Mike Baker, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 4 of 9

Wedding Band Found in the Green Mountains, Vermont

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
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10/26/19

I was contacted earlier in the week by a lady who lost her wedding band. She had been outside her house exercising her dogs, doing laundry, dishes, and getting her 4 kids ready and loading them into the car to take them to Cub Scouts. Earlier that day she had put her rings into a pocket, and this particular pair of pants had extremely shallow pockets. When she was about to leave, she reached into her pocket to put her rings back on, the wedding band was missing.

She wasn’t sure where the ring could’ve fallen out, but she knew it was either in the house or on the lawn. Her children and friends helped search visually with no luck. She borrowed a metal detector from a helpful neighbor, and had no luck with that either. So, she contacted me for help.

We agreed on today for a search, the weather was cool, but dry. I got there early because I thought it could easily be one of those full day or even a multiple day search. She showed me the large back yard and hill, the most likely area it would’ve been lost, and I got started. In a little while her oldest son came out to watch and help search. He showed me the areas that he remembered seeing his mother go. I had brought 4 detectors with me, because I thought her kids would like to run them. After some instructions, he got started with one of them.

He gave me good direction, because shortly after I got a good signal and found her ring deep in the grass! His Mom was very happy!

After that, he and I detected for awhile, hunting for coins, relics or golden treasure. I sure was hoping he would find something, but after all, it is a hobby that requires extreme patience…

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Found Glasses In Vermont Woods

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
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10/6/19
I got an email a couple weeks ago from a lady who lost her glasses out in the woods. She really needs these glasses because she got a bad eye injury while in a car accident. She had been to at least 2 eye doctors before they got her into a satisfactory pair of glasses. They were quite expensive, too.

She and a friend are creating trails in a beautiful piece of woods that will soon be in a conservation trust for the public to enjoy forever. She was out walking on the trails, lost track of time, and realized she was late to meet some people that were arriving to see the area. So, she decided to take a shortcut run though the woods, which didn’t go so well. She took quite a tumble and her glasses went flying. Later, she looked several hours and couldn’t find them. The frames were a color which blended too well with the forest floor.

So, last weekend she showed me the area and I spent nearly 3 hours searching, with no luck. I told her that we would eventually find them and not to give up. My wife and I went back this morning, we expanded the search area and in less than 30 minutes I found them. They were hiding in s clump of ferns where we never would’ve found them without a metal detector.

We met her at her house and made her day with the news. We visited for awhile and come to find out, her house was built in the early 1800’s and she also has a super old log cabin on her land. She invited us back in the Spring for what should prove to be an awesome relic hunt. Hopefully her kids will be joining us, they will be amazed at what has been hiding under the soil. I can’t wait!!!

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Post Earring Found in Burlington Vermont

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
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9/29/10

Got a call from a lady yesterday who had lost her post earring on her property a couple weeks ago. She was doing some gardening when a bee had attacked her and chased her around her back yard and into the house. She discovered later, while looking in a mirror, that her earring was missing. She figured she had knocked it out while trying to brush the bee off her ear.

This earring was special to her because several years ago she had drawn up a design and had a custom jeweler make them for her. She did a lot of searching with no luck. She figured that a metal detector or a detectorist was needed and found my name online.

Yesterday I was out of state with my wife so I couldn’t do a search until today. She walked me around the “chase” area and then I started to ready my equipment. As I was changing the detector’s coil I looked down and to my astonishment I saw her earring laying there in the gravel. Miracles happen sometimes! Actually, as soon as I arrive at search locations, my eyes immediately go into search mode. Its just instinct I guess. Some searches take me 15 hours and other ones take only a few minutes, you just never know.

She was a very happy lady and I was glad to find it for her. Afterwards, we visited for awhile and shared stories about our years taking care of our aging parents.

Love this hobby!

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Ring Found in Vermont Lake

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
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8/10/19
Got a call last weekend from a guy who lost his wedding band while vacationing and swimming in Lake Eden. It was a custom made ring, inscribed with “Best Friends” and the date of their wedding 25 years ago. He was feeling sick about losing it, and frustrated that he had it resized larger not long ago. He lost it about 75’ off shore and about 12 feet down to the silty bottom. He tried unsuccessfully to find it swimming down with a mask.

Luckily for him, I had recently made the acquaintance of a scuba diver, Chris Farr, who is very enthusiastic about doing recoveries of all types. He has many thousands of dollars and hundreds of training hours invested. You may recognize him from being in the news recently doing searches for the Vermont State Police, other agencies and private people. He said he is glad to help in water searches that are too deep for me. He’s comfortable doing solo searches down to 20 feet as long as he has someone there for surface support. (He also dives well below 100 feet deep, but only when partnered with a competent, certified diver)

We all met today at the camp and discussed the search strategy. The family had done a good job memorizing the area where the ring had been lost. I was to be the support crew, sitting on a paddle board just above Chris, while he carefully scoured the bottom with my metal detecting equipment. At first we got a little discouraged when we discovered how thick the layer of soft silt was, afraid that the ring may have already sunk deep into it.

It was fun to watch Chris search, he has some very impressive searching techniques for sure. After finding an old soda can and a fishing weight, a little over an hour into the search, he got a good signal and carefully extracted the beautiful ring out of the silt. It had already settled about 2-3 inches in. We all celebrated!!!

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Man’s Ring Found in Vermont River

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
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8/3/2019

Another “needle in a haystack” search…

Got a call last Sunday morning while I was outside splitting firewood. There was a very sad sounding gentleman on the other end of the line. He had been out tubing on a large river here in Central Vermont, when he lost a very special ring. It was special for at least 2 large reasons, he had recently got engaged to the woman he wants to spend his life with and the ring had been handed down from his dad for the occasion.

He and his fiancee were on their way to go search the 1/2 mile stretch of river with goggles only. He asked me if it made any sense for me to come try with a metal detector. I told him I would love to come help. So, I closed down my wood splitting chores (gladly!), loaded my water searching equipment into the car, and hit the road.

I met them there about an hour later and they showed me the search area. At first I had those overwhelming thoughts about how huge the search area was, but the only thing to do was to get started and peck away at it as much as possible. I knew the odds were against me because there were some very deep areas and some quite fast areas, too.

That first day we searched for about 5 hours. I covered about 200 or 300 feet of the river, finding only scrap metal. Hopefully I saved a few feet from being cut on that scrap! They also had no luck. So we decided to give it another try on the following weekend. Sometime midweek, his fiancee went back with a friend to search, no luck.

Today I got there a little before them and got started on the search. I was searching in a bit of fast water just upstream from where they had told me they had beached their tube and left the river. I had a strong feeling that he might have lost it in this area because I figured he did some strong padding with his hands to cross the current there. After digging several signals with my scoop and dumping it out on the sandy bank, I got a real promising signal and scooped it up. When I dumped this one on the sand, I saw a beautiful gold ring in the pile! What an awesome feeling, I couldn’t wait for them to arrive so I could hand it to him!

I love this hobby!

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Necklace Nuggett Pendant Found Near Stowe

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
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7/17/19
Got a call 4 days ago from a woman who had lost a petite gold nuggett pendant off her necklace. This nuggett necklace was special to her because several years ago her parents had bought it for her while on vacation in Alaska.

She had been outside with friends next to a pondside campfire enjoying the Summer evening when she realized her necklace had broken and the nuggett was missing. She and her friends had searched pretty hard with no luck. So she arranged permission from the landowner for me to come do a search.

With thunderstorms around, we decided to try a search anyway in between downpours. I brought my prospecting detector because a nuggett that is small and irregular shaped would be a difficult target for most detectors. It’s for sure that most rental detectors would never have picked it up, so I was glad for her that she hadn’t wasted time with one.

I got started, found a couple junk targets and then about 20 minutes into the search I got what sounded like an aluminum foil signal, the number readings were all over the place. I decided to check it anyway. I parted the grass and there it was, where noone would have found it by eye. I think it may have even been pushed in a bit by someones feet. I passed it to her and she cheered and gave me a big hug!

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Engagement Ring Found at Beach Near Burlington VT

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
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July 4th, 2019

Got a call this morning from a gentleman who’s wife had lost her ring last night at a local beach on Lake Champlain. They had gone there to relax and enjoy the beautiful Summer night. Somehow her ring fell off and they couldn’t find it. This morning he went back early to search and had no luck. It was a beautiful yellow gold ring done tastefully using his grandmother’s diamond. They were very upset.

I was so glad I was able to leave immediately for the search. Because of where it was lost, I was afraid someone else might find it and they might not ever make the connection with it’s owner. I got to their house in an hour, down to the beach in 5 minutes and after another 5 minutes and digging a few sparklers, I got a nice gold ring signal! There it was being protected by about 5 inches of clean, dry sand.

They were so relieved to have it back on her finger. What a great way to start the 4th of July holiday, meeting a nice couple who also love dogs, and having a successful ring search!

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Wedding Ring Found In Vermont Country Town

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
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4/22/19
About a week ago I got an email from the wife of a gentleman who had lost his wedding ring on their rural Vermont farm. This young couple had bought a beautiful 50 acre farm a little over a year ago.

Last Spring, when the snows left, he headed outside to work. He had been working in the garden and chasing a runaway pig out in their hayfield. When he went back in the house, he noticed his ring was missing from his finger. He was very devastated because this ring had also been his father’s wedding ring. Every time he went to visit his dad he hoped he wouldn’t notice it was missing.

So, we had to wait until today to search, because of late melting snow and ice. When I got there he showed me the areas to search. I expected at least a 3 hour search, but I found it about 6” deep in his garden, and in the first 5 minutes! I yelled across the yard to him and he hooted and hollered back with a very happy sound. Very very happy man!!

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Skier Loses Ring in the Vermont Mountains….Found!

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
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3/24/19
Got a distress email from a guy who had been out back country skiing and lost his wedding band in the snow. He had already gone to the Harbor Freight store, bought a metal detector and tried searching with it. Unfortunately, most of what they sell there is a waste of money and so was the detector.

It was already late afternoon, with just a couple hours of daylight left, and the location was over an hour away. So I beat feet, threw my equipment in the car, packed lights and warm clothes preparing for a long search if necessary, and braved the potholes and frost heaves driving as fast as possible!

He and his wife met me and we started hiking up the trail. It was a beautiful evening out and I found the ring right off when we got to the area he had stopped and taken his gloves off. We had a nice visit on the way out. Their dog will sleep good tonight!

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Engagement Ring Found in Middlebury Vermont

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
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2/25/19
Got a message from a lady who had lost her engagement ring last Wednesday. Her company does business with companies scattered around Vermont and New York and she makes frequent visits to them. The day she lost her ring, she had been to four large companies in the same town. She had taken off her rings and put them in her purse. After leaving the 4th place, she realized her engagement ring had fallen out of her purse. Over the next few days, she contacted all the companies, went back to search for it, searched inside her car, called the police and put lost ads in the media.

Her husband knew about my detecting service and suggested she call The Ring Finders. She called and wondered whether it would be worth searching, considering it could be anywhere or even taken home by someone else already. I knew searches like this are not very promising, but I told her I would try hard for her. With more snow in the forecast, it would be best to search asap.

So, I went that evening, even though the winds were gusting to 60 mph and it was cold. I have snowmobiling clothes! I figured on a late night and at least one or two return trips to find it. The day she lost it, it was snowing, so I started around the edges of the first parking lot, scanning all the snowbanks that the plows may have pushed it into. All I got was many junk signals, most were deep in ice. Then I tried the snowbanks along the edge of the walkway leading from the building. I got a good signal about 4’ from the walkway, dug a couple inches into the snow and there it was! Whoever had shoveled had unknowingly thrown it there in a shovelful of snow.

It was so nice to hear that a lot of good people in those companies were helping look for it, it’s too bad they didn’t find it. Because it was hidden in the snow, it came down to the need of an experienced person running a metal detector to be successful.

I love giving a ring back to someone who doubted they would ever see it again, I love to see the feelings of relief and happiness.

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