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I Contributed to the Continuity of the Hobby...

AirmetTango

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Joined
Apr 14, 2017
Messages
3,111
Location
NW Ohio
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.
 
That sucks man! A true fear honestly.

The good news - you know where it was lost.

Maybe you can get some other metal detectors out there to help out.

Also - did you check inside your glove? I was out chainsawing in the woods once, wet cold weather and lost my ring, ended up being up in my glove.

Don’t give up man. Good luck!
 
Very sorry to hear you have misplaced your wedding ring Tango. I know the sick feeling one gets from a loss like that.
I garden in the backyard and have lost my wedding ring 3 times with years between the loss and finding it again.
The last time that I lost it, I felt it gone after retrieving an arrow in dense growth. I looked down at my finger and couldn’t believe I had lost it for the third time. I felt like a fool.
Fast forward to several months ago, I had a Gardner remove every plant in the garden. When he finished I got out the 800 and found my lost ring in about five minutes of detecting.
I had a good idea of where I lost it and it worked out again that my detector found it. Two years gone that time.
So, my feeling is you probably will find it in that field.
Best of luck Tango. Wish I could be there to help.
BH
 
It will turn up. I’ve lost my wedding band twice in 20 years. First time, a co-worker found it in the parking lot after snow melted. Second time, I thought I’d dumped it in the trash after I’d been detecting a park. It turned up in our coffee can change jar at home (now I know how rings end up in the coin counters).

Good luck
 
I'll bet you'll find if you keep hitting that area. That's what got me into this hobby: I lost my ring in the back yard so I bought a metal detector. Found it about two weeks later.
 
That really stinks about losing your wedding band! I know I'm kind of far from you, but let me know if you need help looking for it out in that field. Perhaps myself and a few of my friends could make a trip up there to help you search for it. Hopefully it turns up!
 
I bet you can get a lot of help from other detectorists.

Make it like a club event.


Get a big coil and use disciplined swings when looking for a specific target.
 
I can only imagine how you feel. Do not hesitate to get ahold of me, I have a dentist appointment at 8:30 on Monday after that I am able to help you. And I am also available on Wednesday and Thursday. If your work schedule will allow this .

If you have not already tried look in the trunk of your car your backpack your fines bag inside your car and the area where you was standing when you pulled the keys out of your pocket. I truly hope you are able to find it.
 
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Sorry to hear. I feel your pain. Nothing replaces the original.

I lost mine at work on a cold day slinging trash when I worked for DPW a long time ago. Same deal. Took my gloves off a few times. Who knows where it went and what lucky bastardo has a piece of my heart.
 
I am sure you mentally retraced your steps from the time you noticed the ring gone... I would check your car carefully and around where you parked. Anywhere in the car you stowed gear and under the driver's seat. When you return to the field maybe mark areas you have covered with stakes or golf balls. Good luck!!!
 
I lost my wedding ring back in '68. I was in the Army in Colorado and we were testing a new suit for chemical warefare. It even had rubber gloves and after wearing it for very long you were sweating. I can only think that when I took my gloves off the ring fell off someplace or else the next person to use the suit found it in the glove. I never saw it again.
 
Sir are you near NY? If you are I can load up and head towards you to help out.

Two MD in front and a third behind overlap swinging should find it.

Let me know! All it not lost and it is lost when you give up and you never ever gave up on the meaning of the ring and your marriage.

Sent from my LGLS775 using Tapatalk
 
Its obvious that you really Love your Wife and the commitment your ring signifies. So OK...You found a rare Treasure once (your wife) Now you have to go find your ring...which may indeed lead you to finding not only it but more treasures along the way!

Once we get a skiff of snow, you can bag coil and use your set up and do a really nice sweep on account of you can see where you have been, and the coil slides so easily along the top of the snow with a bag on it......that way you can cover a lot of ground completely...Also you will hit a dropped ring through 6" of snow easily...I hunt snow hills so I know of what I speak...

Take some flag markers or even vegetable lathes or something to let you know where you have already hunted and stick them in the corners of your grid for when you come back, so you aint hunting the same dirt twice......Then just keep going over that field and expanding your grid......

Also, at night, as you are falling asleep, think about your ring and relax, your mind might just tell you where it is in your semi dream state...It may be right where you park your car for your hunts!

Well, keep us posted about your hunt for it....This may indeed turn out to be a Super Cool Adventure for you! Dont get discouraged! "We seek the Lost" !
 
Sorry man! I know the feeling. I've lost 2 in 19 years. I just replaced mine with a recent 14k wedding band I found that fits!
 
Everyone: thanks so much for the sympathy and encouragement - I really appreciate it, and it’s a wonderful reminder how fantastic the folks here are! And thanks for the good ideas and suggestions - I certainly won’t give up on the search.

....Also - did you check inside your glove?

....Don’t give up man. Good luck!

Thanks, GS...don’t worry, no way I’m giving up any time soon! Yeah, definitely checked inside the gloves (I remembered that I switched gloves at the car before actually starting to hunt, so I checked all of them). Even checked the pack that I keep all the gear in, just in case it spilled out after tucking them back into the pack. Thanks though...those are the kinds of suggestions that might eventually lead to the find.

Very sorry to hear you have misplaced your wedding ring Tango. I know the sick feeling one gets from a loss like that.
I garden in the backyard and have lost my wedding ring 3 times with years between the loss and finding it again....

So, my feeling is you probably will find it in that field.
Best of luck Tango. Wish I could be there to help.
BH

Cool story, BH! And thanks for the encouragement - there’s no quit in this horse!

It will turn up. I’ve lost my wedding band twice in 20 years. First time, a co-worker found it in the parking lot after snow melted. Second time, I thought I’d dumped it in the trash after I’d been detecting a park. It turned up in our coffee can change jar at home (now I know how rings end up in the coin counters).

Good luck

Thanks for the story amc, and I appreciate the positive thoughts! The field is the prime suspect right now, but I’m continuing to look in various other spots around the house and beyond. Like your change jar, I started eye-balling everything down to the cookie-jar in the house! As other MDers who’ve searched for lost rings know, the ring is very often not quite where the person thinks they lost it...

I'll bet you'll find if you keep hitting that area. That's what got me into this hobby: I lost my ring in the back yard so I bought a metal detector. Found it about two weeks later.

Cool story, NC - I didn’t realize that’s what got you started! Hopefully my situation will end up similarly. I don’t care if it takes months - if I find it, it’ll be worth it!

That really stinks about losing your wedding band! I know I'm kind of far from you, but let me know if you need help looking for it out in that field. Perhaps myself and a few of my friends could make a trip up there to help you search for it. Hopefully it turns up!

Thanks, Waveoff, that’s awefully nice of you to offer! For now, I have another fellow forum member that I’ve become friends with and have hunted with who’s willing to help, so I’ll probably draft him into the search. Robotcop made a neat suggestion of calling in the cavalry by creating a group hunt - I may well do that if I can’t find it myself or with Dan B. (see below)

I bet you can get a lot of help from other detectorists.

Make it like a club event.

Get a big coil and use disciplined swings when looking for a specific target.

Great suggestions, Robotcop...thanks! That’s a fantastic idea to call in the cavalry with a group hunt - I might just do that if I’m not successful finding it this winter. If I ask folks to come from further away, I’d rather the ground not be completely frozen - that way they can at least have the trip be worth their while with detecting the permission in general, not just looking for a surface ring.

Do not hesitate to get ahold of me....

If you have not already tried look in the trunk of your car your backpack your fines bag inside your car and the area where you was standing when you pulled the keys out of your pocket. I truly hope you are able to find it.

Thanks, Dan... and thanks for commiserating with me via text a couple days ago. I’ll definitely contact you once I’m back in town - I’m in AZ now with the family until the 20th, then we’re visiting family in NY from Xmas until New Years. If the weather isn’t unbearable between 21st - 24th, I’ll get out there again to search, and would love the help, if you’re able. Otherwise we can get together in the New Year to try - if it’s in the field, it isn’t going anywhere soon :grin:

Sorry to hear. I feel your pain. Nothing replaces the original.

I lost mine at work on a cold day slinging trash when I worked for DPW a long time ago. Same deal. Took my gloves off a few times. Who knows where it went and what lucky bastardo has a piece of my heart.

Yep, that’s the part that’s really eating at me - I know that a replacement ring just won’t be the same for me. Dang gloves are ring killers.

I am sure you mentally retraced your steps from the time you noticed the ring gone... I would check your car carefully and around where you parked. Anywhere in the car you stowed gear and under the driver's seat. When you return to the field maybe mark areas you have covered with stakes or golf balls. Good luck!!!

Thanks Iggyks - Yep, I have tried to reconstruct every move I made between noticing it was gone and when I was last sure I had it. And that’s really the tricky part - nailing down when you’re sure you had it last. As I think back, I really can’t be 100% certain it was on my hand when I started the hunt. I think it was, but I didn’t actually take notice that I was wearing it. Just one of those things that you assume is there until you notice that it isn’t, and then suddenly realize you can’t be sure when you last saw it. The last I can confirm I had it was Sunday when I used it to airtest, and then for sure put it back on. But that suddenly leaves a lot of time before noticing it gone on Tuesday afternoon. I didn’t do much out of the house in that time frame though - just a dentist appt and the barber shop, and those came up empty, so the field is still the prime suspect.

I wish you the best of luck in finding it .

Thanks Soil Surgeon!

I lost my wedding ring back in '68. I was in the Army in Colorado and we were testing a new suit for chemical warefare. It even had rubber gloves and after wearing it for very long you were sweating. I can only think that when I took my gloves off the ring fell off someplace or else the next person to use the suit found it in the glove. I never saw it again.

Sorry to hear that Silversmith - but thanks for sharing the story. It does help me feel a little better to hear the similar stories - reminds me that it just happens sometimes.

Good luck on finding it, it will turn up somewhere.

Thanks Saoirse! I sure hope by me and not in a detectorist’s plug in 2135! :grin:

Sir are you near NY? If you are I can load up and head towards you to help out.

Two MD in front and a third behind overlap swinging should find it.

Let me know! All it not lost and it is lost when you give up and you never ever gave up on the meaning of the ring and your marriage.

Thanks DbblTap - I really appreciate the offer and the kind words. I’m in NW Ohio, so a bit of a haul from NY - but tremendously nice of you to be willing to try. For now, I’ve got a fellow forum member who’s very local who can help out, but if we don’t succeed, I might put out a general distress call to any forum members willing to help.

Its obvious that you really Love your Wife and the commitment your ring signifies. So OK...You found a rare Treasure once (your wife) Now you have to go find your ring...which may indeed lead you to finding not only it but more treasures along the way!

Once we get a skiff of snow, you can bag coil and use your set up and do a really nice sweep on account of you can see where you have been, and the coil slides so easily along the top of the snow with a bag on it......that way you can cover a lot of ground completely...Also you will hit a dropped ring through 6" of snow easily...I hunt snow hills so I know of what I speak...

Take some flag markers or even vegetable lathes or something to let you know where you have already hunted and stick them in the corners of your grid for when you come back, so you aint hunting the same dirt twice......Then just keep going over that field and expanding your grid......

Also, at night, as you are falling asleep, think about your ring and relax, your mind might just tell you where it is in your semi dream state...It may be right where you park your car for your hunts!

Well, keep us posted about your hunt for it....This may indeed turn out to be a Super Cool Adventure for you! Dont get discouraged! "We seek the Lost" !

Extremely wise words across the board, Mud - thanks. So far I’ve just been using surface markings to delineate the searched areas, but good point....that’s not going to hold up once the snow starts to fall in earnest (or rain for that matter). I better add some flagging to help. And thanks for emphasizing snow hunting - I had assumed I was going to have to shelve the hunt if we got snow cover. You’ve not only reminded me it’ll still be possible, but there can be some advantages to snow hunting (visualizing swing coverage, etc).

Good advice on falling asleep, too - I’ve got the “think about your ring” part down, I just have to add the “relax” part! :grin: But you’re right about that “half awake” period just before falling asleep - sometimes the clarity of thought or inspiration that comes there is amazing.


Sorry man! I know the feeling. I've lost 2 in 19 years. I just replaced mine with a recent 14k wedding band I found that fits!

You didn’t happen to find that 14k in a NW Ohio farm field, did you?? :lol:
 
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