Wyoming Corner Crossing Defense Fund

[Hunt&FishCO]

UPOM - United Property Owners of Montana

Glad it’s not my name being drug through the mud - but I hope this goes the way of the hunters and we get a judgment by fall 2022!

 

[Jason73]

Could eminent domain be used to provide an easement?

 

[rjthehunter]

As long as they step over the line, there's no case against them... 1 step on private whether or not it was intentional could turn the case the wrong direction quickly. Hopefully they were careful when crossing!

 

[NoWiser]

Donated. I'd love to see a win here. I really don't see how a human body briefly traversing the air space above the private corner is any worse than a chain and wire permanently violating the airspace of the public land.

 

[nontyp]

As long as they step over the line, there's no case against them... 1 step on private whether or not it was intentional could turn the case the wrong direction quickly. Hopefully they were careful when crossing!

Not exactly true, it’ll be interesting to watch play out. A weak case could be made for civil trespass. Im not a lawyer but landowners do have some right to the airspace above their property.

 

[WapitiBob]

This is our best possible case for testing. They crossed at a marked corner, never touching private, with a warden in attendance. You can plainly see the landowner is trying to keep public off public land, and crossing at this specific corner does not damage nor infringe on said landowners use of his property.

 

[rjthehunter]

Not exactly true, it’ll be interesting to watch play out. A weak case could be made for civil trespass. Im not a lawyer but landowners do have some right to the airspace above their property.

I would imagine there's something against landowners restricting access to public land if it is legally accessible.

If I own property on each side of a public trail, I can't put a gate up and block the trail right?

 

[cedahm]

I posted on rokslide, maybe somebody can hit MM. Bowsite only cares about Hillary or Biden.

Donation sent. Thanks all for putting this out there to a wide audience.

P.S. The Bowsite comment made me lol. I find it entertaining that even the core guys over there can't stand ol' 'azelkhntr'

 

[BenInMT]

Interesting that our bodies cannot aerial trespass but bullets and airplanes can.

 

[TOGIE]

i have a hope some big weight will get thrown behind this. BHA is a great start. i wanna see the likes of rinella and newberg throw their weight and reach too. all the public land advocates - come on anglers. hell, does someone have a direct line to Mr. Chouinard?

let this thing snowball hard as word continues to get out.

i just have a wishful poetic hope, that with the way public land advocacy as broadened over the years, we can make elk mountain ranch realize they've awakened a sleeping giant.

 

[nontyp]

I would imagine there's something against landowners restricting access to public land if it is legally accessible.

If I own property on each side of a public trail, I can't put a gate up and block the trail right?

Is it legally accessible? I think that is the question at hand. I sure hope this case has legs and works through the courts. I think it will cost much more than $30k though if it does.

Gating a public trail is a apples and oranges comparison.

 

[Benjamins]

Not exactly true, it’ll be interesting to watch play out. A weak case could be made for civil trespass. Im not a lawyer but landowners do have some right to the airspace above their property.

I'm sure that's what the land owner will claim but where does it end? I mean that question literally. 10 feet? 100ft? Will they start saying planes can't fly over their air space? If there isn't a Specific law stating they own the air space to X feet I don't see how they can take ownership to it.

 

[nontyp]

The ultimate corner crosser.

 

[hank4elk]

Good thing I have perfected passing thru like the wind...

I have seen a lawyer get a CC win and a few years later get caught himself redhanded,by G&F,Staties and the property owner with a buck on private that he took on fully landlocked public land. Guy walked.

Good luck in MT. I think half the state is fancy lawyers.

 

[JM77]

I'm sure that's what the land owner will claim but where does it end? I mean that question literally. 10 feet? 100ft? Will they start saying planes can't fly over their air space? If there isn't a Specific law stating they own the air space to X feet I don't see how they can take ownership to it.

There is law pertaining to air space in Wyoming; Title 10 Aeronautics. It pertains to flight and whether or not it interferes with the use of the private land. The criminal trespass these hunters are charged with pertains to the land, with no mention of the air above it.

 

[Benjamins]

There is law pertaining to air space in Wyoming; Title 10 Aeronautics. It pertains to flight and whether or not it interferes with the use of the private land. The criminal trespass these hunters are charged with pertains to the land, with no mention of the air above it.

Interesting. So it only pertains to private land? But they can use their signs to interfere with the public land? Not arguing, you clearly know waaay more than i on this issue and I don't really have much of a dog in this race anyways, but it just seems so strange. Basically they get land for free and never pay taxes on it?

 

[cedahm]

i have a hope some big weight will get thrown behind this. BHA is a great start. i wanna see the likes of rinella and newberg throw their weight and reach too. all the public land advocates - come on anglers. hell, does someone have a direct line to Mr. Chouinard?

let this thing snowball hard as word continues to get out.

i just have a wishful poetic hope, that with the way public land advocacy as broadened over the years, we can make elk mountain ranch realize they've awakened a sleeping giant.

I don't know Yvon personally, but just texted a friend who is an exec over there to see if I can at least get a contact person for such matters.

 

[rjthehunter]

Is it legally accessible? I think that is the question at hand. I sure hope this case has legs and works through the courts. I think it will cost much more than $30k though if it does.

Gating a public trail is a apples and oranges comparison.

It'll be interesting to see how it plays out. But with there being basically + sign to step diagonally across, I personally don't see how they could call that trespassing. Time till tell I guess! I think the landowners are being awfully petty and it'll be interesting to see how petty holds up in court.

 

[Dougfirtree]

Fingers crossed that there's a good outcome! I donated and sent the link on to my state chapter of BHA in case they're interested in spreading the word. Have other state chapters been notifying their members? I can understand a desire to not have it framed as a battle between out of state hunters and local land owners, but if non-residents were targeted more for fund raising and less for letter writing, etc. that could be a good thing.

 

[seeth07]

A lot of states have statutes about ownership of the air above their state. Basically most say the state owns the air or the United States of America does.

Wyoming's in particular does state landowners do own the air but its sovereign. Furthermore, there is a section that states that a person can't fly at an altitude that would "interfere" with the private land owners ability to use their property or cause harm to the property/owner. No height is given to determine what this height is.



There is this though in there where a person could maybe interpret that it is 50' since the state feels at 50' an aircraft could be flying and hit a private land structure.