MDing for rings. My observations after 26 months, and 406 rings later (37 of which were gold, and over 70 silver).

[ScubaDetective]

Yep. Hardest lesson to learn. It's not about the number of pulltabs you pick up, it's about where you are looking! I know lots of folks who say 10,000 pull tabs per gold. I doubt I hit 500-700 between gold.

You talking about me?

I can't say I have 10 grand from last year, but I do have quite a few for my 53 pieces of gold.

But a ring can be lost anyplace people have been. I have found gold rings on parking strips.

 

[Skippy SH13]

You talking about me?

I can't say I have 10 grand from last year, but I do have quite a few for my 53 pieces of gold.

But a ring can be lost anyplace people have been. I have found gold rings on parking strips.

Agreed. Rings can be lost ANYWHERE... Which is what makes the question "Where can you find rings?" silly. It's should be more like, 'What's the most likely place to find gold rings?"

For you, it's "in the water, where people go swimming."

For me, see #'s 1-8. LOL


As for the 10,000 pull tabs per gold, or even 1,000... I think if that's the case, then someone isn't hunting where there are gold drops. That... or they're missing the drops, because someone already pulled them!

Skippy

 

[gismapper]

A note to the mods....

Does this qualify to be "stickied"? Really great information here. Anybody with me?

Thanks for the download of your experience, Skippy! I was going to post the exact same info from my experience, but it's hard to find a pattern with five gold finds.

 

[Metal Magnet]

Super, super helpful post here!

I have found my share of rings, but have wanted to get a lot more. I have been into coinshooting, but I have a hunger for the precious metals. And I love finding rings.

Thank you so much for these tips - I will put them to use.

 

[Mikey48]

Does this qualify to be "stickied"? Really great information here. Anybody with me?

Thanks for the download of your experience, Skippy! I was going to post the exact same info from my experience, but it's hard to find a pattern with five gold finds.

+1 Sticky it

Thank You Skippy

 

[rfaatalrashid]

At the request of MudPuppy, here's what I’ve learned after 26 months, and 406 rings later (37 of which were gold, and over 70 silver).

My very first gold ring was found with an ACE350 in about 3” of dirt. The small 10K gold antique class ring, with no year or other identifiable mark, was found at a city park large enough to house 16 soccerfields of various sizes. It was the first of three gold rings I found at this park. This one was found between the fields and the parking lot, and encountered because I was simply metal detecting “in lines.” I had not yet learned the proper word for what I was doing was called “Gridding.” That ring got me hooked on Metal Detecting. There's never been another find quite so amazing as that one. Even the priciest finds I've made don't come close to having me tearing up in joy, like I did that find. Or feeling like quite so much as Golem, as I repeatedly got it out to admire it.

Since that first gold find, I’ve detected in 4 cities, approximately 3 dozen city parks of various sizes (some up to 20+ acres), 3 dozen schools, and close to 4 dozen neighborhood parks. Some basic patterns have emerged for where rings get dropped, and my find rate for rings is a bit more than 1 per hunt. Consistently. As an example, I've hunted about 30 times so far this year, and I'm at 40 rings.

Here's what I have learned about where you're going to find rings.
The first and foremost place you should be checking is where people take rings off. This accounts for the BEST of my finds. While I find rings dropped virtually everywhere in the parks, the very nicest rings always end up in the same basic locations. Here's the list, in descending order of volume:

1: Where ladies take off rings to sunscreen up their children
2: Where ladies and gents take off rings to “keep from losing them”
3: Where coaches remove rings
4: Where players set rings down because they’re not allowed to have “jewelry” on the field.
The above four places account for approximately 75% of all my gold finds. The remaining 25% fits into this category:
5: Where cold hands meet gloves coming off (its’ my favorite season in tot-lots!).
6: In ball fields, probably lost while arms are swinging
7: Near Skate parks, where skaters put down all their gear
8: totally random drops in the middle of fields (probably due to one of the above, but unknown just by looking at the field!)​

The top 4 hotspots are the top four because people are FORGETTING to pick up their jewelry. I believe this is partially due to the fact that grass in our parks is several inches long, and a ring sliding off a bag, flipped out of a cap (when being placed back on a head), or simply placed into the grass, is so easily LOST at dusk, that people commonly think they’re stolen. It’s also quite common for me to find rings recently lost simply embedded into the ground, as someone has stepped on it. Once pressed into the dirt, they virtually disappear from visibility. This means that someone might be looking right AT the ring, but not recognize it for what it is. Often, I believe, people simply assume they are stolen, or don’t remember until much later that it was removed. If they return, and someone has stepped on the ring, it appears “taken,” instead of simply lost.

#1 and #2 (1: Where ladies take off rings to sunscreen up their children, and 2: Where ladies and gents take off rings to “keep from losing them”) account for 100% of all my really nice diamond rings. And when I say nice. I mean NICE. It also accounts for the run-of-the-mill diamond wedding bands that get left in the grass next to volley ball courts. Several others have been found around tot-lots. Far more, though, are found AROUND the tot-lots, than IN the tot-lots. The key here is that people are intentionally taking them off. These aren’t “fall off the finger” losses, but actual “left behinds.” They account for more of my ring finds than any other type, and actually account for 100% of my diamond wedding/anniversary ring finds.

#3 Where coaches remove rings is also a strong producer of rings, though I find far more tungsten and titanium bands in these locations than gold, #3 accounts for gold men’s bands, and probably a dozen other men’s bands. These are so common in the areas where coaches put stuff down, that I commonly will drive by parks just to see where the gear is placed by the coaches to detect there, and in other locations. This includes behind or along the lines of the baseball fields (ESPECIALLY for fields that are close to roads), and the “about 40 feet into the field” places where coaches walk out and drop their gear. It’s far enough from the sidewalks that people won’t come pick it up, but not so far out that it gets in the way of practice. These also show up at corners of marked soccer fields (again...common drop points), and at the edges of the goalie boxes (amazingly, this is also a common drop point, if practice isn’t going to take the whole field.). My heaviest gold rings (other than men’s class rings), come from these points.

4: Where players set rings down because they’re not allowed to have “jewelry” on the field. Accounts for most of my gold jewelry with gemstones that are not diamonds. These are the gold rings that youth commonly give each other, especially worn by high school girls. I find a LOT of these at the edges of softball fields (not baseball), where girls will run over after seeing their rings on their hands, and put it down where their bags are. These are not typically large rings, often ranging from 1.4 grams to 2.4 grams, and typically only 10K, but they’re fun to find, nevertheless.

5: Where cold hands meet gloves coming off (its’ my favorite season in tot-lots!). This makes Soccer/Football line, and tot-lots really fun.. I love the fall and spring for these drops. When a cold snap hits, I believe people’s fingers simply shrink. Rings either fall off, or they drop when the light gloves are removed. This is when I find rings in one of three locations. Soccer/Football lines, Tot Lots under the swings, and at concession stands. For the ball field lines,, this is where people are sitting in the chairs removing and putting on gloves... rings literally just DROP on the line. You can search the line (both sides of the “parents don’t cross this point”) line to find these drops. I find a lot of ladies costume jewelry during this time, too. It’s not uncommon for me to find 1-2 rings every week in a multi-field soccer park. The lines are just magnets for drops, both at game time with gloves, and from players. Fair weather, though, reduces the drop rate by a huge margin. Rings stay on hands, when it’s warm out! Tot-lot drops, for me, often happen at fall-spring. I’ll find a gob of change in the summer, but no rings. I say this, because I detect several lots WEEKLY, year round. The only time I’ve ever found precious metal rings is spring and fall. All summer, when there’s 4,000 people a week coming through a big park’s tot lot, it’ll only be change. But... see above for “edge” drops. Summertime, I’ll find rings in the grass, not the bark. The last area, is really hit/miss, but it happens. Check for the areas where people stand waiting for concessions, if it’s in a grassy area. Peoples hands come in and out of pockets at this time. There is a fair amount of change here, too.

6: In ball fields, probably lost while arms are swinging. These are TOUGH to find, and I only come across them when I’m gridding a field. They’re just out there in the middle. Often smaller bands, of the 4 gram variety, they are either dropped as part of play, or are just a random set-down in the middle of a field. I’m never sure why they’re there, but they can be out there. I only grid major fields once a year, to catch these drops, choosing to focus my time on #1-#5 instead during the summer. This is usually where I hunt in late fall and winter, when everything else has slowed down. I’ve found enough gold rings (and even a gold earring) in the middle of fields, that it’s worth it, when you know the grassy areas around the lots, water features, and volleyball courts haven’t seen any action.

7: Near Skate parks, where skaters put down all their gear
These are interesting little bubbles of fun. I’ve pulled four gold rings out of skate parks. All of them VERY light gold, with the exception of one woman’s gold class ring. These have all been 10K, and half were mashed flat. Skate parks are notorious for pop-tabs, ring tops, etc. But they’re worth digging all that scrap to find the gold. Again, though, they’re ONLY where people take them off and put them down, these are not “fall off” rings. I’ve never even found a bad ring around the edges of the park where people sit with their drinks (and load up the ground with pop-tops)... all my skate-park rings (Silver, gold, tungsten, stainless, etc.) are always found where gear gets put down at a corner, or under a tree. In fact, for the three skate parks, I can hit the “hot zones” in less than 10 minutes each. I find a ring about every 3rd month. I pull a decent amount of change from these same areas, too. Just watch during the summer months where kids are sitting while taking a break... THAT’s where you want to detect.

8: Everything else is just random drops. I’ve found rings in the oddest places when gridding everything. There’s no real reason for them to be there, but they are! Sides of hills (possibly pocket drops?), grassy lanes near sidewalks, and just out in the middle of a neighborhood park. They can happen anywhere... but these account for only a VERY few # of finds.

Hope this helps on your own quest for rings/gold!

oh... one other "hotspot" for jewelry, though it's always costume style or silver! In Schoolyards, look for where there's a row of 2 or 3 trees that is NOT at the edge of a school yard. These are just magnets for rings from little girls. I think the social nature of the young ladies just puts them sitting under the trees. If a school has 2 or three trees in a row, I can basically "call it" that there will be rings near them / between them / around them. I've found as many as 5 in one hunt under 2 or three trees. This really works best, when the trees are within 20 or 30 feet of the asphalt playgrounds or bark lots, but they can sure be productive!

Gridding a school yard is always a good way to find aluminum rings, too. LOL

Cheers,

Skippy

PS: If you look back at my post, you'll see that the first and foremost place was "where people take them off." This is why my first spot in a park will not be the bark at the end of a slide. I'm there for the jewelry, the coins come second. Just something to consider.

EDIT: Here's the picture library if you'd like to see a bunch of my ring finds.
http://s547.photobucket.com/user/SkippyS13/library/Ring Finds

HOLY MOLY! Some admin PLEASE give Dr Skippy his rightfully earned sticky! This is GREAT! The tactics, techniques, procedures, AND the "WHY!"

I feel like you just pulled the curtain back and exposed the wizard of oz himself. You just immediately popped hot on my follow list, and favorite posters list.

Worthy of printing, lamination, and storage in detecting cargo pants. Wow.

Sent from my SM-T280 using Tapatalk

 

[masterjedi]

That many rings...

Since you have found 406 rings in 26 months... (15.615) rings per month. you no doubt have found 1000's of silver coins too. Please post pics of the rings and all of the silver coins... great for you. We really would love to see them all...

 

[Ice Scratcher]

Since you have found 406 rings in 26 months... (15.615) rings per month. you no doubt have found 1000's of silver coins too. Please post pics of the rings and all of the silver coins... great for you. We really would love to see them all...

Silver coins and rings, hardly go together, if one is a serious ring seeking monster...

<°)))>{

 

[Ice Scratcher]

Great post Skipper!

My best ring season was 186, but with over 500 (quit counting) lol... In the end of every season my ratio has been about the same which sort of astounds, and drives me too...

For every four rings, 2 junk, 1 silver, 1 gold..

Now this is mostly water hunts, have you figured out your ratio in that manner?

All dirt for you?

<°)))>{

 

[Skippy SH13]

Worthy of printing, lamination, and storage in detecting cargo pants. Wow.

Whoa. I don't even know how to respond to that one. LOL

What I can say, is that I totally hope this helps you find rings. I hit my 50th one, for the year, tonight... between two trees at a new elementary school I found... And the trees were 30 feet from the asphalt. I just laughed, thinking about how I "called it" again.

This ring, though, it think was a drop from a teacher. It's a big men's religious ring. Stainless steel, but still very fun find.

Cheers!

Skippy

 

[Skippy SH13]

Great post Skipper!

My best ring season was 186, but with over 500 (quit counting) lol... In the end of every season my ratio has been about the same which sort of astounds, and drives me too...

For every four rings, 2 junk, 1 silver, 1 gold..

Now this is mostly water hunts, have you figured out your ratio in that manner?

All dirt for you?

<°)))>{

Yep... since I do a lot of schools, my ratios are a bit higher. I take home about 25% "precious metals," compared to your 50%. This is largely explainable by the volume of junkers in elementary school lots.

For example, last year, it was 19 gold rings out of 239 total, and just over 40 for silver ones... the average is pretty consistent at 25%.

Skippy

 

[Skippy SH13]

Since you have found 406 rings in 26 months... (15.615) rings per month. you no doubt have found 1000's of silver coins too. Please post pics of the rings...

The link to the pictures is in the original post. Click the Photobucket album. There's several hundred pictures there. Those are only the one's worth photographing. I've got a whole tacklebox full of the junkers...

here it is again...
http://s547.photobucket.com/user/SkippyS13/library/Ring Finds

...and all of the silver coins... great for you. We really would love to see them all...

HAHAHA!!!! No.

And it's not a "no" because I'm not willing to share my finds. I totally am! It's a "no" because I've found a whopping 3 silver coins. a 1964 Rosie last summer, in 3" of dirt in a fresh sod field... could have been a pocket drop. A 1993 Sterling centered 10 Peso Mexican, last early fall, which was within a half-inch of the surface... and just yesterday, a 1945 Walking Liberty half... which was a surface find at an elementary school.

This is all very explainable though. Up until 1980, the city I'm in was about 5,000 people total... 8,000 roughly at 1990... 40,000 at 2000, and it's now approaching 90,000 people in 2017. Since 1995, the city has has installed about two dozen new parks out of the 27 they have (some are nothing more than bench parks in downtown, but some are HUGE acreage for sports fields). The oldest 4 parks and the three original school grounds have been HEAVILY hunted out, with the exception of the ever present 1970's pull tabs. Basically, everything I find is new drops from the last 30 years. Of the 11 elementary schools in the area, only one is older than 30 years. Most are less than 15, with a few less than 5!

Three new high schools in the last 20 years, each coming about 7 years apart. Middle schools about the same.

Basically, if I wanted to try for dirt dug silver, I'd have to hit the main street of town, which has been pretty much targeted by every old timer around here with a metal detector. I choose to spend my time in the parks and schools instead, opting for the more lucrative gold rings and the $700-$800 in coins I've been pulling yearly.

It's really my focus, because there's nothing really "old" around here to dig, without a serious permission.

Cheers!

Skippy

 

[gismapper]

Whoa. I don't even know how to respond to that one. LOL

...and I'm going to ask that the admins rename this thread to, "The Ring Finder's Bible. "
It's an instant classic!

 

[zeemang]

Good stuff

 

[Crackerjack]

Skippy, I think you should change your name to Frodo, because you are the ring-bearer!

 

[rfaatalrashid]

Skippy, I think you should change your name to Frodo, because you are the ring-bearer!

Yesss! [emoji12] [emoji23]

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

[Skippy SH13]

Skippy, I think you should change your name to Frodo, because you are the ring-bearer!

LOL... Not Frodo...

I'm still trying to figure out how to add a picture to my avatar... once I do, it'll be this one.


EDIT: Oooh. GOT IT!

 

[Crackerjack]

LOL... Not Frodo...

I'm still trying to figure out how to add a picture to my avatar... once I do, it'll be this one.


EDIT: Oooh. GOT IT!

My Precious!

 

[Skippy SH13]

My Precious!

You got it! And like a dragon, when I surround myself with gold, it keeps me young.

 

[Metal Magnet]

Skippy, are you mostly hunting around tot lots, where moms put sun tan lotion on their kids? I can think of sidelines of small kids soccer fields, teeball, etc as well.

so excited to try this out this season.