JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) - Visitors from around the world have listened to a recording at the Jackson Hole and Greater Yellowstone Visitor Center of Nathan Watson explaining the partnership between the Boy Scouts of America and the National Elk Refuge.
The then-9-year-old talks articulately about how Scouts pick up elk antler sheds each year and then auction them off. It’s like Scouts help manage the refuge, he said.
“To me community service means an average person in the community goes out to do something that helps the community as a whole,” he said on the recording.
Watson, now 18, carried a set of antlers to the podium for the 50th annual Boy Scout Elk Antler Auction in May, his last year at ElkFest with the Scouts.
He waved the antlers around, hamming it up for the crowd as the bid rose from $14 per pound to $22.26 per pound. He was clueless as to how much the pair went for.
“I was too busy pleasing the crowd,” he said with a smile.
Watson has participated in the annual event with Boy Scout Troop 268, and previously Cub Scout Pack 268, since he was 6 years old.
Local Scouts donate time and energy to collect sheds in April and auction them during ElkFest, an event that can raise upwards of $200,000 in a single day. Three-quarters of the proceeds go to the National Elk Refuge and the other 25 percent to the Boy Scouts of America.
Watson is comfortable on the podium holding up antlers for bidders, but his father and troop leader, David Watson, remembers how shy he was as a kid.
“He would have never done that even just a few years ago,” he said.
His personality shines onstage as he shows a Cub Scout how to run the show.
“You can see the kids gain confidence in themselves,” David Watson said. “It’s been fun to watch (Nathan) grow up and mature through Scouting.”
The spring rite starts in mid-April, when a few hundred Boy Scouts are, in a somewhat orderly fashion, let loose on the refuge to collect shed antlers.
“It’s the greatest day in Scouting,” Troop 268 Advancement Officer Beth Carlson said.
Her favorite part, she said, is seeing kids on their first hunt.
“The new younger kids come in with the biggest smile on their face holding their first antler,” she said. “It’s magical.”
The annual shed hunt is a tradition for Nathan Watson, his 15-year-old brother, Trevor, and their dad. The trio capitalize on the singular opportunity of exploring the refuge on foot once a year. Such exploration of the refuge is prohibited to the public.
“With technology today it’s so easy just to sit and do nothing, literally, and it’s so nice to look forward to this every year and get the kids out here,” David Watson said.
April 22 was Nathan Watson’s last pick-up as a Scout. He found five, one more than his brother. By lunchtime Troop 268 had collected about 80 antlers in the northeast corner of the refuge.
“It’s a pretty incredible experience,” Nathan Watson said, “one that a lot of people never get to have.”
He has made plenty of memories from his time on the refuge, like the year he and his brother found a shed in a river, encapsulated in mud. It’s been great having the brothers be able to be in Scouts together, their dad said. Both have earned their Eagle Scout rank.
“Nathan has really helped and encouraged his younger brother to stick with it,” David Watson said.
It’s not always easy to stick with Boy Scouts, he said. They start as 6-year-olds, and to make it through to 18 is an accomplishment. There are plenty of other opportunities, like sports, and distractions for kids.
“For him to stick with it as long as he did and get to his Eagle has been great,” he said.
It doesn’t hurt that their troop leader father instilled a sense of service in his boys. If they weren’t Scouts they would still volunteer in the community, their dad said.
“It’s a great way to really become a citizen of a community,” he said. “If you do it at a young age it’s a natural thing to do when you’re older.”
___
Information from: Jackson Hole (Wyo.) News And Guide, https://www.jhnewsandguide.com
Please read our comment policy before commenting.