Late Tuesday afternoon I received a Facebook message from Annette saying she had lost her ring on Sunday in Kerrville’s Louise Hays Park. She explained that she actually lost three rings but was able to find only two of them. She said she knew the approximate area that the ring should be in. I told her I would be happy to attempt to recover her ring but I would have to get permission from the City Parks Department in order to use a metal detector in the park. I emailed the Parks Department for permission but it was too late in the day to get a response. We decided to meet that evening at the site of the loss just to go over the details and spot the exact location. Arriving at the location my wife and I both said “Wow, it looks like the grass was just mowed today!” Sure enough the grass in the area of the loss was freshly mowed. What if the mower picked the ring up and spit it out to who knows where?
Late Wednesday morning I received an email from Ashlea at the Kerrville Parks Department saying I have permission to look for the ring with conditions such as no disturbing the soil, etc. I wrote back my thanks to Ashlea and stated this would strictly be a surface search. At noon I went down to the park and went to work detecting with my Garrett AT PRO and Garrett Pro Pointer. Wow, there was a lot crackling through my headphones – lots of great tones coming from below the surface! This particular area was very near concrete picnic tables that were probably there since the park was built in 1950. (Interesting side note: The entire 35 acre Louise Hays Park was built by the citizens of Kerrville in 1 day http://joeherringjr.blogspot.com/2013/01/kerrvilles-louise-hays-park-built-in-day.html#.V9n94pgrKVM ). Knowing the ring would be on the surface and not buried, I concentrated on my depth meter and used my Pro Pointer to pinpoint good targets. About 45 minutes of swinging and pinpointing (and lots of bottle caps and a few pennies) BINGO! There was this little silver ring hidden in the grass and clover!
I sent this picture of the ring where I found it to Annette and she replied OMG! We set a time to meet so she could place the ring back on her finger where it belonged. As you can see in the picture, Annette had a huge smile while I smiled from behind the camera.
Thanks to my friend Ken for thinking of referring me to Annette and thanks to Ashlea at the Kerrville Parks Department for granting special permission in order to find and return a lost item on city property. If you lost your valuables call a member of TheRingFinders.com. Each member is a highly skilled metal detectorists and will do their very best to get your item back to you!