Anyone see Prospecting America this morning?

[eathabs]

At least I think thats what it was. Any how, the host, one of the Massey brothers, was searching an old cellar while on an "outing" and found some old bottles and a tobacco tin. While looking a bit more he found another tin of the same type that still had a lid on it. When he opened it he started pulling out some rather brittle pieces of paper. As he tipped the tin over to slide the paper out, a shiny silver coin slid out. He said it was from 1880 and when they showed the coin you could easily see it was a liberty dollar in rather good shape!

 

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[Monty]

I doubt that in a crisis situation they would always have a camera running. I would guess several of the scenes are recreations which is ok as long as they aren't too embellished. Biy the way, where on tv might one find this program? Cable? JIM

 

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[jeff of pa]

The "OUTDOOR CHANNEL"? ? ? ? ? Sunday Nights at 11m for "GOLD FEVER"? ?and 6:30 AM Saturday mornings for "BUZZARDITE CLASSICS"? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?"GOLD FEVER is re-Run Wednsdays at Midnight & saturdays at 11:AM? ?"EASTERN TIMES"? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?"Prospecting America" is his Brother Perrys Show & is more Like a Half Hour Commercial.? ?"GOLD FEVER" & "BUZZARDITE CLASSICS" are one hour shows

CABLE

 

[wepc]

My last words are they plant stuff all the time, including during their outings for the common operation.
But, I don't think this is a bad thing, because it keeps people interested and brings new people into prospecting.
The shows are good entertainment, but just like a newspapers print read between the lines.
The GPAA would be a non-profit group if they were interested in solely helping you find gold. But the fact is, it's a busines.

 

[eathabs]

Wow!! What a can of worms I opened. Here's the bottom line on this. Those guys love the job they have. It's a job now matter how you look at it. They need to make money to continue doing what they like. It's easy to view the shows as an "infomercial" as they spend about ten minutes of most shows pitching the memberships. If they plant to gain more members then so be it. It is entertainment pure and simple but at the same time it can be educational. If you don't like it change the channel.

 

[Darren in NC]

Wepc - I hear what you're saying and I totally agree with you. Unfortunately, that's business. Creating demand and awareness by "salting" or other means of entertaining people is the way it is. It's just business. I know of an author who created demand by getting on local talk shows and then calling book stores with different disguised voices asking for his book. He did this for nine months and created demand for his information. He didn't feel like he was lying. He felt he was raising awareness. Depends on how you look at it. I can understand how you feel, though.

 

[sherpa t]

Two strong sided opinions going here, BUT I was personally at a GPAA outing where this very question was asked of the GPAA Representative running the event. It was clearly implied ( again he needs his job too ) that the larger gold is planted for the show, no one walked away thinking any different. There was more detail and discussion involved but I don't think that is necessary here. This certainly is not a knock to the show or them in general, it's a TV show and needs to generate enough action for you to watch, and a business that needs to hold a budget for it to continue on.
My cable company is not currently showing the programs, so I'm not being swayed eather way, in fact I wish I could see them.
Like Wopac said GPAA is good for helping get new people interested in gold , metal detecting etc. and like Jeff said they are personable people that try to do a good job with the products they have to offer.

 

[Darod]

lol

It all makes me laugh. It's actually pretty pathetic what is on TV now days. We are all grownups here,...I think, the show is bogus, the show isn't bogus, read into it what you will. Take from it what you want. Enjoy it and always remember,....it;s TV!

Rod

 

[spotz]

If you watched "Gold Fever " last night & managed to stick with it, you saw that Tom & the kids were detecting nails, tabs,bottle caps & a pick head & tons of junk, then one of the girls found a small nugget. She was complaining about getting dirt under her nails & Tom had to pound Hell out of the ground with a screw driver before they finally found the little nugget. They talked about how much trash you find in relation to something good. There have been numerous nice finds in the Stanton , AZ area of Rich Hill, but they are few & far between.

The GPAA does a lot to promote detecting & mining & PROTECTING OUR RIGHTS TO DO SO, so I feel good about supporting the orginazition & they are really trying to keep us all interested in getting our families out there.

We all know that there is a certain amount of hype in any TV based programing, but this is done in our favor so I beleive that we should be supportive of the cause. Spotz

 

[stoney56]

I think the point is this. The shows are based on treasure hunting-some are recreated, some are informative and make you want to get out and try your hand at it, some are bent in such a way that you think it's easy pickins. But on the other hand-the show itself is a business that depends on advertising so that they can travel all expenses paid and get to take the deductions off their income taxes while still making money from something other than their finds. It's fun to watch and maybe learn a few tips and get you interested in other areas of THing. Even if your doctor says to cut down on your sodium intake, take these shows with a grain of salt. LOL. In the meantime, lets find the sweet grapes cause if all you have are sour grapes, all you can do is make vinegar.

 

[trgams]

I would like to interject something here which might shed a positive light on the show...might not, but I feel it's worth a try. One thing I have noticed about the Gold Fever show, and Prospecting America, is they do seem pretty staged.....I don't think that finds are always planted(perhaps they are, but it dosn't seem like it to me) And I've seen quite a few shows, and I've got quite a few I haven't seen, TEVO'd...Just saying this because I don't want everyone to think I've never seen the show, but I am a realist too, and I recognize the need for the Massey family to make a living by selling their show and trying to make it entertaining. Havingsaid all that, I would like everyone to consider all the good things that the GPAA brings to our hobby...They have areas that us weekend warriers can prospect on all day, if we can get to them. They sponser meets and common dig operations.(at which I'm sure they make some money) They also bring foreward and make known the desires of a relatively small segment of society to prospect on government owned lands, and try to keep these lands open to recreational prospecting..this I think, if the only reason,is a good reason to join their organization.It's a similar reason that caused me to join NRA, at least someone in Washington is looking out for me...Sometimes I think our elected officials aren't. Just something to think about. Cheers!

 

[nick1878]

I believe they are genuine. I have been a member for 4 or 5 years and have found lenty t some of there sites. I have als met them and they genuinely wantpeople to find stuff. There are better ways to market there products. I have also seen there programs wher they go out all day and come back with nothing.

In the end it doesnt really matter if they find what they say they do. it matters what we find.. We could argue the point all day, Why? Go out and find your own stuff. Thats how I see it

 

[1320]

I love the shows but I could do without seeing the fat, backward simple simon brother skinny dipping after an outing.

Totally uncalled for.

He's needs to brush up on his language skills too.

So what if they plant stuff, it is good motivation to me even if only "representative".? Most of the hunting and fishing shows are heavily edited and recreated.? I love the program that shows a turkey getting ready to meet it's maker in a 30 mph wind, then just minutes after the shot a feather won't move.? See a lot of "sun/time of day" violations too.?

 

[dudes2112]

Not real sure about the validity of the shows, but I've seen just about all of them and enjoy them a great deal. One thing they seem to do a lot is to walk up on people that are prospecting and they show what they are finding. Of course there is probably some "truth stretching" that goes on, but I wouldn't think everyone would be in on it... Most of the people they talk to have something to show for their work and usually admit that they've been working an entire weekend to find what they have to show, which usually isn't much. I've panned in Ohio many times and now have a grand total of about $1.00 worth to show off 8) But, if you combined all 20 hours of my panning time into a 30 minute show, it might look like I'm finding stuff all the time. Anyway, whether I find stuff or not, it's still a good time to get outside and enjoy the weather...

Dudes

 

[eathabs]

Tell ya what, if I couldn't get out to MD, fish, prospect, or whatever you care to do in the great outdoors, I would not do it. That is part of the whole deal.

There are a few locations I have in mind to MD this summer, they are along streams that I can fly fish. Kill two birds with one stone. Hell, I might even skinny dip afterwards to rid myself of the day's toils. I just hope there are no tv cameras close by......