I'm not sure where to start in responding to this post. I'm a proud member of The Ring Finders. I'm the first in San Diego county. The only fee I ask for, is one to cover my cost to conduct a search, so, I can afford to continue the service. Any reward beyond that is completely up the the person who asked me to help. If you go the TheRingFinders.com website and look through our book of smiles and our personal blogs, they will speak for themselves. Can we have a rotten egg in our basket? Sure. What group is immune from that? I'm sure there are members on THIS site that wouldn't think twice about screwing someone out of their prized possession given the chance. I know most of my fellow members here in SoCal and know them to honorable and that they will return lost items without regard to whether they get a reward or not. Now, there are some guys who claim to be members, but aren't, and others who use the hobby only to feather their own nest. People just have to be aware and do some research to find someone they can trust. As for jeeps assertion that it's like shooting fish in a barrel, It depends on the situation. Sure, I've found lost rings in the matter of seconds. I've had others that were lost days, weeks, months, years and were found by persistence. That's something that your average detectorist doesn't do......hunt the same area over and over again until the item is found. I've had ring searches that took dozens of hours in the surf before the conditions were right to recover them. I had one just yesterday that I haven't posted yet. The ring was lost at low tide in waist deep water several days ago. Not an ideal situation. I agreed to give it a try. The surf was pounding me. Quick sets with lots of water behind them made it a real chore to make a recovery. If I had been there just for fun, I would never have stayed out there. I hunted for an hour and a half and found only 6 targets. 2 iron bits that fell through the scoop and were lost, 3 pieces of scrap metal, and finally the ring. You never saw a happier person when I gave that ring back to the woman. Crying, hugging me, and still in disbelief that the ring was found. It doesn't get any better than that IMO. I find hundreds of rings each year. Some nice, some junk. I have more than enough stuff where I can't find the person who lost them. Finding the owner and returning a lost item is fun for me. I post any find of value on Craig's list and offer my services to whoever needs it. I've heard a few detectorist crying that I'm taking their finds away. Boo Hoo.....who's to say you would have found any of these losses. Certainly not any of them on private property. As for proper detecting methods, we all should fill our holes and take any trash we dig up. Not doing so doesn't make you dishonest, mostly just lazy or spiteful. They deserve to dig that junk twice! The bottom line is, most people who lose a valuable piece of jewelry, don't know who to turn to for help. Advertising on TheRingFinders.com website, Craig's List, Lost My Stuff, etc. gives them options on who to have help them in their hour of need. The way they look at it is that they have nothing to lose. They can't find it, but maybe someone else can. Hopefully, they won't call the scammers that will take advantage of them. By showing our successes and posting them for all to see, we at The Ring finders hope to prove that we can be trusted to search, find, and return that treasured item. I don't know any other organization that is more trustworthy to do this type of work, do you?
