“You learn by listening, doing, failing and doing again,” BoyScouts of America scoutmaster Gary Benoit reassured scouts as theyreturned from failing to find a targeted location on the compasscourse.

Benoit reviewed their notes, subtlety guided them back on courseand watched them run off along the correct route.

“It’s a learning process. It’s how you learn. Learning frombooks is helpful, but it’s learning out here that makes it stick,”Benoit said as he waved his arms to encompass the fields andforests of the Enterprise community Saturday.

More than 55 Boy Scouts ranging in age from 11 to 18 from theSouthern District of the Andrew Jackson Council converged on theRandy and Theresa Watts farm in Enterprise this weekend to applyand test their outdoor skills.

The scouts were tested on wide variety of survival skills atstops along a meandering compass course. Scouts were also tested onhow quickly they could navigate the compass course, which requiredthem to identify tree species, gauge the height of trees withoutmeasuring equipment and determine their age.

Craig King, a scoutmaster for Brookhaven’s Troop 450, supervisedthe first aid station.

According to the exercise simulation, the patrol leader, oftenthe oldest boy in the troop, had fallen and sprained his ankle andcut his arm. The rest of the patrol had to tend to his wounds anddetermine the best way to move him to the next stop in thecourse.

“It can be funny sometimes to see what they come up with,” saidKing, chuckling as a patrol of scouts from Brookhaven’s Troop 911dropped their patrol leader Chandler Rogers.

The much younger boys turned to Rogers and asked him how theyshould carry him now.

“I can’t answer you. I’m unconscious,” said an improvisingRogers, who had hit his head when he was dropped.

Once they reached the checkpoint, however, he made suggestionson what they could have done.

At another station, troops learned to use rope and sticks tolash together a ladder to scale an obstacle.

“It’s not as easy as it looks,” said event instructor JohnBallard of Natchez’s Troop 158. “The lashes have to remain tight tosupport the weight.”

Scouts at another station were attempting to make the night’sdessert over an open fire. Concentration was high. If they failed,there would be less dessert after the meal.

Of course, that’s assuming there would be a meal. Scouts fishedduring the day from a pond on the Watts property to catch enoughcatfish, bass and bream for a fish fry later that night.

Not to worry, though. There was plenty of fish to go around.

Theresa Watts said it was the first time she and her husband hadhosted the event.

“Each camporee is different,” she said. “This time it’s onoutdoor skills. I just happened to have the room andfacilities.”

Past events have included emergency response exercises at theLincoln County-Brookhaven Multi-Purpose Building, among others. Lawenforcement officials, firemen and emergency medical techniciansassisted scoutmasters in that event.

Camporees are held several times each year at various locationsthroughout the district.