Received a call at about 7:00PM to look for a 18K diamond ring that was lost throwing a small stick. They knew exactly where in their back yard!! (In the grass) They were so emotional about it, and it sounded like a easy hunt, I went out immediately. I arrived before nightfall. A couple of things that I had not been told about. Grass was 3 to 4 feet tall, near a retention pond, and it included cattails!! Needless to say I did not find it.
I returned the next morning with a scythe (Yes I know how to use it! I’m OLD and cut grass with one along the highway for the county when I was a kid) a rake, and both my CTX and XPDeus detectors and all my coils. I cut some of the grass and started to search. After several hours of hard labor, I asked them to rent a industrial weedwacker. I cut more grass all the way to the retention pond and searched. 7 hours later…Nothing!
Returned the next day with Ron Shore another Ringfinder. I knew the ring was there and was very frustrated, but stubborn. We hunted for about 4 hours. Nothing. Both becoming frustrated. This seemed like an easy hunt. So I decided to start from scratch. I ran a gridline starting at the waters edge and worked my way back to where she had been standing. I checked out EVERY signal with my handheld pinpointer. Not 5 feet from where she was standing I found the ring. I marked the spot and told the woman that we decided to quit hunting since Ron and I were exhausted. I told her I had marked a spot that I had received a signal but I was too tired to look and would she check it out.. BINGO!!!!
Here is what was interesting and a lesson I learned. Ron was using the the AT Gold with a nell coil and I was using my CTX with my 17 Inch coil for coverage. Since I knew it was a very Large 18K ring ( Bigger than a mens College ring) I assumed the signal would BLAST us. NO way. The signal I got didn’t lock on and jumped around from 34 to 38 no solid red. Ron had the same issue. He said he would never have dug that signal. Perhaps the unique shape of the ring with different layers created the issue.
The lesson is to start at about 5 feet BEHIND the point of standing and grid Forward. Rings that are lost while throwing sticks generally are about 10 feet from the starting point. Rings are generally NOT where they think.
Received a call at about 7:00PM to look for a 18K diamond ring that was lost throwing a small stick. They knew exactly where in their back yard!! (In the grass) They were so emotional about it, and it sounded like a easy hunt, I went out immediately. I arrived before nightfall. A couple of things that I had not been told about. Grass was 3 to 4 feet tall, near a retention pond, and it included cattails!! Needless to say I did not find it.
