Registered: Jun 2008
Location: Burlington, CT
Posts: 1758

Anyone else on here, watch the Mountain Men television show on the History Channel? If so, I'm curious about what you think of the Rich Lewis segments.

For the most part I really enjoy the show, and I was excited to actually watch some hound action on prime time, but I'm starting to get annoyed by those segments. I'm sure their focus is different than mine, and they're trying to add suspense as opposed to showing all the great dog work, but some of it is a bit silly.

The other night, the suspense was whether or not Rich was going to find his dogs, and if he was going to get lost in the process. BUT, it's obvious to any hound owner that Rich has both Garmin collars, and radio frequency collars on all his hounds. So one, he should know exactly where they are, and two, if he has a Garmin, he should now where he and the truck is. So for me, the supposed aimless wandering around the hills and creek beds, just seemed absurd.

Also, he makes his living at least partially with his hounds, so I'm assuming they're pretty good. But you wouldn't think that from the episodes. They only show the dogs losing the track, and the other night, he claimed they didn't know how to cross a river, which looked more like a small stream. And the next segment showed them chasing a bobcat, but that too got away! However, they did show the dogs getting pretty cut up, which I would think they would want to totally avoid. They also talk about his best dog getting killed by a big lion. Again, it's all about the suspense and danger surrounding his life style, but I can see some antii-hunters, and PETA getting all over this.

What does everyone else think? Am I just over-analyzing it???

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David Schmidt
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Last edited by deschmidt27 on 07-21-2013 at 12:43 AM

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I live and hunt out here

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Registered: Jun 2008
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Interesting... so you've never heard of Rich Lewis???

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David Schmidt
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but he and the whole show is a fake

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Haven't seen it.
But there are about 20 hunters that I talk to that live and hunt out there.
They all say the same thing......FAKE.

After watching American Hoggers and hearing about this show , I've came to the conclusion that their only objective is to make us houndsmen/outdoorsman look like a bunch of idiots.
And they're doing a fine job.
What better way to shut us down than getting the voting public convinced that we're all a bunch of fools.

I feel that if I watch , I'm helping to keep them on the air pumping out that bullcrap. So , I refuse to watch it.

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i hope hes getting paid well to make himself and hounds look like fools!!! staged trash tv sells and they gotta make drama for the "average" viewer. best review of the show i read compared it to pro wrestling.

my hunts are getting so boring im thinking about hollaring get outta here you sum bitch every chance i get. LMAO. what a joke!!!

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Registered: Mar 2010
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so what would you guys rather see

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Registered: Jun 2008
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From my perspective, I'd like to see something more realistic, yet protective of our interests. Show hunting as a way of life, but without all the nasty details of the dogs getting cut up, so that PETA can feed off of it. You can show reality, without showing all of it.

You can add the suspense of the chase and the unknown, including the risk of rough weather etc. without pretending like the dogs don't have GPS collars on them!

Strike a balance between the successes in hunting and the disappointment when the "big one" gets away, but not try to portray this guy and his hounds always on the losing end. I think the episodes I've seen to-date portray this guy and our sport, as foolish. They've attempted to temper the dog's injuries, with how much he loves them and wants revenge, but how about just not showing all the injuries???

It could be no different than all the hunting shows... the reality is that not all game dies immediately, but they never show that, as it's not necessary.

Just my two cents...

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I've given Charles r's question more thought, and I think the answer is... "keep it real" or at least more real. These people and their ways of life is very interesting, and when done right, makes for great television, so don't try to fabricate drama. When you do, it comes across as a silly soap opera.

A prime example on this show... last season Eustace had to get to town to pay his tax bill, but since he was a "mountain man" he and his partner's only mode of transportation was supposedly horses, so the drama was whether they would make it in time. But just last week, him and his partner were driving around in their old pick-up truck, selling fire wood. Where did that come from??? Was it broke down when they had to pay taxes? Did they just buy it, or was the horse ride a stab at good television???

Another prime example... I used to enjoy Duck Commander, but I can barely stomach Duck Dynasty. One was relatively real, although a focus on the hunting obviously, the latest is just a goofy hillbilly soap opera, that makes these outdoorsman look like morons.

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i think the show is stupid

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I just happend to see part of the episode last night where Charles shoots at a bobcat at the camp during the night. The whole thing is whack! Out of sight out of mind, that's how I like to keep my hunting. It keeps it special for first time hunters that go with me during the year.

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The only problem is, now that someone has provided this perspective, it's all people have to go on, without something to counter it.

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well you have wild justice to counter it you have to realize the types that are viewing this this show is as close they will ever get to anything thats being portrayd us folks that accually live in the country and hunt our dogs we know what its all about

if you ever talk to someone who dosnt like hunting with dogs and has never been around it to form there own opinion i think this show will help them possibly look at it from a deferent angle

as far as the garmins on the dogs go if this show has this guy running around with a garmin in one hand and rifle in the other itss going to fall right in line with what the non hunting public thinks of us im sure he uses his garmin to find his dogs or trys not to knock the more seasend folks but some of them arent as technalogacly advanced as some of us and stil like the old ways of actually listining to and for your dogs insted of watching it on a screen

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its like that moonshiners show and ax men its fake stupid reality tv.i hate that theres nothing better to watch on nights that i dont hunt.tv is all reality shows anymore.ill just stick to watchin football and racing and the weather channel

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quote:

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Originally posted by charles r
if you ever talk to someone who dosnt like hunting with dogs and has never been around it to form there own opinion i think this show will help them possibly look at it from a deferent angle

---

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David Schmidt
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i aggree with you to a extent im not crazy about the show any more at all and almost have make myself watch it but like i said before i have a pretty good idea what its like hunting with dogs and liveing off the land and i think thats what makes this show evn worse for me and folks me

im just wondering if this guy got to preview these shows before they were aired or did he just have some camera men folow him around filming him and then edit it to the point that we have now

i also agree with you on the garmin they had a chance to show how the garmin when properly used a person hunting alone can find and keep up with there dogs alot more effectivly i just got a little tired of watching american hoggers completely useing the garmin the way the antis think they are being used by every one peaple sitting around stareing and waiting for the dogs to stop and then taking off like a tornado in the direction the garmin tells them to

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Hi Dave, I couldnt agree more.I had never watched it till you mentioned it to me when you were up.I would bet the fella never had a say in how this is being presented to the public.When you guys where on the air, it was a much better representation of real hunters and good hound work.After seeing how they have portrayed him, he may think twice about season two.I would have never done xtra episodes with TGA had my first one looked like that poor fellas.The kids do like his old truck though!!Austyn was a bit confused the other nite, why someone with cat dogs would try to shotgun a cat in the dark, I guess everyone does it different.

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Thanks Dan... I appreciate your take on how we tried to approach it. And I too want to give Rich the benefit of the doubt...

I noticed your signature says "English Big Game"... how long before Jonathon wants to change that to Big Game and Coon???

Thanks again for always being a great host!

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David Schmidt
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What happend to tga good show.

mike

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quote:

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[i]\Austyn was a bit confused the other nite, why someone with cat dogs would try to shotgun a cat in the dark, I guess everyone does it different. [/B]

---

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quote:

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Originally posted by deschmidt27
Exactly, and the angle they have been provided is a guy that has his dogs cut-up and killed on a regular basis, for no apparent good reason, as he never trees any game! And he stumbles around aimlessly, while his dogs can't seem to move a track across a creek! The one thing we might gain from this, is perhaps people will back off outlawing running game with hounds, because according to this example, the dogs never get anywhere near them, and when they do, the dogs easily get whooped and the cats simply cross a stream to get away!!!

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Mike - we were actually going to relaunch this Summer, and had several great sponsors, like WIld Spirit, that helped us afford travel and production costs, but we didn't have enough to cover the network's fees for air-time, closed captioning, etc. So unfortunately, we're sort of dieing a slow death.

What is funny though, is that we discussed the show with a rep from History/Discovery channels and was advised that those networks would never air a show about hunting with dogs, due to the controversy surrounding it. So imagine my surprise when I not only saw that very thing, but one that showed more graphical and controversial content than we would ever put on one of our shows!

Thanks for asking...

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Real funny Dave, he will have to get some of those miniature holstiens if hes going to put coon dog title on them.Oh well I guess there is worse things for a kid and his dog to do.Mite have to send one of these cross breeds for old Rich, these dogs will cross water.

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Dan you just say the word, and I'm sure Joe or I can wrangle up something black and white to send Jonathon's way!

Our dogs sometimes cross water just for the heck of it... but, we hunt the ugly Walkers!

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its fake stupid reality tv. lol i think that about sums them all up - oil alaska , ax men troy on swamp hunters is my hero - they think they need to put a lot of fake drama , make it a soap opera - theyre not selling it to hunters they are selling it to general public


but i still watch lol

hey when i was a kid we could get 2 channels but had to climb on the roof and turn antenna to change channels - not so long ago ,,before i had a dish ,, if u was stuck inside during daytime the only thing on tv was soap operas- lol so i think thats the reason i watch these fake reality shows now ---

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