We were recently featured in a local paper, the Juneau County Star Times. They wrote up a nice article about our Castle Rock Lake recovery. Click on the link below for the complete article.
This is going to be a short Blog. I recieved a from a MR. Derick M. & his wife a couple days ago about a lost set of rings.. For privacy reasons I won’t go into detail on how the ring was lost but when I got there , Derick had walked me through the story and I began my search.. within the first 5 minutes of my search I found the first ring which was the wedding band.. After about another hour of seaching for the engagement ring part I had found it.. The set was recovered and I was happy to help..
Hello, here’s another ring recovery I made today.. Last night I received a call from a nice gentlemen named Brent who had lost his ring yesturday.. I received his call but had to call him back since I missed the call the first time.. When we spoke on the phone I asked Brent to give me some details about his ring and how he lost it.. He explained the he works at The University of North Carolina State In Raleigh, NC and had lost his ring out the third story window of his office.. Brent told me he was in his office at his desk when a Bee flew in his open window.. As he attempted to swat at the Bee with his hand, the ring slipped off his finger and flew out the window.. He then attempted to find his ring and even went and rented a metal detector but could not find it.. I met with him first thing today at his office and he walked me through how he lost it.. Anyway long story short, I started my search and since he still had his rented detector we decided to hunt together.. I showed him how to use the detector some he had rented and after alittle over a hour of searching and we covered just about everywhere the ring could have gone.. We still had not found it.. There was only three possible places left to check.. place one was the possibility that someone saw the ring and picked it up But Brent was certian that was not the case.. which leaves only two more, Either it got stuck in in the tree on a branch on the way down or it was in the thick bushes.. well we searched alittle more and as we was checking the bushes, my detector went of under the bush . when i crawled under the bush to check the signal out I yelled I see it.. The ring was finally found.. Brent was very happy to get his ring back as you can see from the look on his face.. It was my pleasure to assist him in locating the ring..
Lost Diamond Wedding Ring Crystal Beach, Texas (Recovered)
(Bolivar Peninsula-Galveston County)
07/05/2014
Received a call today from Jessie regarding his wives lost wedding ring at Crystal Beach on the Bolivar Peninsula in Galveston County, Texas.
Jessie advised his family was vacationing on Crystal Beach, and his wife Courtney had lost her ring in the water on Crystal Beach. Jessie said she was in about 4 foot of water when she lost the ring and they where pretty sure of its general location.
07/06/2014
Plans were made to meet early in the morning today to escape the remaining 4th of July traffic in and around Galveston. The trip down early was the right plan but the trip back not so much, seemed like everyone was leaving the island at exactly the same time, cost me several hours.
Sargassum Seaweed has been plaguing the Texas coast for most of the month making metal detecting a little less desirable, and extremely difficult at times.
I meet Jessie and his family this morning and we did a walk through of how and where the ring was lost. The seaweed and tide conditions had all changed since the previous day making the location a little more difficult for Courtney.
After about 30 minutes of searching with no success Jessie and Courtney came back out into the water and placed themselves as accurately as possible in the drop location. I worked a circle grid around them and on about the second loop hit a faint signal.
I personally think both Jessie and Courtney were starting to loose a little faith in the idea their ring would ever be found. Perhaps being back out in the water and seeing what was involved changed their expectations.
I pulled up that faint target, washed the sand from the basket, and saw what most people would think could never be found.
Equipment Used:
Minelab Excalibur II
Anderson Detector Shaft
Beach Scoop
The Ring Finders Metal Detecting Service
We can search virtually any location, some of the most common places are parks, lakes, beaches and even your own front yard…If you lost your « Ring » or other precious item…We can find it!
We train regularly and use the best Metal Detecting Equipment available insuring the greatest possibility of finding your lost possessions.
www.theringfinders.com/john.volek
Don’t wait… Call now!
John Volek
281-330-7758
I am a Newlywed of last August, so my husband and I have been married roughly 11 months. We have been together for over seven years and are best friends. We relocated to the New Lisbon, WI area three years ago and are lucky to live on beautiful Castle Rock Lake. Over The Fourth of July weekend, we had our family visiting from out of town and went over to a little island in the middle of the lake; better known as « Alcatraz ». We were having a blast and hanging out in the water near the north side of the island. We were playing catch and I threw the ball to my sister. Little did I know that I had just flung my diamond ring into the water filled with tons of people and boats! A friend had said, » I think you just lost your ring » and we all wondered who he was speaking to; until I realized it was me. I went from laughing to frantic as we all searched around the area. Fortunately, he had seen me do it and we knew the area to look around, but to my despair we came up with nothing after an hour. I felt so horrible that I had lost my ring that my husband worked hard for and that we didn’t have insurance. We talked about insuring it for a while and never seemed to get around to it. We ended up packing it up and heading to dinner. I felt like a part of me was missing! It wasn’t the materialism of the ring, but the symbol and thought behind the ring. My husband, Rich, also lost his ring at work a couple weeks before. I just keep thinking, now neither one of us has the ring we were actually married with. The next day I decided I was going to rent a metal detector and go back out there to see if I could retrieve it. As I searched the sites, I saw that it was roughly $40 a day to rent or around $600 for a decent one, but then it hit me…I had no idea what to do even if I did get one.
I then thought…well Google, you basically have everything I ever would need to know; so maybe you can tell me if I can hire someone. Bingo. After I plugged in the question a website popped up called; www.TheRingFinders.com. It gave me different people I could contact to help me find my ring and narrow it down by region of the world! Since I am basically an hour from any large city; I figured I would need to look for someone far from me. But, when I looked up areas in Wisconsin; there was a man in the Dells. I clicked on the link and came to Dan Roekle. He had other great success stories and also seemed like a very genuine guy. He also had found a ring in Baraboo with pretty much the same scenario. I was looking for pricing for him to come out; but he only wanted $25 for his expenses and reward if I could spare anything. I was ecstatic. I contacted Dan and within hours had responded and was asking lots of beneficial and professional questions. We went back and forth pretty much all day when he then said I can come out tomorrow if you are available. I couldn’t believe this kind man was giving me his Sunday, willing to drive from the Madison area and seemed so confident we could find it. He basically stated, we do it for the adventure and love helping others out!
The next morning Dan drove up to our lake house with his son Carter, 11, who is his right hand man during these « treasure hunts ». Not only were they very nice, I felt like I had known them for years. We all got on the boat and headed out to the island. My brother in-law met us out there and had the coordinates from his boat GPS that was so helpful to narrow down the area of where we were. It still was an area roughly 100 ft by 70 ft of water that was 3ft to 4 ft in depth. Carter would shift through the sand when Dan would let him now that the metal detector had detected something. They also switched and took turns listening and retrieving during the search which was awesome to see their teamwork. While they searched; Dan taught me about metal detecting as well. Things I would have never known! 1. You need a permit from the DNR in Wisconsin to search any bodies of water and need to let them know specifically what you are looking for. 2. The metal detector has different sensitivity levels that can search for things that are a few inches deep to 6 ft. depending on the setting. 3. Also that as soon as my ring had fallen off, it probably sunk 2 inches right away.
I am glad I didn’t spend money on a metal detector! It wasn’t the sunniest day and the lake was kind of choppy. I felt so bad and asked if there was something I could do besides narrowing down the search area. Dan just replied no and kept looking. A little more time had passed and I was starting to think I wouldn’t see it again. Then Dan came walking back to me on the boat. I just thought to myself that he was coming to say he was cold and it was a lost cause. He said, « are you sure this is the area »? I said, yes and then he asked what it looked like again. As I started describing the ring…he said you mean like this? I saw my ring was on the tip of his pinky (I have tiny hands) and hugged him and smiled the largest I had in a long while! My husband, family and I were in complete awe! I had not only my ring back, but my faith in people and lost causes. I knew right then and there, this would be a story I tell for the rest of my life.
Dan and Carter were a God send to me. I still shake my head in disbelief at the miracle that they performed that day. They found a ring the size of a nickel in 14,000 acres of water, buried along with 20+ rusty bottle caps and pop tops! I am so glad that I found him on www.TheRingFinders.com website and that people like him, even exist! So, if you have ever lost something that has been as important to you, put your faith in Dan to find it and you will be amazed as well.
Laura H.
It was my 3 year anniversary, and my wife and I were celebrating at Devil’s Lake State Park in Baraboo, Wisconsin. We hit the beach, and I decided to play some catch with a football. I noticed that my tungsten carbide ring was a little loose on one of the throws, and I probably should have taken it off, but I didn’t. On the very next throw I looked down and my ring was gone. I wasn’t sure if it flew off on the throw, or fell off when I put my hand down. I was sick to my stomach. There were a number of people on the beach that day, so we rounded up 6-7 of them to help look for my ring. However, after a long search, nothing turned up. I thought for sure I would never see my ring again.
I called around trying to find a metal detector to rent that could be used in the water, but after calling a number of places … no luck. I turned to Google and found the www.TheRingFinders.com website. I contacted one of the members on the directory, but after a couple of emails back and forth, communication stopped and he didn’t seem interested in helping. I then reached out to Dan, and he responded almost immediately. Unfortunately, he was out of town on vacation, but he kept in touch and said he would help out if he could. He lives in the Madison area, so I was impressed he was willing to drive close to an hour just to help me out. On Father’s Day weekend, he made the trip up to Devil’s Lake to search for my ring.
Dan asked tons of good questions to get an idea on the location, what I was doing at the time, how deep in the water I was, where I was standing and what my ring looked like. He then performed the search on his own along with his 11 year old son, which I thought was cool. He said after 2 hours, a handful of bottle caps, pop tops, $0.39 cents in change … he was about to give up and then got a promising hit on his metal detector – my ring. Dan later called me and told me the entire story, I couldn’t believe it – he had found my ring. Later that day we met at the park and he handed the ring back to me. My wife and I both fought back tears, what am amazing feeling. My wife and I can’t thank you enough Dan and Carter for finding and returning my ring!
Jonathan P.
06-14-2014
Tungsten Carbide Ring Devil’s Lake State Park Beach
Summer of 2013, I received a phone call from Chris, who had lost his gold wedding band in a local lake (Donnell Lake, Vandalia, MI) while swimming with his family at a sand bar. His ring was purchased as a « matched set » with his wife’s ring and had great sentimental value to him. After losing the ring, he borrowed a metal detector and tried searching for it in the water. With no luck, he turned to the internet and discovered the Ring Finders directory. Turns out that he lived just a couple miles down the road from me. He offered to taxi me and my gear up to the lake property, and within an hour we were on a pontoon headed towards the area where the ring was lost. He had a good idea of where they had been anchored and I promptly got in the water to begin the search with my detector and scoop. The area was littered with alot of metallic debris, modern coins, lead shot and bottle caps which slowed the search process for the ring. After searching all the area he thought it could be in, I ventured a little further out into slightly deeper water, and shortly after, got a promising signal on the metal detector. Upon raising the scoop out of the water, I could see a glint of gold color coming from what looked like the edge of a ring. As the sand sifted from the scoop, I picked up a shiny gold ring from inside the scoop and asked Chris to describe the ring to me again. His description matched precisely, I handed it over, reuniting him with his lost gold wedding band.
Date: May 26, 2013
I had taken a week of vacation in order to complete various projects around the house, as well as tend to my gardening. Midweek just as I was heading out the door to run some errands, I realized my wedding ring was not on my finger. I quickly checked my pockets and it was not there, however I proceeded to run my errands. Upon returning home, I looked in the two most likely places and unfortunately it was not in either spot. I am a creature of habit and will put my ring in my pocket if I am putting on hand lotion, etc. My husband quickly pointed out that the shorts I was wearing had a hole in one pocket. We scoured the house for days looking high and low. We even cleared out all of the closets to check the floors, but sadly we found nothing. I was convinced I had lost my ring inside the house, but my husband thought it had fallen out of my pocket while I was gardening on my day off. After a couple of days, we decided to post an ad in the “Lost and Found” section on www.Craigslist.com as a last resort. That’s how we found Dan. He quickly responded to the ad offering to help. Since we had already searched the entire inside of the house, we thought it was worth a shot for Dan to come over and search our backyard with his metal detector.
I met Dan at our home on Saturday morning along with his young son. He was very professional and it was clear that they had done this together many times. I was impressed with the way he was using this task to teach his son the skills of metal detecting, as well as the importance of helping out others. Together they swept the front yard and found quite a few coins, but no ring. They did a very thorough search of both the front and the back yard, but initially did not find the ring. The entire time they never gave up, and then suddenly Dan called me over … he had found my ring in the lawn along the side of the house. I don’t know how many times we might have walked past it in the days since it was lost, but it was found.
I am very cautious when responding to an ad from Craigslist, but through the back and forth email with Dan to setup the appointment, I felt comfortable meeting him at our home on my own. He was professional and very respectful of the fact that I had lost something very dear. I cannot thank him enough and can only give him a glowing reference.
Thanks again,
Jean K.
Lost Gold in Austin, Texas (The Ring Finders Challenge) (www.theringfinders.com/greg.delong)
I was wanting to get to know member Greg DeLong a little better and was planning on trying to meet up with him on my trip to Austin, Greg lives in one of my favorite local destinations and having a friend in those parts could only make things better.
Austin has clean and clear lakes, rivers and creeks, something we don’t get down her in the bayou city, so when we want to beat the Texas heat we often head up to Austin.
I didn’t get the opportunity to meet Greg on my last trip, but I left a couple of items behind at a local park for Greg to track down. This was not going be as good as having a beer and over looking some area of Austin, but I thought it might still be a fun way to get to know Greg,
After returning home from Austin, I sent Greg an e-mail telling him I had buried some gold in Austin, and if he was able to find it, he could claim the treasure as his own. I told him I would also be responsible for our lunch on my next trip if he was successful.
I provided Greg GPS coordinates, and told him his detective skills and his metal detecting experience would be necessary for the recovery on this job. I told Greg he would be searching for a Gold Challenge Coin, 7 gold coins, and lunch if he was successful.
Greg apparently did his homework on the GPS coordinates, and e-mailed me back stating I planted the treasure-loot in an Austin park that prohibits metal detecting. Turns out all Austin parks prohibit metal detecting without an official permit issued by the Austin Park’s Department.
Told Greg, WOW looks like you will be buying lunch the next time I am in Austin. (the challenge) LOL
I asked Greg if he was going to let little things like jail stand in the way of his challenge. LOL, I thought it was funny, I think he thought I was trying to get him arrested.
Word today from Greg, I will be buying lunch on the next trip to Austin. Told Greg, his pictures better match the ones posted here if he was counting on lunch.
Gold Police Challenge Coin
7 Gold US Dollars
John
www.theringfinders.com/john.volek
I often talk about my adventures as a Ring Finder with people at work. Like most people, they love hearing the stories of lost rings, both wedding rings and engagement rings, being found and returned to their owners. Every ring has a story and is so much more than just a piece of jewelry. One day, Jason stops over and tells me that a friend of his lost his ring in his backyard. He wanted to know if it was ok to give him my contact information. He also wanted to know what I charged. I explained that I ask for a small fee to cover gas and my time, and then a discretionary reward – whatever the person can afford and thinks is appropriate for the service we provide.
A couple of days had passed, and I hadn’t heard anything from Jason’s friend. I asked if he had found the lost ring. Jason said he had not, and would remind him to give me a call. Jason had heard all of my stories and knew that we could probably find the ring pretty easy. His friend Ryan was playing football with his kids in his backyard in Fitchburg. On one throw, he actually felt and saw his wedding ring fly off and land on the ground. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to find it. In my experience, what typically happens when someone begins to look for their lost ring, is that they inadvertently step on it – pushing it into the ground. No matter how hard you look with your eyes, you’ll never find it.
Another week passed, and I again asked Jason if Ryan had found his ring. He said that he had not, and this time just sent Ryan a text message and included me on it. I responded directly to Ryan that we could come out that night and take a look. He responded almost immediately and we agreed on a time to head over after work. As I typically do, I brought my kids along who love metal detecting and ring hunting. I talked with Ryan before beginning the hunt. He explained how he had lost the ring and that he was determined to find it himself. He had told his kids that if they found his ring, they could have ice cream as a reward. Funny, right? He also had thoughts of renting a metal detector, but wasn’t sure he would know how to operate it. I explained that he made a good decision to not rent a metal detector. I’ve heard countless stories of people renting a metal detector and getting excited the first time it goes off. However, a typical home owner would be shocked how much junk is hidden under your yard.
I will never forget this hunt, because it was, and still currently stands, as our fastest recovery to date. Ryan pointed to the area that he was standing when he threw the football, and literally within 3 mins we had a signal. We could not see the ring with our eyes, and had to use a small shovel to pry up the ground … out popped Ryan’s ring. He was in disbelief, as was his wife … Ryan said, « You’ve got to be kidding me » probably 4-5 times. It took longer to take our picture and post it to Facebook than it took for us to find his lost ring!
Remember, don’t rent a metal detector, rent a Ring Finder!