Tuesday, OCTOBER 21, 2025 |
Photo – Corner Crossing Update page – Courtesy CCSO
The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the Elk Mountain Ranch corner crossing case, reaffirming the legality of the practice.
Yesterday afternoon, Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken announced on social media that the United States Supreme Court declined to hear the Elk Mountain Ranch corner crossing case.
The sheriff notes that the Supreme Court’s decision not to review the case reaffirms the 10th Circuit’s decision. The ruling remains the law in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, Wyoming, but not the entire West.
The case centers around a 2021 legal dispute between Iron Bar Holdings LLC, owned by Fred Eshelman, and four Missouri elk hunters who used corner crossing to move between parcels of public land on Elk Mountain. Eshelman contends that by using a ladder to corner-cross between two public land parcels on his Elk Mountain ranch, the hunters trespassed on the airspace over his land.
The four hunters were cited for criminal trespass by the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office. The hunters were later acquitted by Carbon County District Judge Dawnessa Snyder.
Following the verdict, Eshelman filed a civil lawsuit against the hunters through his land management company, Iron Bar Holdings. The Elk Mountain ranch owner was seeking $9 million in damages.
This past March, the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the hunters, citing the Unlawful Inclosures Act of 1885 (43 USC Ch. 25: UNLAWFUL INCLOSURES OR OCCUPANCY; OBSTRUCTING SETTLEMENT OR TRANSIT), which prevents landowners from obstructing access to public lands.
Iron Bar Holdings attorney Robert Reeves Anderson filed a writ of certiorari with the US Supreme Court. Simply put, a writ of certiorari is a request for a higher court to review a lower court’s decision.
In his petition, Attorney Anderson wrote that in Wyoming, moving diagonally from the corner of one public parcel in the checkerboard to another was considered unlawful trespass through the private landowner’s property for over half a century. Anderson added that by ruling in favor of the hunters, the lower courts upset that precedent.
Anderson’s petition claims that in 2020 and 2021, Bradley Cape, Zachary Smith, Phillip Yeomans, and John Slowensky conducted hunting trips on Elk Mountain land accessible only by trespassing over Iron Bar’s property. The Attorney alleges that on both occasions, the hunters ignored “no trespassing” signs and repeated requests to leave while corner-crossing between multiple intersections of public and Eshelman’s private land.
On Friday, October 17th, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear Iron Bar Holdings’ appeal, letting stand the lower court’s decision.
After the announcement, Sheriff Alex Bakken wrote on social media that his department will continue operating under the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling, which affirms that corner crossing is legal as long as no physical contact is made with private property.
However, the Sheriff warned that the court’s decision only applies to Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming, not the entire country.
The Sheriff urged hunters to respect both landowners and the land itself, and to take every precaution when lawfully accessing public property. The Sheriff wrote that hunters will be charged if they violate Wyoming Statute 6-3-303, Criminal Trespass, or Statute 23-3-305, Trespass to Hunt.
Sheriff Bakken encouraged anyone with questions about corner crossing to contact their regional Wyoming Game and Fish office or the Carbon County Sheriff’s Office at 324-2776.
