MARCH 19, 2025|
Photo – 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver – Courtesy firstadmendmentwatch.org
The 10th Circuit Court in Denver sent ripples through private property owners across Wyoming and the West on Tuesday when three justices ruled in favor of hunters who corner-crossed a fence near Elk Mountain in 2021.
The three judges on the appeals court unanimously upheld a ruling made in 2023 by U.S. District Court Judge Scott Skavdahl, who sided with the hunters.
In the 10th Circuit Decision released Tuesday, Judge Timothy Tymkovich concluded that the hunters did not trespass onto Iron Bar Ranch despite the locked gate and posted “No Trespassing” signs.
The owner of the ranch, Fred Eshelman, who founded an investment company focused primarily on healthcare and biotech companies, has the option now to take the matter to the United States Supreme Court.
Other ranch owners may support any effort to move the case further up the legal system. For now, the 10th Circuit Court decision, handed down yesterday, makes corner-crossing legal in Wyoming and other western states with their checkerboard sections of private and public lands.
In the decision, the justices concluded the actions of the hunters were legal because “they did not physically touch Iron Bar’s Land” due to the special ladder they built to corner-cross at the fence.
