re: Any treasure hunters or metal detectors here?

The best thing I ever found was a piece of coinage used in Louisiana between 1812 and 1814. The one at the link is not mine but it explains what it is in great detail. Mine was in better condition. You could actually see the details of the Spanish reale that they used to strike the new "coin". I found that in a cow pasture near Donaldsonville. I've seen people find gold coins but I never have but I've found gold jewelry.

Better detectors are able to easily discriminate junk from possibly good metal but you'll never know for sure until you dig the target up. When you are in a playground, you'll turn the discrimination up but if you are out in a sugar cane field that's just been plowed up, you want to turn it down and dig almost every signal. You'll get to the point where you can tell just from the sound but most detectors have displays that help show you whether a target is worth digging or not. Just get a good name brand like Garret or White's and you'll be fine. YouTube has a ton of videos to help.

Join a club and they'll most likely arrange hunts. People get pretty touchy about trespassing so always have permission.