[crunching of leaves, occasional beeping]
- Marker there.
- Dan Roekle loves the thrill of the hunt.
Today's mission: searching this yard
for a Madison man's lost wedding ring.
- He looked for it; couldn't find it.
Then he actually replaced it cuz he'd kind of given up on it.
When I was talking with him before the search,
he said, "Man, I really hope you find that ring
"because this replacement doesn't fit right,
"doesn't feel right.
I've never liked it."
So yeah, that was his wedding band.
- Dan has turned his metal detecting hobby
into a gig as a professional ring finder.
For a fee, he finds people's lost heirlooms.
- People call me, most commonly, for lost rings
because that has the most value and emotional attachment.
But we also get calls for phones, glasses, earrings, pendants.
We've done searches for buried coins in the backyard.
[electronic beeping]
- Dan combs the area with a metal detector
and marks every spot where there's a good signal.
It sounds simple enough.
But a ring search takes three things:
patience, patience and more patience.
- It's a mix between treasure hunting and CSI.
[chuckles]
? ?
We got nothing.
? ?
[electronic beeping]
Junk. Half of a key.
All right.
? ?
[laughs]
I don't know if this is even a beer can.
The two most popular things that we find
are pull tabs on the top of a soda can
and bottle caps.
The devil. [frustrated groan]
You get really excited on some of those signals
and then you dig trash and you're like,
Oh, that's-- you know, I'm never going to find it.
Same thing.
That's where the patience comes in.
It's not all glory every single time.
You have to enjoy the process more than the reward I guess.
[electronic beeping]
Oh, I see it, yeah.
- After a couple hours of searching...
success.
This ring had eloped next to a tree.
- When we're able to find it and return it to the person
and that look on their face is just incredible.
[laughter]
- Wow, thank you. That is...
- Is that it? - His ring.
- I'm assuming that's it, right? - Yes, it is.
- Dan says he's found nearly 70 lost rings
in the last three years.
- Well, excellent.
I'm glad we were able to find one.
So that was number 65; 65th ring we found.
- Thanks a lot.
- They all have a different story but one thing in common:
a man using his hobby
to help others find their most cherished heirlooms.
And for Dan, that has a nice ring to it.
- I mean a lot of times people will call me in tears, you know.
They don't know what to do.
So to be able to go out and help
and return that to them is pretty incredible.
And I get to do something that I love doing at the same time
which is even better.
[beeping]
Penny. That's a good way to end.
Treasure. [chuckles]