Anyone else watching: Gold Rush Alaska?

metalmeister · December 16, 2011 1:03PM

Just when they hit the pay gravel the snow hits! Damn , there is a lot of gold up there! I wonder how many from the lower 48 will head up next summer. I will just watch next season from my couch in San Diego. My wife won't let me go...

FullCameo · December 16, 2011 2:56PM

I'd rather sit on my couch and laugh.

What kinda couch you have MM?

johnny9434 · December 17, 2011 12:37AM

i havent watched that show in a while. will have to look it up again and start watching

Darin · December 17, 2011 12:44AM

The Dakota boys did well that episode, getting 18.9 oz. in one week. That guy needs it, his house flooded.

OPA · December 17, 2011 3:23AM

My guess...the most popular "reality" show on cable. I hope all 3 miners strike it rich especially the young kid with his grandpa.

JamesMurray · December 17, 2011 3:55AM

<< My guess...the most popular "reality" show on cable. I hope all 3 miners strike it rich especially the young kid with his grandpa. >>

I get the feeling the Grandpa has had his money out of that mine , why else does he have old stockpiles of paydirt for the boy to look through when the lad strikes out with his own ideas , plus who puts a 16 yr old in charge of a gold mine ? A very rich Grandpa i would think.

metalmeister · December 17, 2011 5:22AM

Yes, I get a kick out of Grandpa. 90 years old! He has been mining that claim for like 30,40,50, or 60 years. ( please chime in )I forgot which episode told of his early days story. Gold mining whips you into shape. He looks great for 90!

JamesMurray · December 17, 2011 6:08AM

I was a Parker fan up until last nights episode , chewing out the old Grandpa won him zero points. I don't care if it was scripted or not , it's not cool ever , then for the discovery channel to show highlights of next week amid sensationalism of the Grandpa being rushed to hozzie with a suspected heart attack , doesn't bode well for the whippersnapper.

I seen this comment on the matter and liked it enough to quote :

If you give a man a fish- he eats for a day- if you teach a man to fish he can feed himself-
With this generation it's like watching an act at Seaworld- everybody's just tossing fish into their ungrateful little pie holes

morgansforever · December 17, 2011 8:59AM

I watch it often and would drop everything for a shot at mining gold.
Mechanical aptitude, can operate heavy equipment, CDL A, no kids or wife and highly motivated.
Where do I sign up? What is the estimated cost to get up n running? $250k? $500k?

JamesMurray · December 17, 2011 9:10AM

cost of getting started

morgansforever · December 17, 2011 9:35AM

That's funny James.

I have a feeelin $500k will buy a used excavator, a shaker, generator, industrial conveyors, water pumping system, fuel, operating costs/parts. May want to throw in food, a knowleable crew, weapons, bear proof shelter, etc. Feel free to add to the list.
I have a felling $500k won't get you far, unless you score large quantities out of the gate.

Darin · December 17, 2011 10:16AM

<< I was a Parker fan up until last nights episode , chewing out the old Grandpa won him zero points. I don't care if it was scripted or not , it's not cool ever , then for the discovery channel to show highlights of next week amid sensationalism of the Grandpa being rushed to hozzie with a suspected heart attack , doesn't bode well for the whippersnapper.

I seen this comment on the matter and liked it enough to quote :

If you give a man a fish- he eats for a day- if you teach a man to fish he can feed himself-
With this generation it's like watching an act at Seaworld- everybody's just tossing fish into their ungrateful little pie holes >>

I agree with you about the kid, he was rough on his Grandpa. It was pretty disrespectful, when you're 16 and he's in his 90's.

HonoluluDude · December 17, 2011 3:31PM

Seems like the kid will be the loser of the 3 camps-- Too impatient, too much of an a-hole.

Plus if you saw the preview of an upcoming episode, it seems the grandpa had a heart attack.

metalmeister · December 24, 2011 1:47AM

Looks like Gold at $1500+ is a bargin based on what those guys are doing. I was on a gold dredge in the Sierra foot hills on the American river years back. The time, the equipment, the COLD water! It's was fun when your young, but I think we broke even, That was when Gold was $400

sumrtym · December 24, 2011 11:34AM

Well, I've expressed my disdain for this "reality" show before, although I do turn it on when nothing else is on.

Regarding gold price, the way these guys mine is how a small scale operation would dreaming of being rich. Contrast it with the mine that is a professional in the Klondike that pulled in $400,000 for the week the crew visits. They're strip mining the heck out of it blasting it with water to wash everything down. Ever watch "Pale Rider"? Same type of setup.

Again, these guys are straight about making money off a show, nothing to do with gold hunting. It's like watching something like Jon & Kate plus 8 back when it was on with them moaning about having no money trying to provide for 8 kids the whole way through the show (not that I watched that either, but heard about it). After the divorce, it was revealed they'd netted $2.25 million from the shows 4 years. I could go on about this, like MTV "reality" shows about Teen Moms talking they can't afford houses, etc, yet the show is paying them TONS of cash.

It doesn't matter whether any of them find any real amounts of gold up there, other than maintaining interest in the show. They're making bank on the show. Do you really buy that this is "make or break year"? Wasn't that what they said LAST year? Or that the old man's mine is about to shut down now that they have totals running up as one mine against another like watching Deadliest Catch or Storage Wars?

As far as the 18.9 ounces, that wasn't the cleanest gold I've ever seen. Black sand, crystal, some rock/sand, and even some flashes of pyrite mixed in.

Take this show for what it's worth, cheesy entertainment. Or does them banging hats and moaning every other day "I don't know", but "we can do it" and "our country's behind us" strike you as other than poor acting for the cameras?

davewesen · February 10, 2012 9:55AM

Fred finally hit paydirt !!

I like to watch, like kids with big toys - only know enough to churn lots of dollars in hopes of breaking even?

OPA · February 10, 2012 12:20PM

<< Fred finally hit paydirt !!

I like to watch, like kids with big toys - only know enough to churn lots of dollars in hopes of breaking even? >>

Both crews are in the black now. But the Hoffman's are running out of land. I'm rooting for the young kid & his grand father to also hit it rich, but we may have to wait until next season. Best entertaining show on TV.

halfhunter · February 11, 2012 12:43PM

Best show on Television . . . Well other than Swamp People ! ! !

HH

AUandAG · February 16, 2012 1:38AM

Love both shows, gold and swamps. But, how about the guys mining logs off the bottom of the rivers
in Florida? Damn, that is a funny show!

bob

OPA · February 16, 2012 3:04AM

<< Love both shows, gold and swamps. But, how about the guys mining logs off the bottom of the rivers
in Florida? Damn, that is a funny show!

bob

>>

You're referring to Ax Man? I've never seen as many buffoons in one show ... keeps me entertained.

Mission16 · February 16, 2012 3:46AM

I can't watch that show without laughing thanks to "The Soup".

HonoluluDude · February 26, 2012 1:40PM

5 oz. per guy. Plus a trashed dozer. I can't see how they can rationalize this as a successful mining season.

MoneyCollector · February 27, 2012 9:44AM

<< 5 oz. per guy. Plus a trashed dozer. I can't see how they can rationalize this as a successful mining season. >>

Well not only that, the big barge on Bering Sea Gold gets 80-100 oz. every time they go out! Must be more gold down a ways because that big scoop pulls in a lot more than when the little dredges are just sucking up the surface.

barefootjuan · February 28, 2012 12:42AM

<< I can't watch that show without laughing thanks to "The Soup". >>

LOL. Digging in the Glory Hole!

DoubleEagle59 · February 28, 2012 1:30AM

When I was 21, I had a summers trip all planned to pan for gold in B.C. (I was a Geology student at University).

A few weeks before I met a girl and I opted for a summers romance instead of the trip.

I kind of regret not going at the time because it's next to impossible to go now (52 years of age).

57loaded · February 28, 2012 2:26AM

i watched half an hour a while back when a dozer or strip shovel got stuck.

gold veins can be quite large and concentrated in Alaska, i suppose if one hits paydirt, they can pay there expenses? has anyone hit it big?

i'm a fan of Deadliest Catch

Cakes · February 28, 2012 2:56AM

<< 

<< 5 oz. per guy. Plus a trashed dozer. I can't see how they can rationalize this as a successful mining season. >>

Well not only that, the big barge on Bering Sea Gold gets 80-100 oz. every time they go out! Must be more gold down a ways because that big scoop pulls in a lot more than when the little dredges are just sucking up the surface. >>

First off on the 5oz a man, OMG I thought it would have much more.

The Bering Sea is clearly the way to go, especially since they only go right off shore. The young guy and girl will clear more then the Hoffman's crew with what look like less effort.

Darin · February 28, 2012 4:06AM

<< Best show on Television . . . Well other than Swamp People ! ! !

HH >>

I like Finding Bigfoot the best.
Always the same. Investigate some fuzzy footage, Bobo poses like a bigfoot, off to a town hall meeting to find out who's seen Bigfoot, then cap it off with a night investigation with Bigfoot calls and tree knocking to try to attract Bigfoot. Then when the investigation is over the three men are 100% certain there are Squatchs' in the woods, and give Ranae dirty looks when she says she remains skeptical and is still at only 1% that they exist.

JamesMurray · February 28, 2012 4:12AM

Maybe the Hoffmans did pass the 100 oz target , i don't understand why only the hoffmans were present during weighing and the old man saying its tradition.I couldnt help notice him lowering the blind in the last episode prior to weighing. Theres also a rumour going that the mechanic was found in the gold room where he shouldnt have been.Apparantly the story gets told friday.
Other than that , did anyone else notice how dirty the hoffmans gold was ? Lots of dark and black specks in it whereas not in Freds or Parkers that was noticable.

HonoluluDude · February 28, 2012 4:32AM

The only guy who seemed to make any real profit (after overhead) was Dakota Fred.

The Big Nugget Mine was the biggest loser. Parker poking around his claim all season like a blind squirrel.

Of course, I bet all these guys make nice bank just by being on a reality TV show.

I read that one of the bit players on Dog the Bounty Hunter made $100k for just one season.

57loaded · February 28, 2012 9:42AM

<< 
I read that one of the bit players on Dog the Bounty Hunter made $100k for just one season. >>

his contract was 100k with incentives that could have gone up to 250k. he thought he had a future in movies/TV and the incentives were so outrageous he didn't do one for fear it would hurt his career.

and yes a few drams of Oban....makes me a wee bit silly.

Anyone else watching: Gold Rush Alaska?

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