The 10th Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of four elk hunters who “corner-crossed” in southeast Wyoming in fall 2021. This ruling makes corner-crossing legal in the 10th circuit states: Wyoming, Utah, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, and New Mexico. This ruling will have far-reaching consequences for public land access throughout the West.
Corner-crossing is when you step from one corner of public land to another, without setting foot on private property, and its legality has been under debate for years. This practice is often used in areas where private and public lands create a “checkerboard,” as you can see below. The white areas are private land, and the yellow or blue are public.
The elk hunters in this case used a ladder to corner-cross a piece of land owned by Iron Bar Holdings. Iron Bar had marked the corners of its property with monuments to designate their precise location according to U.S. Geological Survey data. Since the hunters knew exactly where the private land was, they brought a ladder large enough to climb over the monuments without ever touching them. The ladder never touched private property, but Iron Bar still filed trespassing charges against the four hunters.
Cowboy State Daily reports that Iron Bar Holdings claimed the hunters had “violated the ranch’s air space when (crossing) the corner, and in doing so damaged the value of the ranch by several million dollars.”
That wasn’t enough to sway a local jury, which initially found the four men innocent on all charges. Iron Bar appealed that ruling to the 10th Circuit Court, and as of yesterday, is still determining whether it will appeal the most recent decision to the Supreme Court.
The 10th Circuit Court relied heavily on a law from 1885 when ruling in favor of the elk hunters, according to Cowboy State Daily. The Unlawful Inclosures Act outlawed “obstructing settlement and transit through public lands.”
The judges, in their unanimous 3-0 decision, wrote that “no one may completely prevent or obstruct another from peacefully entering or freely passing over or through public lands.” They went on to add that “a barrier to access, even a civil trespass action, becomes an abatable federal nuisance in the checkerboard when its effect is to inclose public lands by completely preventing access for a lawful purpose.”
It’s important to note that, while this ruling does make corner-crossing legal, this case with the elk hunters and Iron Bar is unique. Iron Bar placed physical markers at the corners of their property, in accordance with official survey lines. Attempting to corner cross in a similar manner on land that’s not officially marked may lead to unintended trespassing, since satellite mapping systems like OnX aren’t completely accurate.
This ruling does open the door for hunters, anglers, and anyone who recreates on public land, to access that land, so long as they can get there without trespassing.