The Ring Finders Blog | Page 643 of 1066

Beth call today, saying her husband, Ross, had lost his wedding ring on Sunday just days after they celebrated their 12th anniversary.  Ross and the kids had been swimming in the pond out back of his friends’ house when he noticed his ring was gone.  This 90 degree day was perfect for a hunt, so Gregg Larabel and I jumped into our cars and met Ross at the friends’ home.  We started where Ross said they had spent most of the time in the water.  Then his friend got home and told us he thought Ross might have lost it when he fell off the raft while playing with the kids.  That was in deeper water than where we had already searched, so we moved out to chin-deep water and searched some more.  We were just about ready to give up for the day when I made one last swing thru the deep water–and that’s when I got a good hard signal of 50 on my At-Pro.  It is not easy to scoop the bottom when you have to stretch to keep your chin out of the water, hoping not to drown!  So it took me a few tries, but the ring ended up in my scoop, leading to lots of smiles all around.  That warm feeling just never gets old.             

While relaxing on their friend’s boat dock Father’s Day weekend, Iowa resident Matt (last name) felt his titanium wedding ring slip off his finger. He watched helplessly as it landed on the wooden planks, bounced and then rolled through a large crack out of sight into the murky water beneath.

Matt and his friend, Jad, searched for a number of hours that evening, diving and sifting through the mud, weeds, stones and zebra shells, all to no avail. It had to be there under the dock, but try as they might, they couldn’t find it. Did a fish swallow it? Stranger things have happened.

I received a text from Matt the next morning. He and his wife were leaving to drive home to Iowa. Would I be willing to search for his ring?

After contacting Jad, I arranged a search early that afternoon. Once on location in the neck-deep water under the boat dock, I encountered a cacophony of signals. The lake bottom under and around the dock was full of metallic debris. Metal cans, fishing lures, bolts, nails, coins, bottle caps, pull tabs… But no ring! To make matters worse, the remains of old dock moorings, re-bar and metal pipes kept overwhelming the non-ferrous targets, making it almost impossible to discriminate the iron. Chad’s ring, being made of titanium, added another challenge; the unique metal can act in strange ways when other metal is present.

It was a small search area and so the only option was to systematically remove every metallic object under the dock. Eventually, using this strategy, Chad’s wedding ring found its way into my scoop and into the light of day! Mission accomplished once again. In Chad’s absence his friend, Jad, posed with the ring for posterity.

So glad to have found your ring, Matt! May its story continue for many years to come.

On June 15 I received a phone call from Illinois resident, Hugh Rider. He was adjusting a boat cover on his dock at his cottage on Delavan Lake, Wisconsin, when a bee stung his hand. Instinctively, he shook his arm away from the offending pest, only to see his gold wedding ring fly and bounce off the dock into the lake. It was like adding insult to injury—a bad dream in slow motion.

After a 45-minute drive, I arrived at the picturesque lake. The area has been a vacation destination since 1878. Today, cottages dot its shoreline. Hugh arrived shortly after I did and together, we made our way to the boat dock. Once in the neck-deep water I first encountered aquatic plants. Such plants can be problematic for a detectorist as the foliage wraps itself around the coil and stem. But it was the historical evidence of cottagers going back over 100 years that presented the bigger challenge. There were the remains of concrete moorings with reinforcing iron, pipes, chain, bolts, screws and cans. But somewhere amongst all the ferrous metal was a precious gold wedding band. It would require all of my 40-plus years of metal-detecting experience to decipher that signal amidst the ferrous “roar.”

After what seemed like a lot of trial and error, Hugh’s ring finally gave up its hiding place and appeared in my scoop! Mission accomplished!

Hugh was delighted, of course, to have his wedding band back on his hand. And his smile tells the rest of the story.

Engaged two years to the day and married last December 2019, Bangladeshi university student, Hasan Aziz, lost his gold wedding ring in the water at Big Foot Beach State Park on Lake Geneva. It happened June 21, 2020 while receiving a swimming lesson in chest-deep water.

The next morning, I received a text message from Hasan asking for help. We arranged to meet on location that evening. On arrival, I was met by an entourage of college friends, all eager to be part of the search experience. Donning my Excalibur SCUBA detector and a couple marker buoy’s I began a systematic grid search. Happily, it didn’t take long to locate Hasan’s precious ring. When we did, a chorus of cheers erupted from his friends on shore. Then after a fun photo session, it was mission accomplished once again. Hasan’s smile tells the rest of the story.

Kenosha, WI boasts several gorgeous parks along the shores of Lake Michigan. On Sunday, June 28, 2020, Darren and his wife, Jennifer drove up from West Chicago for a relaxing get-away at Pennoyer Park. But a picture-perfect day turned to despair when on their drive home, Jennifer realized her diamond-wedding ring was missing. I received a desperate email the next morning requesting my assistance. Her son found me on The Ring Finder’s online directory.

It was an hour’s drive for each way for both of us and so we arranged to meet on location that afternoon. Upon arrival, I disappointed to discover my otherwise trusty metal detector was not functioning. I always pack an extra machine for just such a possibility, but somehow failed to load it before I left. Despite my best efforts to remedy the problem on site, it became necessary to drive an hour back home to Waukesha to fetch another detector.

Meanwhile, an intense electrical storm developed. Torrents of rain made driving a challenge. The beautiful beach where, just hours before, people sunbathed and picnicked had become a desolate, dark and foreboding place, rumbling with thunder and flashes of lightning. A flock of seagulls took cover on the shore while we waited in our vehicles. Finally, with no break in sight, the Darren and Jennifer decided to return home. We agreed to stay in touch, but as they drove away in the rain, I could sense the disappointment and hopelessness in Jenifer’s voice.

While the rain continued, the lightning eventually subsided enough that it was safe to venture out. My equipment is rated for SCUBA diving so the wind and driving rain were not a problem. After an about an hour, I had barely covered the first search area and was about to move to the next location when I picked up a strong but deep signal in the coarse sand. My first thought was that the target was much too deep for so recent a loss. But just to make sure, I excavated the target and dumped the contents out across the sand. As I did, my eye caught the unmistakable glint of diamonds and platinum! It was on a slope and someone had inadvertently pushed the loose sand over the ring, burying it deeply with their foot.

I texted a photo of the ring to Jennifer with the caption, “A little damp, but none the worse for its lost-and-found experience!” Darren and Jennifer hopped in the car right away and made the hour’s drive back to Kenosha. What a delight it was to hand the beautiful ring back to its grateful owner. Appropriately, I thought, Jennifer wore a tee-shirt with the word, BLESSED, on it. You know, I think prayers were answered that night!

This ring search seemed to conspire against us at every turn – equipment problems, rain, lightening, darkness, wind and challenging driving conditions, all threatened failure. But in the end, perseverance and prayers triumphed. I too feel blessed. As for Jenifer, her smile tells the rest of the story.