Grown-ups on Maui who've never picked up a bow, a shotgun or a tomahawk are being invited to try all three at once. Scouting America's Aloha Council is opening registration for the 2026 Maui Sportsman's Challenge, a two-day fundraiser set for September 26 and 27 at Camp Maluhia in Waiheʻe, where four-person teams will rotate through 10 outdoor skill stations with no prior experience required.
The competition, first detailed by Maui Now, is capped at 24 four-person teams total, split evenly with 12 teams competing each day. Stations include pistol, rifle and shotgun shooting, archery, atlatl, slingshot, darts, tomahawk and knife throwing, and an airsoft shooting gallery. Blake Parsons, CEO and Scout Executive of Scouting America, Aloha Council, said the challenge showcases many of the outdoor skills that have long been part of scouting.
Each event day opens with a continental-style breakfast and coffee before teams rotate through the stations, with organizers providing a full safety briefing plus safety instruction, equipment guidance and rules at every stop. The day wraps up with lunch and awards recognizing top individual and team performances. Preferred competition days are assigned first-come, first-served, so teams choosing between Saturday or Sunday should register early to lock in their slot.
Who Can Sign Up, and What It Costs
Businesses and community organizations, along with scouting supporters, friends and coworkers from any island, are encouraged to form teams. Outdoors-related businesses have another option: rather than paying a standard entry fee, they can donate merchandise or products valued at $100 or more, and those businesses may also set up a vendor tent at the event. The Aloha Council is separately accepting donations of door prizes or silent auction items from anyone looking to support the fundraiser.
Organizers describe the event as a rare on-ramp for a specific kind of Maui resident: adults who've only encountered scouting secondhand, through a child or grandchild in the program. For them, the Sportsman's Challenge offers a chance to experience that side of scouting firsthand, competing in skills that youth members practice year-round. Interested participants can reserve a team's spot by visiting scoutinghawaii.org, where registration is currently open.
Where the Money Goes
Proceeds from the Sportsman's Challenge support year-round youth programs that build leadership, teamwork, responsibility and outdoor skills, along with broader Scouting America, Aloha Council service projects and its camp facilities. Camp Maluhia itself is one of those beneficiaries. The 18-acre site along Kahekili Highway in West Maui traces back to 1937, when it began as a joint venture between Alexander House, the Girl Scouts and the Boy Scouts, according to The Maui News. The Boy Scouts purchased the core acreage from the state in 1958, a year that fell 22 years prior to Hawaii statehood.
The camp sits directly beside the 2.5-mile Waiheʻe Ridge Trail, which climbs 1,500 feet into the West Maui Mountains overlooking Waiheʻe Valley and Makamakaʻole Gulch, per Modern Hiker. But Camp Maluhia is far more than scenery for hikers passing by. The Maui News reports the property, which includes a dining hall, sleeping cabins, a longhouse and a swimming pool, is occupied roughly 60% of the year and 95% of weekends by community groups, school retreats and recovery organizations in addition to youth scouts.
A Camp With a History of Stepping Up
That community role became especially visible after the August 2023 Maui wildfires, when Camp Maluhia served as an emergency shelter base hosting nearly 100 Red Cross relief workers, according to Direct Relief. Local scouts assembled 20,000 personal protective equipment kits for returning residents during that response, with the Aloha Council absorbing the hosting costs for disaster response personnel.
Facility upgrades have continued in the years since. In July 2024, the council secured a $100,000 grant from Whittier Trust to replace five 75-year-old, termite-damaged Pop Hutton cabins, according to Maui Now. Those cabins honor William H. “Pop” Hutton, Maui's first council executive from 1920 to 1934.
The Aloha Council formed in March 2019, when Maui County's nearly century-old independent scouting council voted unanimously to merge into the Oahu-based organization following a $150,000 annual operating shortfall and shifting national demographics, ending nearly 100 years of standalone Maui County Council operations. Today the council, which rebranded nationally from Boy Scouts of America to Scouting America in February 2025, oversees scouting operations for nearly 4,000 youth and more than 2,000 adult volunteers across Hawaii, Guam and American Samoa.
Corporate backing for Maui scouting has grown alongside those changes. Kapalua's PGA Tour event, The Sentry, named the Aloha Council an official charitable beneficiary as part of $735,694 raised for Maui non-profits during its 2024 tournament, an event that has generated more than $9 million for local charities since 1999. The Sportsman's Challenge offers a smaller-scale, hands-on way for individual Maui residents and businesses to contribute to that same pool of local scouting support.
-4.webp?w=160&h=400&fit=crop&crop=edges)
