Introduction to Crew 317

Crew 317, located in Indianapolis, IN, is part of the Venturing program within the Boy Scouts of America and specializes in promoting the shooting sports. Crew 317 holds regular meetings at Gander Mountain and at a variety of ranges in the area. The philosophy of the crew is to teach safe handling of firearms, proper shooting techniques and an appreciation of the history of firearms in America. As leaders, we feel we can expose the young men and women of the crew to a sport they can participate in for a lifetime.

Overall Crew Goals

Crew 317 was started with the desire to share and promote the safe enjoyment of the shooting sports with our scouting youth. If you ask young scouts what the enjoy most about summer camp, many will tell you how the shot their first .22 or first shotgun. Shooting has been closely linked with scouting since the early days and Crew 317 like to continue that tradition. The crew tries to take the next step as well in allowing our trained youth membership promote the sport by helping instruct other youth members of scouts at various district and council events.

Membership

The Venturing program is open to male and female youth at least 14 years old AND graduated 8th grade. While this is the minimum requirement, we also will have discussions with potential new members to gauge maturity levels and family support. Our primary goal for the crew is the SAFE enjoyment of the shooting sports and every member needs make safety their first priority.

Adult Leadership

To start, most of the Advisors of Crew 317 have been leaders in Scouting for 10 years or more. That gives us both the experience and knowledge to work with the youth members of our crew. Also, the BSA believes that every scout deserves a well trained leader and Crew 317 couldn't agree more. Not only are all our adult advisors BSA trained leaders, all are certified instructors by the National Rifle Association or BSA in at least 1 discipline. Having adult leaders properly trained as instructors in the disciplines of rifle, shotgun and pistol shooting and archery allows us to properly train our youth members to participate in those disciplines as well.

Uniform

Crew 317 has a crew shirt that all crew members must purchase to wear at crew events. The crew also encourages both youth and adult members to purchase the BSA "official" forest green uniform shirt to wear at district and council events.