well if you go the tv route you'l end with nothin, rest assured the government will step in and take it all or 90% of it, doesnt matter how much documentation you have, the fact that you may find it is all you'll get credit for, Heres an example also a while back someone claimed salvage rights to a ship and as soon as it was announced 37 insurance companies made claims that it was rightfully thiers, whether true or not the whole thing ends up in legal battles that costs millions.
Do not get a lawyer or reveal the location to anyone, read the story from the founder of this site, he had a small number of people trying to secure his rights to something and the second he gave them the location it was magically all stolen within weeks.
Having a contract with the landowner is only going to go so far, if you do get a contract hope you never have to use it because again, to enforce a contract you have to go to court and it all goes public and you lose it all, your best bet it to explain to the property owner that you believe there is something on the propery that could be worth a lot of money and also explain that if it in any way goes pulic youll both end up with nothing. so if your in it for the $$$ you would both need to keep it under wraps, if your in it for fame then by all means hop to it, but I dont see how you can have both.
The scenario i see here is say you do find something, you divide it up right there on the spot and go seperate ways, if the owner decides to change the deal, order you off the property, etc after you pull up the chest of goodies, then you bust out your cell phone and threaten to call
the state agencies/police in your area and report that youve found millions of dollars worth of gold in a box. now hes going to be thinkin hmm..... lose it all to big brother or divide it up and keep it all, one thing im sure you can always rely on is greed.
I am not at all myself a greedy person, you can have the shirt off my back if you ask me for it, but I AM greedy when it comes to uncle sam or his kids(states) i give the political basterds enough of my $ as it is, they put no effort into finding but want to keep, well finders keepers, why should i find and someone else steps in that does nothing ans keeps
Just my two cents.
You could always offer the owner some free landscaping, I have a feeling that might just work out for you
DAN
I had to come back and modify this post, you also need to remember that this board is full of excellent researchers that can locate you in minutes. Your ip address alone is available to web site operators and moderators and can pinpoint your city location in seconds, your ip address is also available to anyone in chat with the right software. IT TOOK ME ONLY TWO MINUTES OF RESEARCH TO LOCATE YOU!!
You may have already given up way too much information, and i CAN call you to verify what im telling you is true if you wish
just ask me