Cub Pack 150's Bear Den
If a Cub Scout has completed the second grade and has earned the Bobcat Badge, he may start earning the Bear rank. He will receive a Bear Scout handbook but continues to use the Wolf neckerchief slide when beginning the Bear portion of the boy scout trail. He will continue to use the blue Cub Scout Uniform. This part of the boy scout trail is intended to take one school year, preparing the scout to begin earning his Webelos rank after he completes third grade.
Your Bear den will have opportunities to participate in Pack meetings. Prepare your scouts by having them ready to perform a couple of Bear Scout Skits and lead the pack in some Games. By having a Bear favorite ready, your scouts will look good, have fun, and increase their confidence through leading the pack.
Tip: Many packs award the Bear badge at their Blue-Gold banquet in February. If you begin your Bear program in September, this means you have less than 5 months to complete the Bear requirements. You must plan out what requirements your den will do and make a Schedule so everyone knows what is expected. A calendar kept up to date helps families keep track of their scouting commitments.
In the Bear scouting program, there are 4 general achievement groups: God, Country, Family, and Self and a total of about 120 individual achievement tasks. In each group, a certain number of achievements are required to earn the Bear rank badge. After earning the Bear badge, the scout may earn arrow points by completing additional achievement tasks.
The Bear badge must be earned first before any arrow points are awarded. A gold arrow point is awarded for the first 10 achievement tasks over the Bear requirements. A silver arrow point is awarded for each additional 10 tasks completed. Since all arrow points are awarded after the Bear badge is awarded, your scouts might not receive any awards until February at the earliest. To provide frequent recognition, Bear scouts can earn Progress Beads. For completing the requirements of 3 of the Achievements listed below, one RED bead is awarded and placed on the Progress Towards Ranks totem. This provides the scout with a total of 4 beads culminating in the award of his Bear badge. These beads are awarded at the den level rather than at Pack meetings.
Much of the advancement for the Bear rank is done by the scout with his family outside of the den, similarly to the Wolf rank. The parent signs off in the scout's handbook and the Den Leader records the advancements from the handbook to tracking chart or software program. The Bear program relies heavily on family involvement, but you will see this gradually change with the scout doing more with his den and more individual direction as he reaches Webelos and Boy Scouts.