In 1984 I was High Adventure/Woodlore Director at Camp Hayden. I hitchhiked from College in Missoula, MT to NYC then traveled up with Shooting Sports Director James "JT" More. My stories of Camp Hayden are many and varied but the one I'll tell is the Pig Roast of 1984.
At the end of the camp season the staff decided that we would have a pig roast. The Camp Director David Grey-Schofied was a city boy and no idea what we planned but gave us permission and his blessing after he asked "You know how to do that stuff"? I assured him that I did know how and it would be a real lesson for everyone. JT, Gary Heavner, and I talked a scoutmaster into going over to Pennsylvania where we had located and purchased a live 4H project pig. 245 lbs. of live pig... I have always wondered what his wife said to him when he brought his station wagon back home smelling like...
We then directed the staff to dig a hole to fit the roasting pit. They went wild and we soon had a 8 ft wide by 10 foot hole about 3 feet deep. We lined the pit with rocks then filled it with lovely NY hardwood logs and set it on fire. Wow! After awhile we had a beautiful roasting pit chock-full of coals. In the meanwhile we had unloaded the pig into the Woodlore shed and invited all the scouts down for a demonstration. We used the .22 from the rifle range and shot our pig in the forehead killing her instantly. We then gutted the pig explaining how to go about doing it correctly. About 75 scouts watched as we did this.. Some immediately reverted to vegetarian. But it was a good lesson on where your meat comes from. We put the pig in the freezer to cool while we completed the roasting set up. We pioneered up two large tripods at each end of the pit, found a long green maple spit, and attached the pig to the spit. We then poised the pig over our lovely bed of coals and sent a marvelous smell over the entire TM Reservation as she rotisseried for the next 16 hours. Spuds, carrots and other veggies were put in the pit towards the end in Foil Packets. We invited all remaining camp scouts, Scoutmasters and staff to our feast. And Man Was It Good!