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Another thread got me to reminiscing about my first exposure to the exploits of the famous Jim Corbett, hunter of man-eating tigers in India. I first "heard" of him in a magazine named Boy's Life, which was available to Boy Scouts by subscription. I would have been about 12 or 13 when I read the article about Corbett in the magazine. Sixty years later I remember exactly where I was when I read that. Isn't it amazing how something as innocuous as a written story of tiger hunting can have such a lasting influence on a person?

Does anyone else here remember Boy's Life magazine?

If you haven't already seen it, this episode of "Under Wild Skies" might be of interest, Stan.

Stan,
I had a subscription from the second grade, when my mom was our den mother for the neighborhood troop, until about eighth grade, when I lost interest in being a Boy Scout. Ironically, it was the lack of opportunities to hunt and fish within the scouts that caused my interest to wan. That was what I wanted to be doing.
It never happened to me, but the local troop was disbanded after accusations of child abuse were leveled at the people running it. I don’t recall what they were, but, for whatever reason troop 516 was disbanded pretty quickly about a decade after I was no longer part of it. Another troop was founded, and my next door neighbor kid was part of that organization. I vividly recall that kid asking me to accompany him so he could go on a father and son camping trip, because, for no reason of his own, he didn’t have a father, and he couldn’t go without an adult male to accompany him. I volunteered to go, and actually had an outstanding time camping in the woods with his Cub Scout pack.

We caught a mess of smallmouth bass in the Rum River, and had an actual shore lunch. The guys running the new troop were fantastic fishermen. That kid ended up dropping out of college, traveling to Europe to spend the summer touring on a motorcycle, and met a girl in Spain, married her, and never returned. He has a couple kids. They for sure have a dad. Last conversation I had with him he chatted with my wife in Spanish on the phone for 15 minutes or so. He really turned his life a different, and good direction.

Thanks for the good memory prompt.

Best,
Ted

My son is now 20, and he got his Eagle rank about 3 years ago. He subscribed to Boys Life for probably the last 5 years he was in Scouts. He and I had a ton of good times with his Troop and Packs. The modern Boys Life had a lot of good adventure stories, but not much about hunting and firearms. I’m thankful for all fun and learning he got from Scouting.

Larry

I did not read Boy's Life but I do have a fascination with Tiger hunting. I just finished "Big Game Hunting in Nepal", an outstanding read with some interesting aspects of jungle life I had not read of before including enclosing the tigers in a larger ring formed by Elephants and cloth, capturing Tiger cubs, fighting wild bull Elephants armed with a lance while riding a domesticated Elephant and capturing wild bull Elephants. Asia was a sportsman's paradise a hundred years ago. I have most if not all of Corbet's books, great stuff!

Boys Life became Scout Life in 2021 to accommodate the girls. I was a Boy Scout as a kid and an ASM for 13 years. My youngest is an Eagle. I loved BL magazine. I believe in the back of the magazine was an ad for military surplus jeeps that were drop shipped in a crate disassembled. Always wanted to order one. Cool stuff.

Ted, my grandpa took me to the Rum River in the early '60s. He put on his waders and carried me on his shoulders. I had him grab some clams to show them to me. That same day, he told me what an 'outdoor biffy' was! He was a scout leader back in the '40s and '50s. I remember reading Boy's Life, too.

So glad there are some others here who have good memories about scouting, and Boy's Life. I was in a very small troop, Troop 203, but we were active in camping, hiking, attending jamborees and summer camp, etc. I made Eagle and was inducted into the Order Of The Arrow. Dad knew my adventurous spirit and made me a promise that he would pay for me a summer trip to Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico if I dedicated myself and achieved Eagle rank. I did, and I went. It was a trip of a lifetime. We climbed Baldy Mtn., some 12,000+ ft., that August. I also achieved my God And Country award before leaving the Boy Scouts and entering the Explorers, which was a BSA sanctioned organization for older Scouts who had achieved Eagle rank and wanted to help younger Boy Scouts, at camp, etc.

I was introduced to competitive shooting at summer camp near Augusta. GA, at Camp Linwood Hayne. That also awakened something in me that has never died.

I loved the ads for BB guns and .22's. Can you imagine a kids magazine with gun ads today?

Scouting is a far cry from what it was in my adolescent days. Back then it was a builder of leaders, and men.

To quote 2 Samuel 1:27, "How the mighty have fallen.........".