" Dig Wars " TV show. Your opinions.

Another POOR detecting show that will give all of us a " black-eye " !
I was expecting a decent show, but I think it is nothing much better than the other detecting shows. I knew it would be scripted & expected some silliness. The guy named " Larry " must be the designated " silly actor." Anyone, with their detecting experience, knows you don't dig ordnance & carry it around without having a professional check it out, FIRST. I watched the first half hour & was disgusted ! GOODBYE !!

I thought it was good myself at least it showed them filling in their holes!! I think it's better than American Diggers and the Diggers show!! At least the targets don't look planted when coming out of the ground!! Yeah sometimes shows will give the hobby a blackeye but in some cases it also opens up spots that were off limits before! Especially if you have a spare detector for the land owner to use to try out the hobby. As far as moving of the live shell what would you have done out in the middle of the woods and you found one? I would be toting it out very carefully myself.

88junior Wrote:
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> I thought it was good myself at least it showed
> them filling in their holes!! I think it's better
> than American Diggers and the Diggers show!! At
> least the targets don't look planted when coming
> out of the ground!! Yeah sometimes shows will give
> the hobby a blackeye but in some cases it also
> opens up spots that were off limits before!
> Especially if you have a spare detector for the
> land owner to use to try out the hobby. As far as
> moving of the live shell what would you have done
> out in the middle of the woods and you found one?
> I would be toting it out very carefully myself.

I have been around PLENTY of live ammo & I would have reported it & not moved it . " DANGER------ DANGER "

Well around here if you report it they send out a bomb squad and destroy a piece of history!! In order to get it disarmed there are a few guys in this area that does it but you have to take the chance to get it delivered to them. I guess it's a risk but I'd be willing to take it to save a piece of history!! I guess I'm just a nut over relics and look at things differently.

88junior Wrote:
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> Well around here if you report it they send out a
> bomb squad and destroy a piece of history!! In
> order to get it disarmed there are a few guys in
> this area that does it but you have to take the
> chance to get it delivered to them. I guess it's a
> risk but I'd be willing to take it to save a piece
> of history!! I guess I'm just a nut over relics
> and look at things differently.

If you like looking at things differently, look at this:
[www.foxnews.com]

What I find hilarious is the forum this show spawns out of. One guy in particular "The Hun" aka Pete E....goes on and on and on about everything Larry does. He's the dumbest one of the bunch....he is crowing about this show like he had some big part in it...yet he had absolutely zilch to do with it. He accuses everybody else of "leg humping" but every post he ever makes, he is the chief "leg humper" of Larry. I don't know if he does it as a joke or if he's really that ignorant...but from what I've seen and met of him, I'm opting for the latter of the two choices there. That's enough to turn me from the show right there.

I think they ought to put NuggetNoggin on TV. Go look up his YouTube vids. I've met him in person and hunted along side of him. He can be a little arrogant sometimes but he has a fire that stays lot for digging. I think he literally goes somewhere Diggin every day of the week. Him and AquaChigger have the best digging entertainment on YouTube IMO.

If you read the article the fellow that died was disarming it with a drill and grinder. I myself wouldn't attempt that I would pay someone that knows what their doing to disarm it, it also says that you can drop them and they won't go off, so I don't see a huge threat to myself being a relic hunter. Thanks for sharing the article though.

The allure of these shows isn't metal detecting per se, but rather the universal dream of "hitting the jackpot"

Whether actual detectorists watch these shows makes no more difference to the producers than whether real forensic scientists watch CSI type shows. The vast majority of audience for these shows are not active detectorists.

Detecting as "reality" TV entertainment makes negative fallout for the hobby unavoidable.

Newbies with dreams of riches jumping into the hobby. Using poor retrieval practices and otherwise detecting irresponsibly.

And why not? Look at what has been portrayed on these shows. Good finds being made constantly with little or no sign of any trash targets. Idiots bringing backhoes onto private property without permission. Goofballs jumping in trees and falling on their faces when they make good finds. Trailer park boys excavating live ordnance.

The message being sent is that it's all wacky fun and anything goes.

So then the armchair treasure hunter gets inspired to buy a detector by these shows and heads to the local old park with his new detector and big shovel. He tears up the grounds leaves craters. And when the treasure doesn't jump out of the ground his frustration makes him even sloppier.

A park worker or concerned citizen sees the obvious MD damage and gets incensed. Next thing you know, detecting there is illegal.

Of course this also happened before any of these shows were around. But now the scenario is being multiplied many times over.

Then there is the landowner who, after watching these shows, figures there must be all kinds of valuable stuff buried on his property.

Not to mention archies and other self-righteous types decrying irreparable damage to historical sites, arguing for more anti-MD laws.

I don't want to act too hysterical about this, the metal detecting sky isn't falling. But the inevitable fallout from these shows will be more public spots put off limits and more difficulty getting permission for private property.

The genie is out of the bottle, and there's nothing any of us can do to change it.

Haha, you crack me up Daniel! Somehow I think wed get along, must be the redneck, no bs attitude..

I wish they had of used the right audio for the right machine LOL!!!

no biggie and no one would ever notice it I guess..

But the F75 and Tejon had the Explorer audio for the most part and the explorer sounded like the f75 ...

I do wish the artillery shells wasnt shown as being dangerous...even though they are extremely dangerous ....it can make people less apt to offer you a hunt on their property if they think you might find one and blow yourself or their farm to smithereen's...
Guess it makes for dangerous excitiong television...

I thought it approached the hobby better than the two Garret guy's....and also the wrestling dude...

looked more believable....and I dont think the target found were staged...because I saw some typical type recoveries....like when the $50.00 scale balance was the big find for one team.......looks like one of my days out LOL!!!

I gotta say that 1806 Half dollar looked awfully GOOD!!!!!

Keith

I'm sorta divided in opinion on this one

I like it more than the "other 2 shows" (which isn't saying much) (and actually - I don't like the other 2 at all) and REALLY don't like the loud mouthed wrestler/his show especially

but at the same time

I have to agree with the majority in that this show as well as the others do nothing but harm to our hobby in the long run (and most likely we'll see it (the backlash against our hobby) sooner than later).

Someone here said look up Nuggetnoggin and check out his vids - I have to agree - I've seen many of his videos and they are way more entertaining and REAL than any of the recent detecting shows on "reality tv"...

If you ask me - these guys (on all of these shows) are nothing more than "sellouts" to the hobby for 15 mins of fame and a wad of quick cash and don't give a crap what "image" it gives the hobby or the rest of us out here.

Sure - I'd like to have a show, become famous (in some sense) and make a quick pile of cash too but not at the expense of giving the hobby and long time hunters in it a bad rap while not caring about the fallout in the wake of my "reality show".

I guess as a long time detectorist in the hobby - my idea of a show would be a more controlled and scientific approach with much more focus on the equipment, how it's used, what the machines are saying and why with a realistic (real world/live) hunting focus to show the hobby for how/what it really is instead of the way these guys do it in showing nothing but good find after good find as though that's all there is out there while there is no focus on any of the equipment/its use, and the whole portrayal that "treasure hunters" are basically in it for nothing but the cash. I think that's a crock IMO and that's where Ron and the others should have told those producers to go get bent...

At the very least instead of at the end where it always comes down to "what's it worth" ----- they should have made up a "point scoring system" to show who won/wins the competition/s ---- not a "$$" value which gives off the wrong impression and puts the hobby/long time guys in it in a negative light as nothing more than money grubbers looking to rape any property they can get their hands on for sheer "profit/monetary gain"...

I mean - yeah - we ALL like to make a good find that has some monetary value - we're all only human but the VAST majority of us here/in this hobby that have been in it for decades and beyond are not in it for the "$$" and we don't run around digging up 400 yr old historical sites all over the country with nothing more than a focus on "how much will I be paid today" like these sorry shows portray...

I could go on and on but I think you'all get my opinion of it all

HH all


.

Daniel Tn Wrote:
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> What I find hilarious is the forum this show
> spawns out of. One guy in particular "The Hun" aka
> Pete E....goes on and on and on about everything
> Larry does. He's the dumbest one of the
> bunch....he is crowing about this show like he had
> some big part in it...yet he had absolutely zilch
> to do with it. He accuses everybody else of "leg
> humping" but every post he ever makes, he is the
> chief "leg humper" of Larry. I don't know if he
> does it as a joke or if he's really that
> ignorant...but from what I've seen and met of him,
> I'm opting for the latter of the two choices
> there. That's enough to turn me from the show
> right there.
>
> I think they ought to put NuggetNoggin on TV. Go
> look up his YouTube vids. I've met him in person
> and hunted along side of him. He can be a little
> arrogant sometimes but he has a fire that stays
> lot for digging. I think he literally goes
> somewhere Diggin every day of the week. Him and
> AquaChigger have the best digging entertainment on
> YouTube IMO.


could not agree with you more on peter e. I have been a member on that forum since 08 and have only posted once but i am on there a couple of times a day. The guy is always trying to start something from politics right on down to detecting. Have a feeling he has driven quite a few people away from there. Mike.

Alright, just saw it...disapointing. Feel like they are all sell outs. Same kinda stupid crap. Too bad, I always liked Josh, he has (or had) a cool relic forum, and he's originally from my good ole Columbus, ga. Oh well, guess ya gotta go by the formula to get ratings.

This show was 30 min you just cant do it all ....give a history lesson, teach detecting techniques, and still have time to dig.... which by the way its the finds that interest me the most anyway. Some people just isnt going to like a show that promotes the hobby period. I was in a detecting club once that after awhile they were trying to figure out how to limit its new members because of the competition and they were tired of sharing their hunting spots. The thing i liked most about it..... Ron stayed off the beach lol.

Dew

I liked it better than the other two, I thought it was kind of dirty the Chicago team dumping the modern pennies in front of the other teams, if I had somebody do that to me i'd make sure i'd have coal and magnet frgments dropped for them LOL!

They all suck.

AMCJAVELIN Wrote:
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> I liked it better than the other two, I thought it
> was kind of dirty the Chicago team dumping the
> modern pennies in front of the other teams, if I
> had somebody do that to me i'd make sure i'd have
> coal and magnet frgments dropped for them LOL!

Yeah, that's just what we need, detectorists playing silly games so that whoever tries to hunt there in the future will have the job of digging pennies, coal and magnetite all day.

What fun.

.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/16/2013 02:17PM by Badger in NH.

Quote

Badger in NH Wrote:
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Yeah, that's just what we need, detectorists playing silly games so that whoever tries to hunt there in the future will have the job of digging pennies, coal and magnetite all day.

What fun.

An even better idea is to have some copper tags made up like my hunting buddy has and have them stamped with something like

"Sounded good didn't it?? It was! Sucks to to be you!"

Then plant them in the hole/s you make your find/s in and leave it for the next guy!

They're good for those guys that always seem to show up on the properties you hunt that you did all the research on in finding but they happen to see you out there & then just take it upon themselves to steal it out from under you!

Plastic lawn seed spreader with Crossman bb's works wonderfully.

I planted a bunch of peep show tokens for my buddies to find, lol.

it will just create anti detectoring sentiments ,esp as many finds are planted on the diggers program IMO. the public will think its a piece of cake and lead to clamp downs

Keep up the good work Mike and have fun your show is cool.

LowBoy

TAKE A LITTLE TIME KICKBACK AND WATCH SOME OF MY DETECTING VIDEO'S BELOW ON YouTube

[www.youtube.com]

If you don’t dig it, then how are you going to know what you’re missing!
How can you have your pudding if you don’t eat your meat!

Lawrenzo Wrote:
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> Keep up the good work Mike and have fun your show
> is cool.

Tell Mike that if he needs the money that badly, he should go get a job.

I think he got a job....and, I think we're all a little jealous.

ozzie Wrote:
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> I think he got a job....and, I think we're all a
> little jealous.

That brings up a good question. What do you suppose they got paid for doing these shows?

How much money would we sell out for? I might consider doing a show for $50,000 but that would still be a lot of guilt to carry around. Better make it $100,000.

I wish I could say no but I really need the money.

.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 06/17/2013 12:30PM by Badger in NH.

" Jealous ?" Not at all !

It wouldn't take much $ to get me to sell out. I'm just being honest though. Even for 10 grand, that's probably more than you're ever going to dig with a metal detector in a lifetime. And even $5 grand would go a long ways for paying off bills. That's why this is a HOBBY and not a profession. Sure, there are some that have made big finds but the odds of you or I doing it are not very great....it's similar odds to winning the lottery. Somebody somewhere is winning/won...but most of the time it's always somebody else and not you. Some take their hobby and do well at it...folks like Tiger Woods play golf and get more money per weekend tournament than I will all year of working everyday...but not everybody is Tiger Woods...some just play the game because they like it and aren't trying to make it big or make a living off it. In metal detecting, the only ones that are doing a little (very little) profit are the ones selling detectors to people and or selling "how/where to find treasure" books and DVDs. The rest of us are in the hole big time. We spend $1,000+ on our detector...have a $100 pair of headphones...$50-100 digging tools, $125 pinpointer. That's just to get started. Now we gotta research...then we gotta put gas in our vehicles to get to the sites...secure permission...and hope for the best. More often than not, we come home after several hours of hunting, with a pouch full of trash and a handful of clad coins so corroded that they are nearly beyond recognition. Maybe we dug a couple silver dimes. Or a civil war bullet or two. Heck we spent $40 in gas to spend 3.5 hrs hunting for $2 worth of stuff. And we constantly sit on the ready for the latest n greatest machine to hit the market and will dive in on it even if it's $2 grand. All somebody has to do is utter the words "faster, deeper, finding things my other detectors missed" etc and everybody's wanting one or buying it. Detector manufacturers are smiling.
.dealers are paying the light bill for another month...and we buy into it every time.

I attended several of the DIV relic hunts and as I was loading my pouch with good relics...and looking around at these great sites we got to hunt...and seeing all the great stuff that came out at them...it made me realize something. The hunt organizers could have probably had these sites to themselves and THOUSANDS if not millions of relics could have been added to their collections. But they opted to have hunts and brought in 350-400 other people to hunt these sites. Why? It never dawned on me til one day I was number crunching. $250 a person entry fee times 400 people. Per hunt...and they normally had 2 hunts a year...a few times it was 4 hunts a yr. That's $200,000 a year for the two hunt yrs. Some of this went to secure the hunt sites...we never know how much they actually give the land owners...but say it's $10,000...or even $30,000
..that's still $70,000 per hunt that they could just put in the bank. That's way better than digging everything yourself and way more than you'll ever find...not bad money for a weekend!!! So I don't blame anybody for giving it a go to make money.

What shows like these really hurt...are the guys/gals that are in the hobby for the fun of finding history. Some people don't care if that war relic ain't worth but $2...they hold that thing in their hand and love the sensation of touching history....touching something that the last person that handled it was over 100+ yrs ago. That's a feeling some folks never get enough of...and they would never sell their stuff.

Many of us love the hobby and want to protect its future so that we might hunt for the rest of our lives. We see these shows as bad publicity and destructive in the long term. I have no complaints about the content of the shows. The problem is that they are on TV and aimed at people who don't metal detect. The profits are short term. It's as if they know the hobby is going to die and they are making as much money as they can while contributing to its death.

Metal detecting on TV means more permissions denied, more places where it's banned, more new people at the sites and beaches, more unethical practice and more death to the hobby.

Detecting on TV is not about the hunt, it's about greed and celebrity ego. The general public will not see it as we do. They won't understand it and many viewers will judge the hobby out of ignorance. It doesn't have to be this way.

.

That is what happened to are forest preserves getting shut down! As I said before all the newbies in the hobbie with there shovels digging up the place's. One forum member said I was making excuse's blaming it on the newbie's,But that is exactly what happened as the veteren hunters in are area have enough common sense not to use shovel's in open area's as it just looks bad. But the new generation doesn't care they want it now and want it fast and easy. Now that Chicago Ron told the world how he found 150,000 worth of gold jewelry on chicago lakefront beaches soon they will be closed too! He said on another forum he doesn't mind the compitetion? He doesn't understand that with know place to detect there is no detecting period!

I use to be in the same boat as the "these shows are going to lead to not being able to hunt anywhere" crowd. Honestly though...how many sites have you had that were taken off limits as a direct result of the TV shows? I haven't had any and if you're honest I bet you haven't had any either. In fact, I have had the opposite thing occur. I've had people at work approach me about seeing the shows and talk to me about coming to their property because they've got an old house site on it, or know of some places on friends or family land that we could get in on. I know...totally the opposite of what I was expecting too.