#Old Orchard Beach Metal Detector Rental And Service Tag | Page 6 of 6 | The Ring Finders

Gold Wedding Ring Lost For 25+ Years, in The Greene, Maine Woods, Found With A Metal Detector

  • from Old Orchard Beach (Maine, United States)
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I will say,  if this wasn’t the most challenging search for me, it is in the top 2. It all started when I received a text message, from Randy. This is his original text, from March 12th, 2025.

“Hi my name is Randy
Saw your story on Facebook. I lost a ring in our back yard a number of years ago. I live in Greene and are planning to relocate in a year.
I’d like to be able to retrieve it before we leave the area.
Kindly let me know if you are interested in this challenging hunt. Thanks”

I replied

“Hi Randy, So sorry to hear this. Searching for this ring is certainly something we can do. A few questions 1st, if you wouldn’t mind

1) How long ago did you lose the ring and why do you think the ring was lost in the backyard? Did you see or feel the ring come off?

2) How large of an area is your backyard and is it grass, field, woods, etc.. If need be, I can bring someone with me to cover a larger area.

3) Were you looking to have the search, this spring, after the snow melt?”

Randy replied,
“The ring was lost 20+ years
I sadly threw it into a cleared wooded area on my property with about a few pine trees approx 6ft tall

It is overgrown now with 30-40 foot trees however storms have dropped many of trees

As far as timeline for searching, whatever is easier for you.
We still have a fair amount of snow here.
It’s my original wedding ring.”

WAIT, WHAT? 20 + YEARS AND IN THE WOODS?  Randy was certainly correct about this being challenging
I replied
“Ok, So the ring is in the wooded area and you remember the area? I will say that 20+ years is an extremely long time. Not impossible but it certainly would be a challenge. My concern would be a tree or roots are now over it. I can search as soon as the snow is gone and the ground is no longer frozen. I found a wedding ring, last August or September that was lost in 1982. It was only 5-6 inches deep, but on a manicured lawn.

Randy replied,
“Yes I know exactly the direction and approx 150 ft from edge of lawn
I searched by hand years ago but was not successful
I’m retired so just reach out whenever “

So today, just over 2 months after being contacted by Randy, I enlisted Gary Hill, to assist me on such a large and difficult search. We arrived at Randy’s home, in Greene, Maine at just after 8:00am. Randy showed us an orange traffic cone that he had placed on his lawn. Randy told us he was standing there when he threw his ring, “as far as I could”, after a disagreement, with his wife (Hey, it happens and who are we to judge). Randy immediately and seriously regretted his actions and went out in the woods, searching for his ring. Unfortunately he was not able to find it and he continued searching for days and would occasionally search, years later. Now Gary and I headed out into the woods with Randy and he showed us the area, he thought the ring would be in. We put up orange markers on the trees, to the north and south, that would serve as our boundary markers. The plan was to start there and grid search, as best we could, towards the house and orange cone, on the lawn. Unfortunately, the closer we got to the house the thicker the downed trees and branches became. So thick and deep, we couldn’t swing our detectors properly. It was that bad and I even got jabbed by some downed branches, on a tree. It caused a cut on my leg and drew blood, but not serious. We were very careful of the branches that were eye level. Gary and I did’t want to go home blind.

After searching for 2 1/2 hours, in the area that Randy thought the ring would be, Gary and I started to expand the search area, with a consultation, from Randy. He thought the ring may be further into the woods and possibly a little more to the north, of the original search area. I would search deeper into the woods and Gary would search just north, where the downed trees and branches were extremely troublesome. Gary and I told each other that it would be a 1 in a million chance of finding the ring, under all the downed trees and branches. My thinking was that the entire area, closer to the house was very likely the area the ring was in and Gary agreed. We just didn’t think the ring would be as far back in the woods, as Randy thought it would be. But how do you search an area, with dead trees, on the ground. Throughout the search, we would move branches, as best we could, but there were many, we were not able to move. Very frustrating to think the ring could be under one of the trees or branches, that we just couldn’t move. As I was finishing up the area, deeper in the woods, I started up towards the house, to see how Gary was doing. He was 50-60 feet north of the boundary, of where th ring should be and in a thicket of downed branches. I decided to search a little closer to the original area, but still just north of it. We have now been searching for 3 hours and 15 minutes when I hear Gary yell out, “I GOT IT. I FOUND THE RING.” I yelled back, “REALLY, THATS AWESOME.” I then made my way over to Gary and there in the hole was a Gold Wedding Ring, UNBELIEVABLE. GREAT JOB GARY!!!!! I then summoned Randy back into the woods and when he saw his Wedding Ring for the 1st time in almost 30 years, he said ”SHUT THE FRONT DOOR.” Randy then looked around to where the orange traffic cone was and just could’t believe how far north of the search are, the ring was found (Watch the full video of his reaction, posted earlier today.)

As all 3 of us were standing around talking about just how lucky Randy was that the ring was found. After all it was a good 60-70 feet from where Randy thought it was. Gary was expanding the search area and BAM, there it was. Randy the told us he didn’t remember the exact year the ring was lost, other than it was between the years 1997 and 2000. So 25 to 28 years lost in the woods and Randy has his original Wedding Ring back, just in time for his 35th Anniversary. Randy mentioned that he and his wife will most likely renew their vows, on their upcoming Anniversary. Now Randy will have his original Wedding Ring and another Wedding Ring he purchased, just after losing his first one.
Gary and I were just beaming, all the way home, knowing that we have put another smile on someone’s face, once again. Randy was just so happy and in disbelief of the ring being found. No better feeling in the world than to help others find their lost items and return them, to the rightful owner.

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Diamond Stud Earring With White Gold Post And Setting, Lost In Wells, Maine Grass,Found With A Metal Detector

  • from Old Orchard Beach (Maine, United States)
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I received the following message, from Jennifer, on Friday night, May 9th.

“Hi! I lost a diamond earring in my backyard. Do you think you can help me locate it? We live in the Moodysection of Wells, Maine”.

I replied

“Hi Jennifer, I am so sorry to hear this. Are you sure it was lost in the yard? Did you see or feel it coming off?
Also, do you still have the matching earring, so I may set my detector up with it? Gold stud earrings are the most difficult to locate because there is so little metal on them. With that said, I do have a program that does a great job, on stud earrings. I would just like to use the matching earring, for setup and testing. We can keep it in a zipped sandwich bag, so that doesn’t get lost”.

Jennifer’s reply

“Hi! Thank you for getting back to me so quickly!
Yes, I felt my fingers go to my ear and pull. Was being pulled by my dogs. I saw the earring “go flying.” I have a general idea where it could be. Just can’t see it.
I do have the matching earring”.

I then asked her a bunch more questions and she told me that the earring was just lost a hour earlier, at 7:00pm. She also told me that the lawn had been mowed, earlier in the day and the law had no stand water or muddy areas. This was all good to know and would help in the search. I then told Jennifer that I would come down tomorrow afternoon Wells, once the rain stopped, the next day. I would access the situation and see just what the lawn area looked like and just how wet and muddy it was or wasn’t. If I could search after the rain stopped, I would. If the area was bigger than I thought, I could come back in the next few days, with someone to help me. If the area was as small as I thought, I couldn’t have two of us in the same area, because our metal detectors would interfere with each other’s machine. Stud earrings are extremely difficult to find, due to the lack of metal on the post. Any interference would result in false signals and we may not find the earring.
After the heavy rain stopped, I drove down to the Moody section of Wells, Maine, and met Jennifer. She gave me the other earring and I made some adjustments to my Minelab Manticore and the earring was picked up with no problems. My pinpointer also was picking the earring up with no issues.

Jennifer then took me to the backyard and showed me the area she was in, when the dog pulled her forward, resulting in the earring flying off, into the grassy abyss. Jennifer and her family showed me where they visually searched the area, immediately after losing it. They even used flashlights, after dark. Unfortunately the grass was wet from all the rain we have been having and the water on the grass was glistening to much, to be useful. I looked at the area and decided I would grid search, from just behind a pit on the lawn, to the neighbors driveway. I would then take a half step over and head back towards the pit. I needed to make sure I was overlapping my previous grid line, so as to not miss anything. I also was swinging my metal detector extremely slowly, so the processor could pick up all the non ferrous low conductor targets. My first grid line was approximately 30 – 40’ and took me 15 minutes to grid search it. I was going very slowly and being deliberate, checking every target two and three times. I then started back towards the pit and I had a non ferrous low conductor target, ringing up on my VDI screen between 01 and 03. This was the same reading I was receiving , with Jennifer’s matching earring. Unfortunately I couldn’t see anything, in the grass. To be through, I removed my pinpointer and moved some grass, still couldn’t see anything. I then started moving the pinpointer through the grass and the pinpointer found the target. I pushed the grass aside and staring right back at me was a Diamond Stud Earring. I Stood up and saw Jennifer visually searching, while running her fingers through the grass and I said “Jennifer, I found your earring”. Jennifer was very surprised and came right over. I showed her exactly how I found the earring and then stood the grass back up, so the earring was no longer visible. She then told me “You’re my hero” and we then hugged. She was so happy to have her Diamond Earring back, especially since tomorrow is Mother’s Day. I just absolutely love being able to recover and return lost items It’s the best feeling in the world.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to all the mothers out there. I hope you have a FANTASTIC day🌹❤️🙏

 

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Dangerous Sharp Shafts, Lost In Gorham, Maine Deep Grass, Found With Metal Detectors

  • from Old Orchard Beach (Maine, United States)
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Yesterday was a first for me, searching for a Well Cap. Today was another first and really different, from my usual searches. I would be searching for, as many as I could find, sharp metal shafts with plastic insulators, on the top.

I was contacted by Jim, owner of Vienna Farm, in Gorham (Maine). Vienna Farm is a Horse Farm, providing Lessons, Training and Boarding, of horses, of course. Jim had a peculiar request of me. He wanted me to find sharp metal shafts with a plastic insulator, on the top. The sharp metal shaft would be anchored to the top of a fence post and the plastic insulator held a low voltage wire and these would run the length of the fences. Horses would sometimes hit the low voltage wires, knocking the sharp shafts and insulators, onto the grass below. Weather and age of the shafts/insulator/wood, also caused some to fall off. The low voltage wire helped keep horses, in adjacent fields, from trying to get to each other and keep them in their own grazing field. The fences are approximately 600’ long and Jim had three of these fences, that need to be searched, on both sides, of the fences. Jim told me that he and his employees do walk the fence lines, looking for the sharp shafts but knows there are some of these sharp shafts, still hiding in the tall grass. Jim’s concern is that one of the shafts could potentially impale a horses foot, causing an injury to the horse and a very expensive veterinarian bill. Although this has never, ever happened, Jim wanted to be pro active and find as many as possible.
Since this was an extremely large area to searched, I asked Gary Hill to assist me and he gladly agreed to help. Gary and I arrived at Vienna Farm and was promptly met by Jim. Jim proceeded to show us the three fences to be searched and also provided a sharp shaft with plastic insulator, for testing purposes and to set up our Minelab Manticores Metal Detectors. Doing this will help us achieve the best results. Jim had to leave so Gary and I got right to work. I would walk one side of the fence and Gary the other. The search was slow, as the grass was tall. We would receive a signal and we would then use our pinpointers, to determine if the target would need to be dug. If our pinpointers could detect the target, it meant the target was approximately 3 or 4 inches from the surface and a potential danger, to the horses. We needed to dig all targets within the 3-4 inches, to prevent any injuries, to the horses. Any target that was not picked up by the pinpointer, was deep enough to not be a danger and we did not dig those targets.

As we started searching Gary found one of the sharp shaft and insulator, we were looking for. I then found a horse shoe, imagine that. As we proceeded along the fence line. we started finding more of our desired targets and some undesired targets, mostly old nails, probably from fence repairs. As we finished the first fence line, we had 12 shafts and plastic insulators, along with three horse shoes. Gary and I then searched the next two fence lines and we were able to recover 5 more shafts/insulators and 4 more horse shoes, along with more nails. An extreme unusual item to be searching for, but it is made of metal and why not help out a local horse farm. Gary and I loved being out in the fields, looking around the beautiful property and seeing the horses. A great day for us and grateful to know people think of us enough to place their trust in our ability, to help protect their horses. Thank you Jim and Vienna Farm, for having us today.

So, there were 17 total sharp shafts/plastic shafts found and seven horseshoes. Jim told us he was extremely pleased with the results and our effort, to help protect the horses. You could tell by talking with Jim, just how much he cares for the horses and his beautiful farm. If you or someone you know, is interested in horses, please contact Vienna Farm. I promise, You won’t be disappointed.

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