Live Rabbits for Dinner
From Troop552
During the State Fair of Oklahoma in September of 1970, Troop 552 had a campout on the fairgrounds. This was a tradition at the time to have a boy scout troop on an actual campout during the fair, I don't know if this is still done.
During our state fair campout, live rabbits were provided to each patrol to be killed, butchered, and cooked for Saturday evening dinner. The method used to kill the rabbits was to break their necks by pulling their heads forward until their spines broke. Unfortunately, several of the scouts were not strong enough to be able to do this. The result was a bunch of scouts holding screaming rabbits in one hand while pulling on the rabbits head with the other. The fair-goers watching this scene were horrified and ran away holding their hands over their ears to try to stop the loud screeching noices coming from the rabbits. Finally, the troop leaders saw (and heard) what was happening and begain helping the scouts with the rabbits. I think if this happened today, it would probably make the evening news, the scouts would be labeled as disturbed children, PETA would be suing the Boy Scouts, and the fair-goers would be offered "counselling". Dfrench 23:45, 28 March 2009 (UTC)
This campout was at the Fair Ground but it was part of Scout-o-rama, I think. The funny thing was the ladies/mom's of the 70's didn't appreciate the frontier spirit our troop practiced with "processing" of the live animals. You know, my son was in scouts as well in Piedmont after we returned to this area. We took lessons from those same campouts and (you call it processed) turkeys on every November campout. We called it "Turkey Pride". Yes, Mr. Groves, and Kenny came out and help the young scouts for the first couple of years. We did it at Kickapoo and at Fort Reno. It brought back alot of memories. Do you remember when we took the turkeys to the Oney Farm and "processed" them? I remember chasing them all the way down the hill after the "dirt deed" was done!!!!! I also remember one time at Wichita Moutain Wildlife Refuge, when one of the guys in my patrol stepped in the bucket of hot water we used to scorch the feathers off the dead chickens...... Man I bet that hurt. He never really complained though... His initials were M. R. I'm sure you guys remember him..... RS Groves 21:12, 30 March 2009 (UTC)
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