttrail.com/content/game/night_infiltration-42... The above blurb does it poor justice though. Imagine a boy-led troop with around 60 scouts on a camp out and nearly zero adult involvement outside of transportation. We had a leadership group of boys in highschool (usually 16 & 17 year olds) and they performed the roll of sentries (~6 boys) and they had flashlights. These represented sniper rifles. Each sentry got one shot (straight line...they can't wave it around) before having to loudly count to 10 representing reload time. I'm from the American south where hunting is big, so it wasn't uncommon for full on camoflauge from nearly all participants...even those rediculous suits you see snipers wear in movies. There is one hidden individual making a quite noise every 20 seconds or so (you'd have to be pretty close to hear it). There are two teams and each scout (X or O team) tries to sneak their paper message (X or O on it) to the hidden individual if they can find them. At the end of the game, the team with the most messages wins. This is always at night and very dark in pretty thick woods. Running is absolutely forbidden as so many scouts have twisted ankles or even broken collar bones by running at night. If you get "shot" by a sentry, you have to go back to base to get another message (like respawning) and I think there is a wait period. If someone in your group finds the hidden agent, they'll naturally want to get the word out to all their fellow group without letting the other team notice, but it can sometimes be difficult. A fascinating and super fun game. In all the years I played as a non-sentry, I only found the hidden agent on my own a few times and with help a few more times. There were games when I never even found him and had to ask afterwards and was blown away by the location sometimes (inside a thorn thicket wth). It was always an amazing experience though. We played on a very large area too depending on forest density. The thicker the foliage, the smaller the need for additional area. Keep in mind that this is a pretty dangerous game from an injury frequency perspective. I'd also recommend the buddy system is used to prevent someone from getting injured and lost (think unconscious). I'd also only recommend playing in areas with no predatory animals (I wouldn't play this in New Mexico where bears and cougars exist).

em-bee 7y ago
in germany, games like these are common. though more often during the day than at night, and usually with an elaborate backstory. think LARP. also each game was usually developed new, either from scratch or as a variation of a previous game. rarely the same game was played multiple times, though some groups have developed traditions to play the same game at each camp.
- 6thaccount2 7y ago
  That sounds like a lot of fun to be honest.

cure 7y ago

Yeah same here, fond memories of the 'droppings' I did as a kid. It's probably worth pointing out that Belgian (and Dutch) woods are relatively safe: it would be difficult to get truly lost. The wooded areas are never more than a few km from civilization. I wonder if there is a spot that is more than 10 km from the nearest road/house/suburb. Also, there are (almost?) no acutely dangerous animals. The only thing we were watching out for were wild boar, but there weren't that many of those around back in the 80's/90's. These days there may be more wildlife to watch out for. When we went on a 'dropping', there were no cell phones nor gps receivers. Just 'stafkaarten' (topographic maps) and a compass. It's easy now ;)

Gustomaximus 7y ago
We did 'escape and evasion' orienteering courses that ran 12hrs from 6pm to 6am from about 13 years old in the 90s. This was through bush and farmland in Australia. There were always incidents like cases of hyperthermia, being chased by wild pig, running into things blindly etc. But the 1000's of kids partaking always ended up ok at the end.
- xtiansimon 7y ago
  >> ‘escape and evasion’ From who? Wow. I can’t read the article because I used up my free, so I don’t know if this is mentioned, but ee sounds paramilitary, and not just orienteering skill. What is the reason behind this?
  - Gustomaximus 7y ago
    Nothing that dramatic. Was school camp for cadets. Kinda like Boy Scouts but with more of a military bent. Guys in older years would try, and usually succeed, to catch you.

tverbeure 7y ago

I used to be the 'bad guy' kidnapping kids from my sister's girl scout troop who were camping out somewhere in the Ardennes. Early nineties, I think? We had midnight droppings during the week-long school outings as well. It's been a long time, but I think a teacher would indeed stay back 50m to observe but not intervene. So much fun. I don't think I ever heard anything about parents having issues with it.