The Corner Crossing saga continues

I think this is what is ultimately going to bite the ranch in the butt.

"The federal civil trial — as-yet unscheduled — may address the two metal T-posts driven into Elk Mountain property at the four-corner intersection. Photographs show the posts connected across the corner by a wire and chain. The two posts were connected to nothing else — no property-line fences — a photograph shows.

After the hunters left the area in 2021, the chain was removed, Elk Mountain Ranch property manager Grende testified at the Rawlins trial.

“It was removed because it had no purpose,” he said in court.

Courts have defined what constitutes an illegal enclosure, according to Madsen who quoted one ruling.

“[W]hen, under the guise of enclosing his own land, builds a fence which is useless for that purpose, and can only have been intended to enclose the land of the government, he is plainly within the (unlawful enclosures) statute, and is guilty of an unwarrantable appropriation of that which belongs to the public at large,” he wrote."

I listened to the meateater pod cast on this case. Funny when politics and money mix at the legal crossing.

The case was presented 1 sided but hard to see where the other side had any legal stance.

1. Ranch mgr admitted the gate served no purpose.
2. They harassed the hunters after sheriff and conservation offers told him the hunters were doing nothing wrong.
3. Ranch mgr wanting to know where the hunters would be for 'safety" reasons???

The land owner is looking greedy and the manager is looking illegal for hunter harassment and now potentially other acts...I wonder how many other hunters had been run out of that area previously?

Seems pretty clear that the landowner in this particular case had enjoyed de-facto control of a random chunk of public land by virtue of surrounding it, and he wants to maintain that control. However, public land is public land, access rights are access rights. I think stringing that obvious barrier was a bad idea.

It's understandable to want to protect your property, but you got to know that this could come up if you surround public land.

It is ALWAYS about money. Money is time, money is your life, you trade your work, your time, other things you could have had or could have done for money or you don't.

Those who didn't, want what those who did, bought with it.

Lets make this more of an Indiana thing. Say a tree is growing in a property line. Pretty common occurrence in Indiana. A lot of farmer/land owners have use those for fence posts over the years. Now the fence even goes straight through the tree. Friends and neighbors have lived together for decades along that fence. Never a problem. Probably grandchildren of the people who put that fence there live and hunt next to each other by now.

Opening day there is a tree stand in that tree no one has ever climbed in a hundred years and that tree stand is hanging over your side looking down on the food plot you planted the last five years.

After a few days you find it is NOT any of your kids, your grandkids, nor any one any of you know off who hung it there or use it.

What do you do? Are they trespassing? What if they shoot a deer and it just happens to "jump the fence and die on your land"?

Tree stand on the line seems no different then someone using a ladder to straddle the property line …. Maybe not but sure seems the same to me!

In my opinion, the ladder over the corner shows no intent to hunt or trespass. The ladder had to be used to clear the obstruction the ranch manager placed in the way of accessing public ground. I dont see this going the ranchers way. We shall see.

If a tree stand is one inch or even a quarter of an inch off of private there's not much anyone can do about it until a law is broken. If a deer is shot on public from said stand and runs onto private then the trouble starts. I don't like the hassle so I hunt as far away from private as I can. Others don't see it that way and hunt the crossings. Too many headaches for me.

It’s hard to judge intent for sure … be it a ladder or a tree stand. If you’re not putting feet on the ground there shouldn’t be a problem.

Playing the “I am lost” card only works one time at most.

It’s a civil suit now I believe…Here is the current lawsuit.

redirect.viglink.com/?key=71fe2139a887ad501313cd8cce3053c5&subId=1336408&u=https%3A//cowboystatedaily.com/2022/07/22/judge-denies-dismissal-in-wyoming-corner-crossing-case/

BTW….. as for Pigeon let just say “Feet Wet” 😊

As stated I don't like the line sitters either but running up and down the line with your side by side on the opening day of gun season is one way to deter them if you would rather do that then hunt. I would rather hunt way far away than anyone else. But they are still not breaking the law until they shoot across that line or go retrieving animal across the line.