TOPIC: Watched American Outlaw? Your thoughts?

K_Duce
Thanks for the info. I agree 100%, once the Dept of FWS is on their a** they are in for a heap of hurtin. Also I am a big fan of United Plant Savers and what they do. I am glad they are on board as well.

Huntsman53,
Good advice. I know Whitjr and I had already contacted those last week that have some involvement or influence with the show. I agree with you that the more folks that contact the show executives or anyone involved with the show the better. Might not change things on its own but it may add to the wrath that the FWS is going to bring down on them!!
Latt

honestly what did you mountain folks get for seng this year?

It didnt top 250.00lb for green here in wisconsin and dry most guys sold out for $850.00lb dry first of november. I held a bit longer and got $1,000lb and could of did $50.00 or so higher but the drive was further

This show is just a joke. The guy walks out of the woods with 2lb wet and they make it out like its $4,000 worth of sheng and its miraculously at well over dry market rate? haha

Is the sheng really that white when it comes out of the ground there? over here its pretty dark colored with the ground on it. we swirl it a few times in a bucket of water and put it on screens

Holy cow, best price I could find within 100 miles of me last year was $350 / lb dried.

My roots are dark until rinsed, then they are nice bright cream color. Once dried, they are brown again.

Welcome to the forum, Mortis.

Last night's show was tamer that the first premier, however i still can't believe the pricing that WVA is saying that they give for wet.

That patch of 'sang that the grower owns, those carptes of woods looks a lot like the photos I've seen from a couple of commercial growers. Nice looking, hope mine come out that way some day.

While last night's show was a bit better that the premier, I can't say I like much about it. I was glad to see K_Duce's post today.

Time for the grower to gather his berries and take out the tops wouldn't you think. Guess it is more fun to get caught in your own fly trap!!

That west Virginia ginseng huntin looks like a dangerous prospect, lol. Well, obviously the show is staged beyond belief we all know that, but for some reason I find myself watching for amusement. I'm not to worried about extra poaching because as we all know ginseng hunting, true ginseng hunting that is, is hard work. It takes lots of scouting and climbing and digging. You have to love it in my opinion to get out and do it. If any get rich quick people are out there watching this show and think they're gonna make a fortune hunting ginseng they're in for a rude awakening. We all know how many roots you have to dig just to get 1 dry pound. I hunt ginseng because I love the actual hunting part not to make a living. There's not a ginseng hunter in the world that can dig enough ginseng in two months to make a living at it. That's why I don't realize why anyone would risk digging on federal land the risk isn't worth the reward, and definitely not worth getting shot on private property. I do understand a lot of posters anger and frustration over the showing of sky high prices that are being paid for the ginseng which is obviously false and makes it even more enticing for more people to get out and rape the land. I really wish the show would base more of it's attention to actual real life ginseng hunting and not so much as an action drama.

Yep fellas I agree.
Mortis, I would sell to someone else. $350 a lb dry is a ridiculously low price. That just seems crazy. Sorry to hear that.
Latt

guys i aint said nothing but about the show but have ben reading how everyone else feels. my main concern is the new laws and regulations that will most likely be coming. and sometimes i think the people that are in charge of coming up with these dont really make the best descisions because of lack of knowledge and understanding. i dont grow sang myself but have a place in my heart for walking the mountains and stumbling up on a big pretty four prong. i cherish this activity that god has blessed me with to be able to do. i dont get rich from it and and i dont think anyone else does or will either but what money it does proffit me gets my girls a good christmas every year. you guys that grow it i can see the concern for some low life never knowing what sang was figuring it out and trying to steal a patch for easy money just like all other crimes they do. they prices they portray are ridiculous and obviously any one that tries digging sang now out for juust money will be very disappointed if they can even find it. i talked to game warden locally and he didint even know what sang looked like i had to show him once. i know lots of people that know what it is and alot of them are backwoods people and they still wont sang hunt. you have to have it in your blood in my opinion. so i am not too concerned about the average joe affecting ginseng populations iin my opinion but possibly next year search and rescue might be alot busyier and a few close calls with some copperheads and rattlers or some wild hogs and bears will send them running back with their tails tucked.

Did anyone catch the gross errors in the Show about buying, selling and pricing?

Noticeably was the point when the two Diggers were chased down by the General and they sold their' green Ginseng roots to him. The General never weighed the Ginseng roots and had a fixed amount of money in his' hand when he got out of his' truck which he handed to them when they agreed to sell to him and they handed the roots over. Since Buying and Selling of Ginseng roots is regulated at the State and Federal levels, the Buyer must weigh the Ginseng roots, get a correct weight and enter this information into his' Buying Records which the Show does not show. I am sure that the General does not have calibrated hands and/or calibrated arms and can give a precise weight of the Ginseng roots just by the feel of holding them!

The next is late in the show when the guy sells 2.41 pounds of dried Ginseng roots and the Buyer (not going to name names) gave him $1,928 for it. (That equates to $800 a pound for dried Ginseng which would be kind of high early in the season but we don't know when the film footage was shot.) However, the emphasis in the Show is that the Buyer is paying $1,000 a pound for Ginseng roots and from the Show, it appears that this is supposed to be for green Ginseng roots, not dried.

Then right after that, the Georgia Digger brings in 11.90 pounds of green Ginseng roots and the Buyer says that he is going to get (emphasis on \"get\"**) him $1,000 a pound for it because they are nice Ginseng roots. **Now is the Buyer paying the Georgia Digger something up front, taking the Ginseng roots in on commission (he does say \"I might stake you a little bit since you are new.\") and paying him the rest later? (Actually no!) However, later in this scene, the Buyer counts out 14 One Hundred Dollar bills and hands them to the Georgia Digger. Now, if he actually paid him $1,400 for 11.90 pounds of green Ginseng roots which I believe he did, that is more in-line with actual pricing for fresh roots ($117.65 per pound green) early in the season.

These are just a few misrepresentations, false information, false facts and errors in a Show that is wrought with them!


Frank

The show will probably bring a few more people to the woods but after a trip or two of not finding anything they will give up, especially after getting a dose of seed ticks, chiggers, itch weed and being stung by yellow jackets and the list goes on.
We all know it takes a lot of walking and actually hard work. You just don't drive to it jump out and start digging.
What I do see is a jump in buying seeds this year, thinking it will grow about anywhere.

Oh by the way the show is silly as hell!