Hello, I am a newbie poster here planning an eastern Wyoming WhiteTail hunt late November. I apologize if this is not the ideal place to post this. Being much of the public in this area that looks like it will hold whitetail is land locked I am trying to find different points of entry. I am wondering if anyone has any experience with corner crossing in Wyoming. Online the state game and fish website seems to have some funny language basically saying there is no precedent set. A partner on this trip did send an email to fish and game that said each county views the issue differently. Along those same lines I was wondering if anyone has experience with accessing public ground via waterways. Any insight or experiences would be great to hear.
Wyoming Corner Crossing
- Thread starter LKG
- Start date
Welcome to the site. Which tag do you have? I spent some time out there in Eastern WY in Sept. and Oct. - might be able to help a little. In general, corner crossing is a no-no. Stupid Fn rule that drives everyone crazy. I have heard some counties won't prosecute it. I also heard don't dare do it in Niobrara county as they will prosecute. If you have deep pockets I think we really need someone to go out, wait for a ticket, take it to court and win. Personally I like to hunt there, but I don't want to drive back out to go to court so I don't push it.
I'm guessing you are wondering about accessing some land by canoe or kayak. I hunted around the Cheyennee river bottoms a little and found that the water is not deep enough to be able to float a canoe for very far, I think you would end up dragging it a lot.
A couple HT guys had 6,7,8 whitetail tags and got onto some private land for whitetails by knocking on doors. be prepared for plenty of NOs but you may find someone.
I'm guessing you are wondering about accessing some land by canoe or kayak. I hunted around the Cheyennee river bottoms a little and found that the water is not deep enough to be able to float a canoe for very far, I think you would end up dragging it a lot.
A couple HT guys had 6,7,8 whitetail tags and got onto some private land for whitetails by knocking on doors. be prepared for plenty of NOs but you may find someone.
Muskeez, thanks for the info. we have the 11-14 zones. I thought I had heard you couldnt walk in the creeks, but could only float. Was wondering on the legitimacy of this as there are a few places where it doesnt look like it would be too far of a walk with waders.
WapitiBob
Well-known member
My suggestion is to call the guy who's gonna write the ticket and ask him/her.
The local Game Warden for your hunt area in WY will give you a pretty straight answer. You could also call the Chief Game Warden although he's a bit busy as he's also the head of the Wildlife Division. Having gone thru this exercise prior to my Elk hunt, talking at length to both of those mentioned, no Game Warden will cite you for trespassing via cc. If a Deputy is called, he could write for criminal trespass, but as was outlined to me by the Chief Warden, there is a laundry list of requirements that need to be met for a C.T. citation to stick, and, if a Deputy did cite, it was up to the county DA and the circumstances of the trespass that would dictate if it got prosecuted.
The bottom line when talking with the local warden came down to keeping a track on my phone, crossing only at the corner, and if confronted by the LO, record it. It was also pointed out, corner crossing from public to public with no intent to hunt the private is what we were discussing, and any hunting on private without permission gets people tickets.
The local Game Warden for your hunt area in WY will give you a pretty straight answer. You could also call the Chief Game Warden although he's a bit busy as he's also the head of the Wildlife Division. Having gone thru this exercise prior to my Elk hunt, talking at length to both of those mentioned, no Game Warden will cite you for trespassing via cc. If a Deputy is called, he could write for criminal trespass, but as was outlined to me by the Chief Warden, there is a laundry list of requirements that need to be met for a C.T. citation to stick, and, if a Deputy did cite, it was up to the county DA and the circumstances of the trespass that would dictate if it got prosecuted.
The bottom line when talking with the local warden came down to keeping a track on my phone, crossing only at the corner, and if confronted by the LO, record it. It was also pointed out, corner crossing from public to public with no intent to hunt the private is what we were discussing, and any hunting on private without permission gets people tickets.
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PrairieHunter
Well-known member
I won't comment on the corner crossing as that has been discussed many times in other threads if you want to see more viewpoints.
I will comment on looking for opportunities in the Eastern part of the state. Look for any opportunity you can find, any. That means look at the HMA map and see what's available. Look at the walk in land available. Look for places you can access from country roads, many maps are on the country website. Look for places you can access by crossing a creek/river. Look for lakes as this time of year many are so low you can walk around the edge and access land normally only accessible by boat. There are also a couple weapons restricted areas in the Eastern part of the state that only allow archery and muzzle loader hunting.
I will comment on looking for opportunities in the Eastern part of the state. Look for any opportunity you can find, any. That means look at the HMA map and see what's available. Look at the walk in land available. Look for places you can access from country roads, many maps are on the country website. Look for places you can access by crossing a creek/river. Look for lakes as this time of year many are so low you can walk around the edge and access land normally only accessible by boat. There are also a couple weapons restricted areas in the Eastern part of the state that only allow archery and muzzle loader hunting.
Lonesome_God_outdoors
Active member
It's true that there is no precedent set in Wyoming. Technically the blm doesn't allow it on blm land but the issue is that the blm is almost guaranteed not to be the one writing a ticket. A local sheriff's deputy or game warden is who you'll be dealing with and it generally seems like they will not be concerned. Being said, you do stand the chance of a ticket which you could then either pay or go to court and try to get dropped. You can search around and find other threads on here about corner crossing but the fact is that it's a very gray area in Wyoming. How you handle it is a personal matter.
VikingsGuy
Well-known member
I think trespass over corners is a stupid legal concept (and I am a lawyer), but the question I ask myself is, "do I want to hunt or do I want to argue land policy with the sheriff (and later at great expense a local judge)?" So I just skip the corners and hunt elsewhere. Maybe some year when I have extra time I will corner cross repeatedly in the hopes of picking the fight, but for now I just try to keep it simple and save my outrage for another time.
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Do it! You won't even need to pay a lawyer. I'm sure we can get a GoFundMe going to help for travel expenses to court. Heck if a guy tried to get a ticket it would probably take 10 years and 3 booner bulls before he ever got in trouble.
