Hi Melanie. I'll take a shot at it. Not knowing which White's model you rented-yes it could make a difference-or the size of the earring lost, I'm kind of working in the dark. If you can, try to hunt with the detector in the all metal mode. Gold is not very conductive and is hard for a lot of detectors to pick up when very small. Make sure to overlap each sweep of the coil for best results. If you are using a White's with a meter that has numbers for each target(xlt) or zones(IDX, QXT) see where the other earring comes up consistently. Try to grid out the area where you think you lost the earring, that way you can tell where you hunted and most thoroughly cover it all. If the snow isn't too deep, stakes and string might do it. Hope this helps. If you don't find it try to get someone who has more experience with their detector try to locate it. Good luck. Bob.