Judge rules in favor of corner-crossing hunters

[RugersGR8]

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https://wyofile.com/judge-rules-in-favor-of-corner-crossing-hunters/
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[Coug91]

Cliff notes?

TLDW.

 

[Catt57]

Cliff notes?

TLDW.

TLDR;

"Corner crossing involves stepping from one piece of public land to another at the common corner with two pieces of private property, all arranged in a checkerboard pattern. Corner crossing avoids setting foot on private land."

"The judge summarized and analyzed relevant court precedent to conclude that “corner crossing on foot in the checkerboard pattern of land ownership, without physically, contacting private land and, without causing damage to private property does not constitute an unlawful trespass.”


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The land owners argue that "Crossing the airspace" of their property at the corners to go from public land to public land is trespassing and somehow damaging.

The judge says otherwise.

"Skavdahl observed that with respect to the corner crossing issue “[t]here is no evidence the hunters made physical contact with [Eshelman’s] private land or caused any damage to plaintiff’s private property,” either in 2020 or 2021. The judge also agreed with Eshelman that he generally owns the airspace above his property and is entitled to use it."

"But even property rights come with limitations and restrictions, Skavdahl wrote."

“History, federal case law, federal statutory law, and recent Wyoming legislation demonstrate corner crossing in the manner done by Defendants in this case is just such a restriction on Plaintiff’s property rights,” he wrote. “[D]efendants, ‘in common with other persons [have] the right to the benefit of the public domain,’ which necessarily requires some limitation on the adjoining private landowner’s right of exclusion within the checkerboard pattern of land ownership.”

 

[Snattlerake]

TLDR;

"Corner crossing involves stepping from one piece of public land to another at the common corner with two pieces of private property, all arranged in a checkerboard pattern. Corner crossing avoids setting foot on private land."

"The judge summarized and analyzed relevant court precedent to conclude that “corner crossing on foot in the checkerboard pattern of land ownership, without physically, contacting private land and, without causing damage to private property does not constitute an unlawful trespass.”


--------------------------------------

The land owners argue that "Crossing the airspace" of their property at the corners to go from public land to public land is trespassing and somehow damaging.

The judge says otherwise.

"Skavdahl observed that with respect to the corner crossing issue “[t]here is no evidence the hunters made physical contact with [Eshelman’s] private land or caused any damage to plaintiff’s private property,” either in 2020 or 2021. The judge also agreed with Eshelman that he generally owns the airspace above his property and is entitled to use it."

"But even property rights come with limitations and restrictions, Skavdahl wrote."

“History, federal case law, federal statutory law, and recent Wyoming legislation demonstrate corner crossing in the manner done by Defendants in this case is just such a restriction on Plaintiff’s property rights,” he wrote. “[D]efendants, ‘in common with other persons [have] the right to the benefit of the public domain,’ which necessarily requires some limitation on the adjoining private landowner’s right of exclusion within the checkerboard pattern of land ownership.”

OK, I have questions.

Was this "checkerboard" private property posted and fenced?

Was there a camera at this crossing at the time or is the trespassing assumed because of the physical nature of having to cross a fence?

They claim the airspace above the property was violated by someone walking over the property.

This tells me there was a fence and they used it to circumvent stepping foot on the ground.

Is this correct?

 

[dennishoddy]

I remember some ranch hand or owner watching the guys cross to public land in a designated crossing area which was not marked or something. Couldn't believe someone was so protective of their land like that, but lots of land owners in the mountain states block access to public hunting lands willfully so they can use it for private hunting grounds or charge big money to outfitters for trespass fees so they can do private hunts on public ground.
We had a big thread on this subject in the past.

 

[SoonerP226]

OK, I have questions.

Was this "checkerboard" private property posted and fenced?

Was there a camera at this crossing at the time or is the trespassing assumed because of the physical nature of having to cross a fence?

They claim the airspace above the property was violated by someone walking over the property.

This tells me there was a fence and they used it to circumvent stepping foot on the ground.

Is this correct?

The private lands were fenced. The hunters used a ladder to cross the corner from one piece of public land to the other. I’ve not heard an explanation of how the landowner came to know that they crossed, but the fact that they crossed and how they did it is not in question.

There is also an old (like from the 1880s old) Federal law that prohibits anyone from blocking access to public lands. Apparently the landowner chained his corner posts together, which may actually run afoul of that law.

At any rate, most of this absurd $7M lawsuit against the hunters has been dismissed. There’s still a question of a GPS waypoint that could indicate that the hunters were farther into the property than they claimed, but that’ll have to be resolved by what remains of the lawsuit.

 

[dennishoddy]

The private lands were fenced. The hunters used a ladder to cross the corner from one piece of public land to the other. I’ve not heard an explanation of how the landowner came to know that they crossed, but the fact that they crossed and how they did it is not in question.

There is also an old (like from the 1880s old) Federal law that prohibits anyone from blocking access to public lands. Apparently the landowner chained his corner posts together, which may actually run afoul of that law.

At any rate, most of this absurd $7M lawsuit against the hunters has been dismissed. There’s still a question of a GPS waypoint that could indicate that the hunters were farther into the property than they claimed, but that’ll have to be resolved by what remains of the lawsuit.

There was also a Wyoming game warden they consulted before putting a ladder across that corner that said crossing that corner was legal as public access to public land could not be blocked and they were legal in doing so.
The issue with the landowner is that that corner is so tiny that a foot or a shoulder of one of the hunters crossed into his air space as was reported in the video.
Now back to land owners blocking access to public grounds so outfitters can have public lands as private hunting preserves. That is a major issue in the mountain states.
It's a stupid frivolous lawsuit that should have never been to court but some people just gotta have their day. I hope the landowner has to cover the legal expenses of the hunters, although a lot of money has been raised to defend them. That money could go to buying and installing permanent ladders in those corners all over the state.

 

[Catt57]

OK, I have questions.

Was this "checkerboard" private property posted and fenced?

Was there a camera at this crossing at the time or is the trespassing assumed because of the physical nature of having to cross a fence?

They claim the airspace above the property was violated by someone walking over the property.

This tells me there was a fence and they used it to circumvent stepping foot on the ground.

Is this correct?

I was going to reply, but the posts above pretty well cover it.

 

[Uncle TK]

Picture of one of the Landowner's Corners
https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/lo...cle_1a44698c-e608-11ed-9b7e-c30d5a86ff18.html
Checker Board
https://wgfd.wyo.gov/Public-Access/Hunter-Management-Areas/Elk-Mountain
The Land Owner had use of Public Property for his own use. (Thousand of Acres)

 

[Parks 788]

The landowner of the 22K acres seems like a d-bag. $7.75M in damages to his ranch? Would have like the ranch owner to have to had paid the hunters legal fees. Probably a greedy bastard at least and an arrogant A-hole in social settings. Part of his issue what he thought the hunters would have had to hold onto one or two of his corner posts to get over the fence and that was, in part, what constituted the treaspass. SOme of you may flame me but when there is a situation where there are four corners of land that meet and two opposing tracts of land are private and the two other tracts are public land the govt should be able to take 3-5' off the corner of the property to allow unfettered foot traffic to access the public land. In WY, you can't block access to public lands afterall.