I received a call, from Mona, concerning a property marker/pin. She and her husband John had seen the marker/pin, years ago, when they had bought the property, in the Town of Kennebunk, Maine and only a mile or so from Kennebunkport Maine . Now however, they were unable to find the property pin, but had found the other 3 corner pins. The only missing pin was the southeast pin, that was in the front of the property, along the area of the road. Mona and John also had the distances, between the pins. I told Mona that with that much information, the property pin should be found, if it was still there. Mona had told me that the area that the pin should be in had recently had some fill brought in, to make a few parking spots, on the neighbors property. Mona was concerned the her property pin had been buried by the excess fill. We made plans to search for the pin, today, Wednesday November 12th.
I arrived a few minutes early and was getting all my equipment out of my vehicle, that included metal detectors, pinpointer, shovel, spade and a 300’ measuring tape. While getting my equipment organized, Mona came out and introduced herself. She then showed me the area of the missing pin and pointed out a stick that she and John had stuck in the ground, where they thought the pin should be, within a few feet. I started up my metal detector and immediately started searching. I received a signal within a few seconds. It was a ferrous target, which is what I was looking for. As I dug the hole, no pin was found, only an old square nail. Scanning the area provided more nails and even a 1955 Dog Tax pendant, but no property pin was found . I told Mona we should measure from the Southwest pin, that was also along the road, to the area of the missing pin, in the Southeast area , of the property. The measurement was 180.37’. Once we measured it out, the mark was about 4-5 feet short of where Mona and John thought it would be. Searching the new spot produced nothing but more nails. We then decided to measure from the northeast corner, in the back of the property, to the southeast corner. This measurement is 223.’. This measurement was 7’ short of where the pin was thought to be. How is this possible? Unfortunately, property lines, for the most part, don’t run in straight lines. There are usually angles and degrees involved. Even a measurement of 223’ at a 5 degree angle could alter the measurement by several feet, from where you think the pin should be. I started searching the new area and within a couple of minutes, I received a nice loud ferrous target and my VDI was telling me the target was 0-2 inches, under the surface of the ground. The ground was absolutely covered with leaves and I started removing the leaves and wiping the topsoil away when I saw the yellow cap, of the property pin. I then said “There it is” and Mona said something to the effect of “Wow, my friend didn’t think we would find it”. Mona was just so happy the property pin hadn’t be buried, by the work done on the parking spaces and told me that I had saved her from a lot of anxiety, for finding the pin. Mona then went up to the house and got some orange tape and tied it around the now found pin, so they will be able to see the pin much more easily. So now Mona and John can relax, knowing where all the corner pins are located. There is no better feeling than to be able to find the item that my clients are looking for. Smiles all around and I have the best job, in the world. 
As a side note, I am not a licensed surveyor. I am just a metal detectorist trying to help others out. I informed Mona and John that I may find their property pin but I cannot guarantee that the pin is in the correct location. I have no way of knowing if the pin has actually been moved, in the past, or not. Only a licensed surveyor can guarantee the pins are correct.
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