See if your dealer also carries Tesoro:

If so--------then get the cheap Cutlass II Umax (rent one).

All you have to do is turn it on & hunt in the all metal mode. Even the Cheaper Tesoros are much more sensitive to gold than most high dollar brands and are simple to use. You should be able to find it easily, provided it's not very deep in the snow (all detectors are size sensitive ---the bigger the target, the deeper they go). Just wave the other earing you have over the search coil until the sound dissapears & you will see about how deep they will find your earing.

Best of luck!

Al