While Wyoming legislators, and potentially the U.S. Supreme Court, try to determine the legality of hopping between adjoining corners of public land parcels, hunters in Wyoming will probably do it anyway.
Hunters might take a federal court decision this spring — apparently in favor of corner-crossing — as a green light to do it, Wyoming Game and Fish Chief Game Warden Dan Smith told a state legislative committee on Tuesday.
“I expect that there will be more sportspeople using that decision to try to go out” and corner-cross, Smith said.
Sabrina King, spokeswoman for the Wyoming chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, had a similar message for the Legislature’s Joint Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee.
“As of right now, we’re headed into hunting season,” King said. “People are going to corner-cross. It’s going to happen. The 10th Circuit Court has said that is legal, so we know that’s something that’s going to be occurring.”
Some Wyoming big game archery hunting seasons open in August. By mid-October, rifle hunting seasons will be in full swing.
The federal 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver ruled in March in favor of four Missouri hunters who in 2021 corner-crossed between two parcels of public land adjacent to Iron Bar Ranch property in Carbon County.
Separate From Supreme Court Case
The committee voted 7-6 to forward a draft bill that would clarify the corner-crossing between parcels of public land doesn’t count as trespassing. That would be under both Wyoming’s Chapter 6 criminal trespass statute, and the Chapter 23 Game and Fish trespass statute.
That means the bill could be considered during the full Legislature’s 2026 session.
The draft bill is separate from the Iron Bar Ranch case — which might go before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Last month, attorneys for Iron Bar Holdings LLC and its owner, Fred Eshelman of North Carolina, filed their petition asking the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) to hear the case.
At issue is whether four Missouri hunters trespassed when they crossed the pinpoint intersection at the adjoining corner of square parcels of public land and ranch property in September 2021.
Across Wyoming and the West, such parcels of public and private land are mixed in checkerboard patterns.
Lower courts have ruled in the hunters’ favor, leaving a possible hearing before SCOTUS as the last Hail Mary option for Iron Bar Holdings.
Wyoming attorney Ryan Semerad, who represents the four Missouri hunters, told the legislative committee on Tuesday that SCOTUS might decide whether to hear the case in October.
That could mean the case would be argued in January, February or March, and a decision could be handed down in June, he said.
‘Stepped On The Wrong Blade Of Grass’
Semerad testified before the committee in favor of the draft bill.
He said it would affirm the right of Wyoming residents and visitors to access public land here. And it would also save sheriff’s deputies, game wardens and the court systems from having to deal with alleged corner-crossing trespass cases.
“I don’t think there is a person who believes that someone should be taken off the public lands in handcuffs because they stepped on the wrong blade of grass,” Semerad said.
“I don’t think our sheriffs’ deputies want to do that. I don’t think that our Game and Fish wardens want to do that. I know, save for a couple, none of our county attorneys want to do that,” he added.
Is The Bill Too Vague?
Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation spokesman Brett Moline said the draft bill is too vague and could lead to private property being mobbed and possibly damaged.
“Whose fault is it? Is it the 100th person, the 1,000th person, or the first person?” he said.
Committee member Sen. Larry Hicks, R-Baggs, noted that while he supports the principle of people being able to access land, the draft bill is apparently missing some details.
For instance, the question of how far could a person stray from the pinpoint at the convergence of land parcel corners, if they could claim it wasn’t their intent to trespass on the adjoining private property, Hicks said.
“You can’t tell me whether it’s 10 feet, 100 feet or 1,000 feet,” he said.
Rep. Robert Wharff, R-Evanston, said he’s concerned that if the draft bill passed in its present form, it’s too vague and could spark more squabbles between hunters and landowners.
“I think this is just going to cause more chaos afield,” he said.
He added that “we can’t do anything about this hunting season.”
Asked by Wharff if the legislation, as it is, could cause more work for game wardens, Smith said it could.
“I believe we will get calls from landowners, especially if they don’t agree with the (possible) corner-crossing laws,” Smith said.
Committee co-chairman Sen. Bill Landen, R-Casper, said that even if the bill still needs work, forwarding it was the right thing to do.
“This is our job, we’re taking up an issue that’s going to be here for quite some time to come,” he said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
