One of the Airsoft world’s most renowned YouTubers to post videos and pictures of Airsoft games, ScoutTheDoggie started his channel in 2006. Starting with a mere cell phone, the youtube channel slowly increased in popularity as the quality and increasing level of uploaded videos increased. To this day, the youtube channel has been increasing in popularity and is one of the most popular youtube channels in the Airsoft world.
The following is the network statistics of both YouTube channels owned by ScoutTheDoggie. With more than 600k subscribers and close to 200 million views, there is little reason why you should not be watching his videos.
We had the opportunity to interview the famous ScoutTheDoggie and ask him a series of questions regarding his rise to fame and what he thinks of where his channel is now.
Could you tell us a bit about yourself, other than what we know of the ScoutTheDoggie YouTube channel?
Well what can I say. I am a father of two children, I have a job which is nothing to do with YouTube & is not even in the video or social media industry. I love motorbikes, music, video equipment old and new & red wine. I was involved with video long before YouTube ever existed, however I was not editing anything. If you Google “Scoutthedoggie Metallica” You might get an idea of what I was up to.
What was it that brought you to become an enthusiast of Airsoft?
I hit a point in life where I was bored, going through the motions in daily life. It was my best friend’s (John Black) birthday, I’ve known him from the age of ten. So I wanted a birthday present to remind him of things we did as kids. We grew up, on the edge of town, with great countryside all around us, we were always out exploring & most of us kids had guns .22 and .177 air rifles & pistols, nothing serious, we were always out shooting at cans, trees & each other, stupid I know, but the guns were old and not that powerful.
So I went online to look for an airgun for his birthday, I found a site selling Airsoft guns & bought him an MP5, it arrived and I was surprised at how good it was & this got me interesting in guns again.
Another search on the internet and I found “Airsoft World” a store about 30 miles from my home, I took a drive to the store and it was amazing, I felt like a kid in a candy store.
The guys in store that day were Frenchie and Scott Allan, Scott now owns an Airsoft store called Land Warrior Airsoft and Frenchie works in that store with Scott. Both were every friendly and helpful, so I bought a Tokyo Marui G3/SG1 and it was downhill all the way from there on for my bank account.
What made you want to start up a YouTube channel and start making Airsoft videos?
Another school friend (Ian Docherty) sent me a link to a video he had filmed and uploaded to a website called YouTube, I noticed that comments could be left on the video, but I needed a login,
so Scoutthedoggie was born. I really did nothing with the account for a year or two, it was not set up with any grand plans and the account was as good as forgotten. After a year of playing airsoft and raving to friends about it, I realised I have a video camera on my cell phone, so I started filming and uploading to YouTube in order to encourage them to play and to let my son see what I was up to every second Sunday at The Fort, which is the site I started playing at.
Now that you have over 500k subscribers, what are your goals for the YouTube channel?
I do not really have any goals for the channel, it trundles on by itself, averaging two million views every month, which is fine. Sponsorship would have been great, but now it’s too late. People probably do not realise that YouTube has basically banned all sponsorship of channels. I know that thousands of YouTube channels are still sponsored, but it breaks the rules which all Youtube/Google partners are contracted by.
When did you start to realise that your channel was starting to get popular? Why do you think that is?
By late 2007 I realised I was getting a lot of views, but I thought this was fairly normal, it never occurred to me that it was unusual. What I did find unusual, was I would be sitting in the safe zone at Section 8 or The Fort and people would be talking about my videos, not realising it was me who filmed them. Friends would point out that I made the videos and these total strangers would come up to shake my hand, ask about scenes in the videos, then ask for my autograph. This was something I had not expected or prepared for, I’m not the type of person who likes to be centre of attention.
You started recording your videos with a cell phone, what was it? What camera did you use straight afterwards?
I started with a Motorola Razr, which is still have, though its non working. Top tip kids, when swimming in the sea on Ibiza, take your phone out of your pocket. I got a second phone and once again, you guessed it.. Ibiza. After that my girlfriend bought a decent digital camera, which I think was made by Fuji, it had decent video, cost about £550 ($840) and she said to me “Do not take that camera to the airsoft!”
Well, as usual, I totally ignored her and as you can guess I took it with me. Things are still the same, she told me a few months back “no more motorbikes” and so in my garage right now sits a nice big red 1000cc motorbike.
What equipment do you use now to record all your videos?
I have two Canon DSLRs for the photos, these also do video, I have used these from around 2009. I also have two Canon bridge cameras, these are only used for video, they have built in stereo sound and can take a lot of hits, having said that I’m probably on my fifth camera and one has just stopped working a month back, so I need to replace that. Canon did give out sponsorship to many YouTubers a few years back, but I was deemed to be non PC.
Which is why for years I refused to tell anyone exactly what brand and model of camera I use, why should I promote a brand that does not support me.
Is there any advice you would give to an Airsoft YouTuber who has just started?
Buy an Apple mac, use the iMovie video editing software that is built into the computer, it’s free. Use the free in store training that apple offers, this will get you up and running in no time and buy the Dummies Guide book for iMovie. Buy a cheap used camera from eBay, because your camera is gonna be shot at and damaged. Do not wear hi viz when filming, because you will still be shot at and what player in their right mind wants someone in hi viz following them around to give away their position.
You must put out regular content on YouTube, at least one video every two weeks, if you do not have the spare time to put out a new video every two weeks, then do not even bother starting making videos. Use all social media to promote your videos, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest. Do not upload videos to other video hosting sites such as Vimeo, that’s a total waste of time, 99% of people have heard of YouTube, the other 1% might know of Vimeo.
Do not be tempted to put out a new video every day, it is a total waste of time. The only Airsoft YouTube channels who put out videos every day are retailers, these stores employ people to make video for them, this is because they have products to sell or events to promote, no other reason. I do not mean that as any disrespect to the guys at certain YouTube channels, I sometimes watch the videos they make just to see new products. For years I have given out this and much more advice, yet 99% of the people I have given it to, totally ignore it, do it their way and give up within months.
Do you have an all time favourite movie? Are you looking forward to anything coming out in cinemas?
I love European cinema, lots of non English movies, my favourite ever is “Cinema Paradiso” which is an Italian movie from 1988, close second is a 2005 German movie called “Downfall” it’s about the last days of Adolf Hitler. Recent ones I liked were “The 100 year old man who climbed out the window and disappeared” which is a Swedish movie from 2013 and “In Order Of Disappearance” that’s a Norwegian movie from 2014 I like Euro cinema for the lack of CGI and far better storylines. Having said that I love James Bond, Daniel Craig is by far my favourite Bond. My favourite English language movie I guess is “Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” I love the way all the individuals lives are intertwined, the guns battles, the casting, brilliant. My favourite war movie “Kelly’s Heros”. Yes I know, its total fantasy but I have watched it so many times and never grow tired of it.
What is your favourite Real Imitation Replica at the moment?
Pistol wise, the Tokyo Marui FN 5-7 and rifle wise the ICS CXP Hog, which my son also favours for use at Section 8.
Is there an upcoming airsoft product that you are looking forward to?
The WE P90, GBB, can’t wait to try one, hope the mags are OK though.
Other than your own channel, are there any other YouTube channels you recommend people to watch? Do you have any favourites?
Well, honestly, no I don’t have any favourites, the only channel I sort of return to is by a guy called DeepDiggerDan, he’s an English guy in Germany doing metal detecting on German battlefields. Some of the stuff he finds is incredible, he’s a little crazy, which I like, it’s better than being normal.
What is your favourite type of food dish?
Curry, Love it. I know the stuff we get here in the UK is nothing like authentic Indian cuisine, but I still like it.
Where do you think ScoutTheDoggie will be in the next three years?
Not sure to be honest, YouTube is making so many changes that I think many many people who are fairly established will give up, that could include me.
YouTube, seems to be intent on sweeping away the people who made it popular.
How engulfed are you in your video making in comparison to playing Airsoft?
Until recently I was more involved with the video making, I had as good as given up playing. But I’m starting to get back into playing, hopefully it will soon be back to a 50/50 split of my time on sites, 50% play, 50% film.
Have you ever thought about collaborating with other YouTube channels to make new content?
YouTube have asked me to do collabs with other “sports channels” They have introduced me to quite a few other channels, none had a clue about airsoft, they were not interested and neither was I to be honest.
I could contact other YouTube airsoft channels, but I really have so little spare time to deal with my own stuff that I just do not want to pile even more pressure onto myself.
What is your favourite type of music?
Probably later 70s to early 80s UK/US punk and mid 80s Australian garage punk. On my record deck right now is an Australian 7” single from dating from 1985, by band called The Eastern Dark, the song is
“Johnny & Dee Dee” As some may guess from the title, its about Johnny & Dee Dee Ramone, I love the Ramones, saw them about five times and met them twice. If anyone wants to hear this Eastern Dark song, just look it up on YouTube, but skip the 24 second intro, after that it’s brilliant. If you wanna buy this it will set you back around $30, I got my copy from a friend in Brisbane Australia just after it was released.
It was a pleasure interviewing ScoutTheDoggie. We hope he continues in increasing the popularity of his YouTube channel and wish him all the best in his future ventures. If you have any suggestions for questions to ask ScoutTheDoggie, please comment below and we will try to ask them in a future interview.
You can find ScoutTheDoggie on YouTube and other social media platforms:
