This Historic Merit Badge could be earned only during calendar year 2010,
in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America.
It was first offered in 1911 and discontinued in 1952.
THE BADGE IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE
BSA allowed additional time until March 31, 2011, for those
at the local council who enter advancement based on forms
or unit management software file uploads provided. It also applied to unit advancement processors using Internet Advancement.
This was not intended as an extension of time to earn the badges; only as additional time for data entry
. Troops could submit advancement reports for Historic Merit Badges earned by Scouts before December 31, 2010 through March 31, 2011.
BSA had a special program in honor of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the BSA, which included the reintroduction, for 2010 only, of four Historical Merit Badges - Carpentry, Pathfinding, Signaling, and Tracking.
The basics of the 2010 Historical Merit Badge program included:
- An overall goal of the program was for a majority of the BSA’s registered Boy Scouts to earn one or more of the merit badges during the centennial year, 2010.
- The badges offered had a history that can be traced back to the origins of the BSA.
- The original requirements were used, as well as supported by scanned pages of the early merit badge pamphlets so a Scout could view what a Scout 100 years ago used. Supporting the scanned pages of the original pamphlets were information guides for each merit badge that explained what a Scout of 1910 might have experienced, along with background information to assist a Scout in understanding what may be unfamiliar terms.
- The contemporary merit badges closely resemble the original designs of their counterparts with the exception of the border, which is gold. The unique border will immediately identify them as 2010 historic merit badges.
- The four historical merit badges could be used toward a Scout’s rank advancement if they were earned by December 31, 2010.
- The effective date for earning these new merit badges was April 1, 2010, and requirements had to be completed no later than Dec. 31, 2010..
- The BSA did not reprint the pamphlets for these merit badges. Reprints of the original merit badge pamphlets were posted to http://www.scouting.org/BoyScouts/AdvancementandAwards/MeritBadges.aspx
These are the original requirements as written in 1911, except the merit badge was originally entitled Stalking. Because of what the term stalking means in today’s language, the original name was changed to Tracking.
To obtain a Merit Badge for [Tracking], a Scout must:
- Demonstrate by means of a [tracking] game or otherwise, ability to [track] skillfully in shelter and wind, etc., showing how to proceed noiselessly and “freeze” when occasion demands.
- Know and recognize the tracks of ten different kinds of animals or birds in his vicinity, three of which may be domestic.
- Submit satisfactory evidence that he has trailed two different kinds of wild animals or birds on ordinary ground far enough to determine the direction in which they were going, and their gait or speed. Give the names of animals or birds trailed, their direction of travel, and describe gait and speed; or submit satisfactory evidence that he has trailed six different kinds of wild animal or birds in snow, sand, dust, or mud, far enough to determine the direction they were going and their gait or speed. Give names of animals or birds, their direction of travel, and describe gait and speed.
- Submit satisfactory evidence that he has tracked a human being and deducted from the trail whether it was man or woman, young or old, the gait or speed, and also give any other information deduced.
- Submit evidence the he has scored at least 30 points from
the following groups:
[Group (f) and 4 of the 5 groups (a), (b), (c), (d), (e) must be represented in the score of 30 and at least 7 points must be scored from (a), (b), or (c)].
Make clear recognizable photographs of:
a. Live bird away from nest 4 points each b. Live woodchuck or smaller wild animal 3 points each c. Live wild animal larger than woodchuck 4 points each d. Live bird on nest 3 points each e. Tracks of live wild animal or bird 2 points each f. Make satisfactory plaster cast of wild animal or bird tracks with identification imprint on back of each 2 points each
NOTE: These requirements differ from the original draft requirements previously posted on this web site. In addition, shortly after the requirements were officially released, BSA noted an error, in that they had omitted one requirement (No 4 above).
In requirement 4, the phrase "has tracked a human being" should be interpreted in terms of "while searching for a missing person"
BSA Advancement ID#:
Requirements last updated in: 2010
Pamphlet Publication Number: 00000
Pamphlet Stock (SKU) Number: NONE
Pamphlet Revision Date: 1942
Page updated on: June 20, 2017