Bryon Elness, Author at The Ring Finders

I got a text from Pat on 10-12-2023 and he asked if I would respond to Calaveras County, CA, about an hour from where I live to help look for his wife’s wedding ring that she lost just last night. Pat had contacted another RingFinder before contactiung me, but that RingFinder was not available until the following day. It all worked out, because it had been my intent to go metal detecting on this day anyway. When I asked Pat if his wife, Renee, knew the area where she lost her wedding ring, he said it was either in their bedroom, or in a PIG PEN. Pat’s wife had been in and out of their sow’s birthing pen off and on all night, to make she the sow was alright during the birthing process. As an animal lover myself, I understood all of this. I told Pat I’d at his place in about an hour. He told me that Renee would be anxiously waiting for me.

Renee explained that her wedding ring was comprised not only of the diamonds from her original wedding ring that Pat got her, but also had diamonds from some pinky rings that had belonged to her now-deceased father. She also had sapphires mounted on the ring, which are Pat’s birthstone. When I saw pictures of the ring, my jaw dropped. This would be the most beautiful ring I had ever searched for, and I was determined to find it and re-unite it with Renee.

Since Renee said she had been grabbing fresh straw from two different locations near the birthing pen, I started searching those areas with my metal detector. I figured I’d let the momma pig and her two piglets rest. Then after about an hour of searching these other areas, it was time to crawl into the birthing pen, kind of like a big doghouse, to look for the ring. Momma pig was still exhausted, and the newborn piglets were too, so I just crawled in there with them. It was a little cramped to use my Equinox 800, even with the DetectEd carbon fiber shaft collapsed all the way, so out came the XP Mi-6 pinpointer. The first two dozen targets were found to be nails or screws used in the construction of the birthing pen, but then another squealing sound and vibration from the Mi-6, and there it was. The ring was found on top of the wood flooring, covered with about six to eight inches of compacted straw hay.

Now for the fun part. Before the search even started, Renee had asked me if I could run the metal detector her animals (dogs, pigs and chickens) in the event the animal had found the ring and swallowed the shiny object. I told her I could absolutely do that, but that would be done after I searched the pig pen and birthing area first. This request gave me the idea to try the old « pull a ring out of someone’s ear » trick. I scanned her first weiner dog and of course, the detector did not give off a signal. When she brought her other weiner dog out, I scanned the body area with the Equinox 800 and again, no signal. (The detector wasn’t even turned on). With Renee’s ring on my left index finger, cupped in my palm, I reached under the floppy ear of the weiner dog, and there it was, Renee’s beautiful ring. Renee was elated beyond words. She immediately gave me a big hug and thanked me repeatedly.  What a great feeling to find such an incredible ring for such a nice couple. Renee thought she’d never see the ring again. Unfortunately, not all searches end this way, but it just goes to show what some exceptional metal detecting equipment and determination can do. When I say determination, I mean crawling into a birthing pen with a 250+ pound momma pig and her newborn piglets. No animals or humans were harmed in any way during this search.