I've searched for and found metal objects lost by people for over 30 years and only took compensation twice. I've searched for and found numerous jewelry items, property markers, car and house key, weapons used in crimes, tractor parts, two buried treasures I didn't find, assorted personal objects that had sentimental value, buried iron markers for athletic fields, underground water and gas pipes, a metal septic tank and water and gas mains for the city. The two times I took compensation was for the largest and most expensive ring I've seen. The owner tried to give me $100. I wouldn't take it, but as I was leaving he threw a wadded up 20 bill through the window of my truck I didn't see until I got home. The other time was a unique custom made wedding band that was lost way out in woods by the highschool baseball coach, on land owned by a deer hunting club. That was a tough one, but I lucked out and found it. I refused compensation, but the next morning there was a thank you note with a $50 Walmart gift certificate taped to our carport door.
The single most most gratifying find I've made in the 42 years I've been detecting was a wedding band lost by an elderly lady. In early 2009 I was on my way home after a short hunt when a local minister I had found a ring for back in the early to mid 1990's called my cellphone. He said his mother had lost her wedding band a few days earlier and asked if I would come see if I could find it, so I stopped by home, got the Goldtrax Baron and followed his directions to where she thought she lost it. The lady and her husband met me there. She had been picking up pecans around some pecan trees, and had also scattered some feed for a flock of geese at a lake there. Both her and her husband were in their 80's and she told me she had been wearing the ring for over 62 years. I hunted the area where she fed the geese first because the area with the pecan trees covered about a half acre and had 6 inches of leaves on the ground. The ring was in the leaves near the pecan trees and took about an hour and half to find. When I gave the ring to her tears began streaming down her face, she gave me a big hug and said I would never know how happy I had just made an old woman. Her husband, who could barely walk, came over and he was also crying, and darned if I didn't shed a few tears. They tried to pay me, said just name the price, but no way would I take money for an experience like that.
The single most most gratifying find I've made in the 42 years I've been detecting was a wedding band lost by an elderly lady. In early 2009 I was on my way home after a short hunt when a local minister I had found a ring for back in the early to mid 1990's called my cellphone. He said his mother had lost her wedding band a few days earlier and asked if I would come see if I could find it, so I stopped by home, got the Goldtrax Baron and followed his directions to where she thought she lost it. The lady and her husband met me there. She had been picking up pecans around some pecan trees, and had also scattered some feed for a flock of geese at a lake there. Both her and her husband were in their 80's and she told me she had been wearing the ring for over 62 years. I hunted the area where she fed the geese first because the area with the pecan trees covered about a half acre and had 6 inches of leaves on the ground. The ring was in the leaves near the pecan trees and took about an hour and half to find. When I gave the ring to her tears began streaming down her face, she gave me a big hug and said I would never know how happy I had just made an old woman. Her husband, who could barely walk, came over and he was also crying, and darned if I didn't shed a few tears. They tried to pay me, said just name the price, but no way would I take money for an experience like that.
