The Black Tailed Deer began their Explorer’s club career with a classic northwest fall day that included a half-inch of rain in the forecast! As we gathered in the parking lot at Fairhaven Park we all checked our packs to make sure that we were prepared for the day with a good rain jacket. Parents were met and boys dropped off and as soon as we hit an even dozen, the Black Tailed Deer headed off on our first adventure together.
The rain held off long enough for us to play a good game of Name Tag in the open field, which helped us become acquainted along with running off a little bit of our excited energy, although there was certainly enough of that to last for the rest of the outing. With the first drops of rain we headed for the cover of the 100 Aker woods.
Once safely inside the woods we found a satisfactory spot for an opening circle and an opportunity to go over some Boys Explorers Club culture. We were able to highlight some of the more basic mottos and traditions quickly as many of us have had some sort of exposure to Wild Whatcom before. We had a brief but good discussion about what a community is and what kind of community we want to create as the Black Tailed Deer. With an understanding that much of the BEC culture is revealed to us as we grow and share experiences as a group, we passed out jobs and were off in a matter of minutes to get started on a full day of exploring together.
Along the trail we quickly went over the rules to Hide!, the most fundamental BEC game, and had a few great rounds of this game in a cool spot that the boys found. The Tribal Elder for the day then gathered us up and we all decided to set a course for a spot with bigger, more protective trees for us to play under. 
After a bit of rambling and romping we found a great spot to enjoy some much needed nourishment of food and water and a great log to bounce on. Here we played many rounds of Hungry Hungry Marten that had us dashing about through the underbrush as us squirrels tried to avoid being eaten by the marten. As a group we felt the urge to once again venture on and explore new tracts of forest.
We came to another interesting piece of land that allowed us some time for an essential part of any exploration, Free Play. Some of us did some exploring of a creek, others had a snack, and a few of us even felt the need to combine our strength to scatter some rather large downed logs around our new spot. After ample free time, the mentors posed a challenge to us.
While we were playing in the woods, one of the mentors had set up the game Camouflage Gauntlet. We welcomed this Challenge by Choice and we used our sense of sight to spot hidden targets (colored pipe cleaners) that were placed by the mentors as we walked single file along a transect of forest in silence. Most of us spotted 8-12, while there were actually 21 hidden along the path! We walked the path again, from a different angle this time and were able to see a few more. Finally, we moved through as a group and luckily found all 21 of the targets. The earth skills focus for the Black Tailed Deer this season is “The Art of Camouflage”, and this game allowed us to ponder and discuss what it really means to be camouflaged in terms of color and cover.
As the sun dipped a little lower in the sky we knew it was time to head back to the parking lot to meet our parents, and to speed up the walk back to our closing circle we played Wolf Stalks Deer, culminating in all of the Wolves having a deer feast. We had a closing circle and gave our thanks, introducing the fundamental BEC motto Attitude of Gratitude.
For more photos from the day look here.
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