It appears that the manufacturers are partially behind all these shows. I see one of them bragging that their machines are used on the show. There will be an initial large boost in metal detector sales and in a few months sales will hit the bottom as folks dispose of all those machines that did not find them the trillion dollar prize that the shows portray as being readily available to find. Some of the weaker manufacturers may go belly up when sales drop to almost nothing.
So Far I do not like the shows. They give the general public a very bad impression of how we conduct ourselves. At least I do not act like a complete Idiot when I make a nice find. I quietly revel in the joy of the find. Put it in my bag and go back to hunting. No running, screaming, breaking limbs off trees etc.
I have already had permission to detect a couples one acre lawn recanted due to the Gentleman having seen ONE episode of "Diggers". I had been told that Confederate Soldiers camped on that piece of property during the "Recent Unpleasantness". If after one episode that can happen what is going to happen when the general public watches a bunch of those idiotic shows?
At one time I was an avid Geocacher. Here in South Carolina we nearly lost the opportunity to geocache on public property due to One politician introducting legislation banning the hobby. It all came about due to one person hiding caches that required visiting cemeteries to obtain the needed information to solve the puzzle that led one to the cache. The legislature in their uninformed condition was poised to pass the law when a large contingent of geocachers showed up for the hearing and were able to get it shelved.
With Politicians always looking for ways to please some segment of society I fear greatly for the hobby of Metal Detecting. The shows do not allay my fears. Instead they greatly increase my fears. If some segment of society complains highly enough we WILL lose the ability to detect in city, state, county etc parks playgrounds and other public properties.
It is already illegal to detect in all county parks with the exception of the the three beach parks in Charleston County of South Carolina. They are afraid that we might find a "valuable" relic. Will the county government ever go looking for those "Valuable" relics? Of course not but they are adamant that they want to protect the history.
Unfortunately there are people and manufacturers that are willing to put the quest for the dollar ahead of the long term benefit of the hobby.
