A lot of good advice here! If you don't have access to water sites, here's some ideas for hunting landlocked sites:
Concentrate on sites that will give you the best chance. Look where the more affluent, gold wearing people hang out. Newer parks in upscale neighborhoods, especially ones built after the mid-1980's where the pull tab wont be found in any numbers. Some foil and a few square tabs will be the only real nuisance in most of these places. I know a couple local hunters who hunted only these types of parks on a rotating basis each weekend and consistently found a couple dozen gold rings each year. They actually keep the trash targets cleaned up with each visit making subsequent trips easier. They did best around the tot-lot equipment and parking lots.
Try athletic fields, especially sideline areas or areas where the athletes warm-up. Many rings are actually lost out of their uniform pocket during warm-ups or dropped out of towels, jackets, and duffel bags where they were kept during the game.
Volleyball courts are always recommended and heavily hunted, but don't forget to hunt the grassy areas around them and not just in the sand.
Outdoor sites with amphitheatres, picnicking, or where ever people gather in groups to sit in the grass to watch concerts, theater productions, or just picnicking. It never ceases to amaze me how many times I've been called to look for a lost ring that some put on a picnic blanket, then forgot about when they packed up for home. Why on earth would you lay your ring on the blanket? Concentrate on areas in back or to the sides, not in the middle of the action because grass gets trampled flat and dropped items sit up on top of the ground where they can be easily spotted. The more remote spots had less traffic, but the grass didn't get trampled flat and that is where the hanky panky activity happens that results in lost rings.
Dog Parks or areas in parks where people play with their dogs. Throwing toys for a pet or wrassling with them can result in rings coming off.
Gardens and flower beds... in parks or private yards. I've found some nice rings lost in these areas.
Drained ponds and lakes in parks, especially where there was skating or ducks and geese to feed. You'd be shocked to know how many rings fly off someone's hand when they toss food out into water for the ducks and geese to eat. I've found the most and best rings in these spots.
Get a little creative with your thinking...look for times where rings can be lost. Wintertime makes cold fingers shrink and rings fly during activity. Sledding hills are good... especially in the "crash zone" at the bottom of the hill, or at the top of the hill where the adults hang out. Look for local skating rinks, especially outdoor ones, where the Zamboni dumps it's load of shaved ice outside. I've done good finding small gold items in these "snow piles". Also check out parking lot grass strips at busy stores or malls... where the snow gets plowed onto after each snowfall. anything lost in the parking lot where people are slipping and falling or juggling keys and purchases ends up plowed up into these spots. All you have to do is wait for the thaw... I've eyeballed gold jewelry in parking lots like this over the years.
If you're observant and always thinking, you can see opportunities for gold rings being lost. Rings are usually lost soon after they are bought because they were too big or late in life when the fingers shrink.... Where do the high school kids hang out and play - with their new class rings? What places do the senior
citizens frequent? Where do the newlyweds honeymoon at? Look for people being active, interacting with another or their pets... rings are rarely lost by passive, inactive people. The more strenuous, exciting, or distracting the situation... the likelier that a person won't notice right away that ring was lost.
Years ago I read in the paper about a small riot that erupted in a crowd of people attending an outdoor concert in a park when they were leaving.... in the dark.... during heavy rain..... a perfect storm for jewelry being lost. When I showed up there the next morning, I found the spot of the riot... there were things strewn all over the ground, cell phones, eyeglasses, and jewelry. I helped one man find his wedding band he lost in the fracas and returned a pager and a wallet. Being alert for similar opportunities can net you that gold ring. Just remember the old saying: "Gold is where you find it". You just have to look in the right place. You also have to be patient.. if gold items were easily found we all would be hunting for gold jewelry as a new career
Hope this info helps and good luck!
Mike.
