JULY 14, 2025 |
Photo – Map of public lands locked by privately owned lands – Courtesy onX Hunt
The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a request for an extension in the Elk Mountain corner crossing case.
On Wednesday, July 9th, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch denied, without comment, the application for an extension of time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from Attorney Robert Reeves Anderson. Attorney Anderson, of Denver, Colorado, is representing Fred Eshelman and Iron Bar Holdings LLC in the Elk Mountain corner crossing case.
The application is the latest move in Eshelman’s campaign against four Missouri elk hunters who, he claims, trespassed on his Elk Mountain ranch in 2020 and 2021. Hunters Bradley Cape, Zachary Smith, Phillip Yeomans, and John Slowensky used a ladder to cross the corner of Eshelman’s ranch to access the adjacent public land. Eshelman contends that the hunters trespassed on his airspace while crossing between the corners.
In court documents, Eshelman’s attorney claimed that the hunters disregarded repeated requests to leave, prompting Iron Bar Holdings to sue the hunters for civil trespass. The ranch owner was hoping for a declaratory judgment that would rule, once and for all, that cutting across ranches at the corners of federal land parcels was unlawful.
The matter was originally heard in Carbon County District Court, where Judge Dawnessa Snyder ruled in favor of the hunters. Eshelman appealed the ruling to the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld the lower court’s decision.
Now, Attorney Robert Reeves Anderson is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene with a writ of certiorari, or a request for a higher court to review a lower court’s decision. In his petition, Attorney Anderson wrote that the case has the potential to impact a substantial portion of the approximately 300 million acres of checkerboard land and its landowners across the American West.
Justice Gorsuch initially approved an extension, submitted by Attorney Anderson, giving Eshelman’s legal team until July 16th to file the writ. However, a subsequent extension, filed on July 3rd, was denied.
The denial gives Anderson only until Wednesday to officially submit his writ of certiorari.
The four Missouri hunters are being represented by Attorney Ryan Alexander Semerad, out of Casper.
