AirmetTango
Forum Supporter
There was a thread here recently about how fresh coin drops are becoming a thing of the past with less cash being used in favor of debit cards, and the impact it’ll have on the hobby for the coming generations. And obviously, silver coins and old relics are a non-renewable resource, also. Well, earlier this week I did my part and made an involuntary sacrifice to help ensure good finds for future generations of hunters...
There’s a high probability that I lost my wedding band in a farm field I was hunting earlier this week. When I returned to my car after hunting the field, I immediately noticed the ring missing when I removed my gloves to stow my gear. My usual routine is to not wear the ring while detecting, so I assumed I left it at home - but after turning the house upside-down, reality set in...the ring was probably in that field. The weather was cold, so the ring would have been loose - that wouldn’t have been so bad, because usually my gloves wouldn’t come off during a hunt. But on this particular hunt, I had new earbuds that weren’t seating in my ears very well, so I kept taking the gloves off to reposition the buds in my ears. One of those times, the ring must’ve pulled off with the gloves and dropped in the dirt without me noticing
To say I am heartsick over the loss is an understatement. I’m not into jewelry in general, but this is different - my wedding band is the only jewelry I’ve ever worn. To me, it’s irreplaceable - sure I can get a new ring, but it isn’t the ring, you know what I mean?
The good news was that just this past Sunday, I was airtesting a bunch of targets to learn my new EQ800, and my ring was one of the test subjects...a solid 14 on the VDI, which bumped up to 15 if on edge. So theoretically, I could set the detector up to target my ring, and sweep the field!
So, I set the machine up with the 13-15 range at full volume and highest tone pitch possible so the ring would scream like a banshee...every other range was set to zero volume. I turned the sensitivity back to about 13-14 to help avoid deeper interference, and then proceeded to grid the entire homesite area that I hunted, where I parked, and the path I walked between the two. I literally spent 2 days on a dedicated ring search - by way of comparison, I only spent about 1.5 hours actually hunting the field the day I lost it.
The end result? Nothing but a pair of pull tabs near the surface and definitely no ring. And it’s had a surprising impact on my desire to detect...it suddenly feels foolish to have traded something so important to me for the few relics and silver coins I’ve got to show for 2 years of detecting. Hopefully my souring on the hobby will pass with time, but in the meantime, I’ve got all winter to stew about it while I keep sweeping that field until the crops get planted in the Spring.
And perhaps it isn’t in the field at all, and somehow it got lost somewhere else...either way, if it doesn’t turn up, some future detectorist has the chance at a wonderful find.
There’s a high probability that I lost my wedding band in a farm field I was hunting earlier this week. When I returned to my car after hunting the field, I immediately noticed the ring missing when I removed my gloves to stow my gear. My usual routine is to not wear the ring while detecting, so I assumed I left it at home - but after turning the house upside-down, reality set in...the ring was probably in that field. The weather was cold, so the ring would have been loose - that wouldn’t have been so bad, because usually my gloves wouldn’t come off during a hunt. But on this particular hunt, I had new earbuds that weren’t seating in my ears very well, so I kept taking the gloves off to reposition the buds in my ears. One of those times, the ring must’ve pulled off with the gloves and dropped in the dirt without me noticing
To say I am heartsick over the loss is an understatement. I’m not into jewelry in general, but this is different - my wedding band is the only jewelry I’ve ever worn. To me, it’s irreplaceable - sure I can get a new ring, but it isn’t the ring, you know what I mean?
The good news was that just this past Sunday, I was airtesting a bunch of targets to learn my new EQ800, and my ring was one of the test subjects...a solid 14 on the VDI, which bumped up to 15 if on edge. So theoretically, I could set the detector up to target my ring, and sweep the field!
So, I set the machine up with the 13-15 range at full volume and highest tone pitch possible so the ring would scream like a banshee...every other range was set to zero volume. I turned the sensitivity back to about 13-14 to help avoid deeper interference, and then proceeded to grid the entire homesite area that I hunted, where I parked, and the path I walked between the two. I literally spent 2 days on a dedicated ring search - by way of comparison, I only spent about 1.5 hours actually hunting the field the day I lost it.
The end result? Nothing but a pair of pull tabs near the surface and definitely no ring. And it’s had a surprising impact on my desire to detect...it suddenly feels foolish to have traded something so important to me for the few relics and silver coins I’ve got to show for 2 years of detecting. Hopefully my souring on the hobby will pass with time, but in the meantime, I’ve got all winter to stew about it while I keep sweeping that field until the crops get planted in the Spring.
And perhaps it isn’t in the field at all, and somehow it got lost somewhere else...either way, if it doesn’t turn up, some future detectorist has the chance at a wonderful find.