Caribou Gear

Wyoming Corner Crossing Defense Fund

Does anyone have the case details on exactly what happened and where it happened?

For all we know the owners have video of them crossing 50 feet away from the corner...
 
Mallardsx2 said:
Does anyone have the case details on exactly what happened and where it happened?

For all we know the owners have video of them crossing 50 feet away from the corner...
Click to expand...

i really don't think BHA would be putting full support behind these hunters if there was any doubt in their mind about how things actually transpired.
 
This was posted by Buzz on another forum.


1. The 4 guys that corner crossed used a ladder to cross the corner this year. They crossed the corner last year as well, informed both the GF warden and County Sheriff of their intentions they never received a citation last year. They again informed the warden and sheriff this year of their intent to cross again, which they did. The reason for the ladder is that the EM Ranch put a chain between the t-posts at they corner, which was done to prevent public access at the corner. Further, its an illegal posting of public land as the land behind that sign is public, no debate about that.

2. They were harassed by the Elk Mountain Ranch staff/employees while hunting including being followed while hunting (Elk Mountain guys driving cross country on BLM and State ground). They were also stopped on the county road multiple times by Elk Mountain employees.

3. They did kill elk and deer and were told they could not pack the last half of one elk off that public ground where they crossed the corner. The warden retrieved the last half for them.

4. The EM ranch called the County Attorney 15 times the day the deputy sheriff issued the citations for criminal trespass.

They were not given a ticket under title 23 as there was NO INTENT to hunt private via stepping from one piece of public land to another piece of public land. That is consistent with the GF Department policy of being instructed to NOT cite hunters for corner crossing. The AG under Governor Freudenthal, Patrick Crank wrote a legal opinion regarding title 23 specific to corner crossing (that corner crossing was NOT a Game and Fish violation of title 23). Further, a memo was sent out by then GF Director Terry Cleveland stating that corner crossing would not be enforced by the GF under title 23 statute.

So, that leaves the corner crossing issue to the Sheriff's office and County Attorneys IF, and that's a big if they want to enforce it under title 6 criminal trespass or title 10 civil trespass. Civil trespass is not going to be written as the landowner has to prove "damages" to his property via the trespass. Since stepping from one piece of public to another piece of public, in NO WAY damages the adjoining landowner the result of a court case would be a claim of ZERO in punitive damage. Only real option is to cite for title 6 trespass. There has been NO cases of anyone corner crossing in Wyoming ever being cited for corner crossing (guys like to argue that there has been, but in the exhaustive searches myself and many others, including attorneys have done, its simply not true). All the cases we've looked at definitely involved trespass, not corner crossing (hunters short cutting the corners, etc.) I'm in full support of citations for trespassing, both title 23 and 6, property rights are important to me and most everyone I know.

But, that's not to be confused with simply placing your foot from one piece of public to another piece of public land...that does not constitute trespass as defined in title 6 statute. There is NO mention of air space, only that a person remains on "land or residence" so the age old argument of landowners owning air space, in reference to title 6 appears to be, best case, on shaky ground.

Since there is no clear and specific law on corner crossing being a violation of either statute (6 or 10) a group of sportsmen along with WYBHA made the decision to support the hunters who crossed the corner. All 4 have retained council and all 4 attorneys seem confident in a favorable outcome defending their clients.

Public access and our right to legally access that public land is no less of a property right, than those of any private landowner and why this needs to be fought in court.

Another part of the strategy we used, to show that there is nothing but good will toward landowner/sportsmen relationships, any money left over from the gofundme account will be used to fund our GF Department AccessYes program. A program that WYBHA has financially supported every year since becoming a chapter, to the tune of thousands per year. A program that has improved and maintained landowner/sportsmen relationships for a couple decades. No question that cooperation and collaboration is the best avenue to increase access to private lands and landlocked public. However, Sportsmen in Wyoming will not be bullied by landowners that show no regard for our ability to access our public lands either. I'm aware of 3 active cases of landowners harassing hunters in Wyoming this fall, all of whom did nothing wrong and legally accessed public lands. That needs to stop, and I'll do everything I can to see that it does.

We will also provide a detailed accounting of all expenditures from the gofundme account as this is sportsmen that are funding the defense of the 4 hunters. There will be no money going to WYBHA, our entire board is volunteer and nobody is compensated on our board.
 
@BuzzH

i assume this is going to district court? i can't find anything for the 2nd judicial district docket information online. still looking though tbh, but it doesn't seem obvious where docket info would be.

maybe it's too early and anything filed wouldn't provide much info anyway

edit: nevermind, i think i found the docket search. but it was listed under a supreme court drop down so i assumed it supreme court specific.

edit again: actually i think it is a supreme court specific docket. any idea where to find the dockets for the district courts?
 
Last edited:
VikingsGuy said:
Spot on! At some point the public, courts and legislatures are going to figure this out and this "law" will change.
Click to expand...
As much as I hope it happens, seems like it won't happen in my lifetime. Many of individuals elected to political positions (legislatures and courts) don't believe public land should exist at all. Only the voters can change that, and I'm not holding my breath.
 
SAJ-99 said:
As much as I hope it happens, seems like it won't happen in my lifetime. Many of individuals elected to political positions (legislatures and courts) don't believe public land should exist at all. Only the voters can change that, and I'm not holding my breath.
Click to expand...
I don't disagree with your assessment - but once in a while it feels good just to state the truth - we the people have the government we deserve. If folks spent as much time demanding good governance as they do on ordering weird coffee drinks that didn't exist 10 yrs ago, awkwardly trying to recreate tik-tok dances, seeking out a 400th overly bitter local IPA because it may somehow be different than the other 399, and searching for a few extra perks from their frequent flier mileage card we would be in a much better place - but we don't so we aren't.
 
VikingsGuy said:
I don't disagree with your assessment - but once in a while it feels good just to state the truth - we the people have the government we deserve. If folks spent as much time demanding good governance as they do on ordering weird coffee drinks that didn't exist 10 yrs ago, awkwardly trying to recreate tik-tok dances, seeking out a 400th overly bitter local IPA because it may somehow be different than the other 399, and searching for a few extra perks from their frequent flier mileage card we would be in a much better place - but we don't so we aren't.
Click to expand...
*sips IPA* Now listen here!
 
TOGIE said:
@BuzzH

i assume this is going to district court? i can't find anything for the 2nd judicial district docket information online. still looking though tbh, but it doesn't seem obvious where docket info would be.

maybe it's too early and anything filed wouldn't provide much info anyway

edit: nevermind, i think i found the docket search. but it was listed under a supreme court drop down so i assumed it supreme court specific.

edit again: actually i think it is a supreme court specific docket. any idea where to find the dockets for the district courts?
Click to expand...
Circuit court I believe. Carbon County
 
If this doesn't end well, stake a mining claim and do corner tunneling (as the pothead from Colorado once suggested).
 
cahunter805 said:
2. They were harassed by the Elk Mountain Ranch staff/employees while hunting including being followed while hunting (Elk Mountain guys driving cross country on BLM and State ground). They were also stopped on the county road multiple times by Elk Mountain employees.

3. They did kill elk and deer and were told they could not pack the last half of one elk off that public ground where they crossed the corner. The warden retrieved the last half for them.
Click to expand...
Wonder why the ranch wasn’t charged as well with hunter harassment?
 
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