The Lost Ranch - Elements of the Search

A few weeks ago we set off to find a sentimental piece of lost jewelry for one of the owners of a Florida ranch. It was a small platinum diamond-encrusted crucifix, a gift from the owner's father eight-years earlier, that had slipped off the thin gold chain around her neck when the clasp broke. Having her retrace her steps, she had covered a lot of area, trailing thru farm animal enclosures, visits to the barn, horse paddock and trips up and down a large portion of a gravel parking lot and driveway to the main gate.

The owner said she had also visited a restaurant that day, and had called the place, but no one had reported finding it. The small cross, being a scant 1" tall and 3/4" wide was diminutive enough to escape notice in the natural order of things, especially if had slid down in the booth seat, went under the table or a countless number of other scenarios that mask tiny objects from common notice. Or if someone had simply picked it up and walked off with it. The only saving grace, and no pun intended, was a part-time ranch hand who had told the owner she had noticed the owner was still wearing it around her neck AFTER returning from lunch. I was assured the ranch hand was a keen observer and would not have mentioned that fact had she not seen it.

This type of metal detecting search and recovery is the most maddening of all, since the tiny precious cross could literally be almost anywhere, covering more than several acres of busy ranch work, animal enclosures, and even water drains in and near the barns; spaces divided by target-masking metal fencing and chicken-wire barriers. I asked six of my friends, members all of the Central Florida Metal Detecting Club, for assistance in searching the area. A lot of people volunteered, but I was looking for detectorists who had prior experience in finding jewelry, who know the proper detector settings, understood the coil sizes needed, and above all, had integrity as thick as armored steel plate. This was literally a very, very valuable piece of rare metal and precious stones valued quite conservatively at several thousand dollars.

As the search began, and as we all spread out, it began to cloud up, then slowly and sullenly started to mist over, which gradually progressed to a faint drizzle, until finally a light rain began to fall. This of course, added to the ambiance of the search, especially in the already moist and odorous cattle enclosure which was generously strewn with large surprises of the most unpleasant kind, if you get my drift. Everyone had an area to scan and examine. Four or five hours later, bits of saddle hardware, horseshoes, bits of iron and a penny or two were all we had to show for 30-man hours of intensive searching. An attempt was made to scan a bag of goat feed which set the pin-pointers beeping continuously, until we realized the feed contained IRON for the baby goats.

Our analysis of the loss presupposed she had leaned against a paddock fence, where the thin gold chain had broken, dropping the cross directly to the ground. Trouble was the paddocks were all sheathed in chicken wire and sheet tin...making it difficult, or impossible, to get a target within a foot or so of the fence. We utilized a Treasure Products 580 pulse driven pin-pointer that detects ONLY on the bottom of the pointer. That got us within a few inches of the fence, but on hands and knees, its hard going with the cows leaving wide, aroma-laced moist mounds of surprise.

We spent a total of 50 man hours, during two separate trips, trying to locate the piece and came away in frustration. We also came away with the feeling we had done all that we could have and did it well, if not successfully. And that is all anyone can do.