Sarah Mills: Snowbirds' grounding is a chance for Liberal government to stand behind its words
We are told the Snowbirds will return. We are told that the plan is to get new planes quickly. Sarah Mills says now, the...
A man paces slowly across the grass in a Regina park, eyes fixed on the ground.
Every few steps, he stops abruptly. He tilts his head, listening. Then he crouches down and cuts a careful square into the earth with a small shovel, inspecting the dirt.
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To people passing by, it is a strange sight. What in the world is this man up to?
James Kirkpatrick is hunting for treasure.
People often take a second glance when they walk or drive by James Kirkpatrick while he is out metal detecting. It’s not a sight you see every day in Regina. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)
Kirkpatrick describes himself as an optimist when it comes to metal detecting. Every beep in his headphones, carries possibility.
“I think everything’s a gold ring,” he said with a grin.
Most of the time, it absolutely is not. But the tiny chance that the next scoop of dirt could uncover something extraordinary is what keeps him coming back.
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Kirkpatrick, a member of the Southern Saskatchewan Metal Detecting Club, speaks about the pastime with the kind of wonder most people lose after childhood.
“My hobby is metal detecting, recovering history buried in the earth,” he said. “Every find has a story connected with it.”
Kirkpatrick has found a handful of valuables over the years, including these rings. He tries to reunite items with their rightful owners whenever possible. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)
The detector swings low over the grass again.
Beep.
Kirkpatrick moves quickly, almost instinctively. He drops to one knee, slices a clean horseshoe-shaped plug into the turf and folds it back carefully. A few seconds later, he pinches something tiny from the dirt between his fingers.
A coin. Modern. Not worth much.
Still, he smiles.
Because for Kirkpatrick, the thrill isn’t just about striking it rich. It is about possibility. About the idea that the ground beneath an ordinary Regina park might still be hiding pieces of forgotten lives.
His favourite find was a Second World War-era gold ring engraved with a man’s name and the words “Royal Canadian Air Force.” Kirkpatrick spent countless hours researching the family, hoping to return it.
“That is the ultimate treasure for any metal detectorists,” he said, “to return that valuable back to the family.”
He never found them, so the ring remains part of his collection. A small piece of someone else’s life, frozen in time.
Kirkpatrick emphasized the importance of respecting the areas where he metal detects. He digs small, neat holes and ensures they are properly replaced before walking away. When he leaves a park, you can barely tell he has been there at all. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)
Kirkpatrick’s most memorable coin find was a British half penny dating back to 1738, bearing the mark of King George II.
“That was just mind-blowing,” he said. “That goes back to fur trade days.”
How a coin nearly 300 years old ended up buried in Regina remains a mystery. But that mystery is part of the magic.
Metal detecting, Kirkpatrick explains, is really storytelling disguised as treasure hunting.
If an item stays underground long enough, it corrodes.
“The story goes with that treasure when it decays away in the earth,” he said.
Kirkpatrick said he once tried to keep track of the number of times he kneeled down to inspect a target over the course of a summer. He stopped counting after 6,000. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)
Of course, treasure hunting is not always glamorous.
“There’s so many pennies,” he said, laughing. “It’s ridiculous.”
And then there are the bottle caps. Endless bottle caps.
Old parks can be especially difficult territory because decades of people have left behind layer after layer of trash.
He estimates that 99.9 per cent of what detectorists recover is garbage.
To Kirkpatrick, though, even that becomes part of the challenge.
A park is never truly “hunted out,” he explained. One detectorist might ignore iron completely. Another might specifically search for old horseshoes or relics made from ferrous metals. Some search only for jewelry. Others are after coins.
Every detectorist hears the ground differently.
Kirkpatrick has returned to the same parks over and over for years, slowly removing junk targets until deeper, older items finally begin to reveal themselves.
There are certain days when a place that seemed full of promise suddenly goes silent.
“I’ll come to this park, oh, it’ll be amazing,” he said. “And I’ll come here tomorrow, and it’s just turned off.”
Kirkpatrick’s big find on this particular evening was another gold ring to add to his growing collection of found treasure.(James Kirkpatrick/Submitted)
Still, he keeps searching.
Partly because he genuinely loves it, partly because he believes there is something universal about the desire to find hidden treasure.
“We are all treasure hunters at heart to some degree,” he said. “Some people like to find treasure in their grandmother’s attic. Some people want to go to garage sales.”
Metal detecting simply turns that instinct into an adventure.
And unlike many hobbies, getting started doesn’t require a massive investment.
Kirkpatrick says a decent beginner detector can cost only a few hundred dollars.
The hobby also comes with its own code of conduct. Kirkpatrick emphasized the importance of proper digging techniques so parks are left looking untouched after targets are recovered.
“When we are done extracting our target, the plug goes back. Nobody even knows we’re there,” he said.
Detectorists often become unofficial park cleaners too, hauling buckets full of rusted junk and sharp metal scraps out of the ground.
“We’re actually doing a service to the community by cleaning up the parks,” Kirkpatrick explained.
Kirkpatrick said he has a growing collection of pet tags he’s accumulated over the years. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)
As the afternoon sun dips lower over the Regina park, Kirkpatrick sweeps the detector across the grass once more.
Beep.
He freezes.
Maybe this time it’s another penny.
Maybe it’s a crushed soda can from 1987.
Or maybe — after hours of digging through trash and dirt and forgotten scraps of metal — James Kirkpatrick has finally struck gold.
James Kirkpatrick spends his days sweeping Regina parks for hidden relics, uncovering coins, rings and forgotten stories buried just beneath the surface. (Brittany Caffet/650 CKOM)
