On Friday, October 23, 2026, I received a text from Dana, who had found me through TheRingFinders.com. She asked if I could help find her husband’s wedding band. Her husband, David, had just realized the ring was missing and believed he lost it while doing yard work earlier in the day. He had worn it constantly for 47 years and was anxious to find it. They lived in Davidson County, between High Point and Thomasville.
I told Dana how sorry I was and that I would be glad to help. I asked how much of the yard he had worked in and whether he had been wearing work gloves, since rings often stay inside gloves when they’re removed. Dana said he had already checked his gloves, as that was his first thought. She explained that he had mowed a small area with the tractor and then loaded limbs and sticks into a trailer to dump in the woods behind their property, but she wasn’t sure how to describe the areas he had covered.
My phone then rang. It was David, who explained that while checking his gloves he had found a hole in the ring finger, large enough for the ring to slip out. He had no idea it was missing until that evening. He told me he had push mowed, tractor mowed, and hauled sticks into the woods, where he unloaded them by hand into a large pile. He had also blown leaves in the front yard and had no idea where the ring could be.
I had a hunch we would find it where he unloaded the sticks, since tossing them would involve the most force and the best chance for the ring to come off. We ended the call after he gave me their address, and I told him I would arrive first thing in the morning.
The commute was about 35 miles taking 40 minutes. I texted that I was on my way and would arrive around 9:00 AM. The GPS was accurate, and David met me as I pulled into the drive.
After introductions and handshakes, I gathered my metal detector and pen pointer and asked David to point out the areas he had covered and what he had done in each. We stopped just inside the woods, where he recalled emptying fireplace ash and scattering it around. That became my first search area, and it turned up nothing.
David then led me deep into the woods to a pile of limbs, leaves, and sticks covering an area of 20 feet by 10 feet, and 4 feet deep. I slowly detected the entire pile with no results. Because a ring could easily have fallen deep into the pile, far from the detector’s coil, we moved many of the larger sticks so I could scan closer. Searched a second time, with negative results. After removing even more sticks and gridding the area thoroughly a third time, I was confident the ring was not in the pile.
Next, I started detecting the ground, beginning at the base of the wood pile and following the obvious tractor tire marks in the ground cover. About 10 feet in, I got a promising signal and found a can top. I explained to David that finds like this are common, and I kept searching. Five feet farther, I got another very promising signal. I looked through the ground cover and saw nothing, so I swept the detector coil over the area again and got a very strong signal. Using my pen pointer in about 6 inches of ground cover, I felt a bump and heard the telltale alerting sound. I spread the cover, and there it was.
I picked up the ring and asked David, “Does this look like your ring?” He seemed confused or thought I was joking at first and started walking toward me. When he saw the ring in my hand, his face lit up like a child’s at Disney. “I cannot believe it,” he said. “You found it, and I thought it was gone for good.” He immediately texted Dana to tell her the news.
Thank you, David and Dana, for calling and trusting me to find your missing treasure. From their first contact to recovery took less than 11 hours
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