Mel's First Gold

By Ozzie Osborne

This is my hunting buddy Mel Strouss. Mel is 69 years young, and took up metal detecting in April of 2000. I had been bugging him about taking up detecting for a couple of years after he expressed an interest in it, but he was a little reluctant, and it took a while for him to get into the swing of things. When he finally did get into it, he decided to go with a fisher 1280 - X in order to be able to hunt in the water and on stormy days on the beach. Addiction was almost immediate for Mel. He was a fast learner, and would show up at my door early every morning at 7am ready to go. We spent almost everyday this summer hunting the heavily used spots on the beach, and teaching him about the different aspects of the unit and how and where to look. Mel was always a little reluctant to get into the water, especially since this summer was a rough one on the water. The calm days were few and far between, and gold finds were few and far betweens for everyone who hunted the beach. Mel did good in the silver jewelry department, but alas no gold. Mel had a hard time getting used to the chatter and false signaling in the saltwater, and I found out that part of the problem was that he is a little hard of hearing, and this complicated things for him. Towards the end of the season, Mel was getting a little more comfortable with hunting in the water. We had some calmer days and he was not getting beat up by the wave action as we both had been during the summer. One fine November day we headed to one of our favorite hunting spots. Mel took one direction on the beach, and I headed in the other. I would occasionally stop and look to see how he was doing, and one time I was surprised and glad to see him out in the water. Near the end of the day we got back together, and Mel told me that he had found his first gold, but that he had to give it up. I asked him what had happened, and this is what he told me. He had been hunting the dry sand about 400 yards to the west of me when a young couple approached him and asked if the thing he had would find gold. He said yes, and asked if they had lost something. They told him yes, they were on there honeymoon, having just been married a few days before, and that the husband had lost his wedding band, but that it was out in the water, and they assumed that it was gone forever. Mel informed them that he could hunt the water with his machine, and asked them what had happened. The wife informed him that they had been passing a football just about sunset the evening before, and she had been standing in ankle deep water when her husband had thrown the ball to her, and his wedding band had come off and flown out into the water with the ball. They had spent much time looking for it, but to no avail. The young wife pointed out an area where she thought the ring might be, off shore in about waist deep water. Mel told them that he would look for it and try to find it for them, but time and tide may have buried it deep, or moved it. The seas the day before had been very rough. He headed out in to the water, and putting his unit in the all metal mode began to methodically hunt the area she had pointed out. Mel dug a few trash targets in the first few minutes, and then about 15 minutes into the hunt, he received a nice soft solid signal. Pulling up his scoop he was rewarded with the sight of a nicely engraved wedding band. Holding his scoop so she could see in it, he asked the young lady if it looked like this. The young lady let out a scream and began shouting and jumping up and down. She was ecstatic with joy. She was hugging and kissing Mel and thanking him profusely She asked him if they could take a picture of them all with the ring, and that she also wanted his name and address. Mel obliged them, and we headed home, Mel with a large grin on his face that you couldn't have removed with a hammer and chisel. Shortly after Christmas Mel received a card and a letter with a gift certificate to a restaurant in the mail. They said that Mel had been a god sent and that he would always be in there prayers. It was Mel's first gold, and even though he didn't get to keep it, he was very happy with the way it had worked out. No reward was worth more than the smile and happiness that he had seen on that young new wife. Good hunting Mel..... Ozzie