Corner Crossing is Not a Crime…Right?

Wyoming State legislators just advanced a “Corner Crossing Clarification” bill in the House by a 32-28 vote, and it is now headed to the Senate where it may face additional headwinds and potential amendments. The legislation seeks to codify and decriminalize corner crossing in Wyoming’s criminal code in the wake of the landmark 10^th Circuit Court decision that affirmed what we believed to be true all along–corner crossing between public land parcels is not a crime.

That’s a good thing, right? So why hasn’t BHA come out in support? Bear with us as we field dress this debate down to the bone.

Wyoming’s criminal code is the roadmap for police officers and game wardens to enforce violations and administer citations for transgressions of the laws passed by Wyoming’s legislature––including criminal trespass and trespass to hunt. Up until the 10^th Circuit Court ruling on corner crossing, many considered corner crossing a gray area in the state, since there was nowhere in the criminal code that indicated it was legal or illegal. If you were following the case of the Missouri Four, you would know that the four hunters were initially charged with criminal trespass before they were accused of civil trespass and 9 million dollars in damages.

The crux of the criminal trespass argument:

The crux of the criminal trespass argument in that case boiled down to whether a momentary incursion through a private landowner’s airspace (the hunters used a ladder to hop the corner) could constitute trespass since private property rights have long held that those rights extend above and below the surface, including the airspace (side note: Wyoming BHA led a successful effort in 2023 to secure passage of state legislation SF 56 that clarified that a hunter would need to actually set foot on private ground to be convicted of trespass to hunt). It should be noted that in this case, the judge did not allow the defense to bring up federal law––specifically the Unlawful Inclosures Act––as an affirmative defense. Absent any clear guidance from the Wyoming criminal code, the hunters were acquitted of all charges by a jury.

In the 10^th Circuit Court ruling, the judges noted that, in theory, the hunter’s incursion through airspace could in fact be trespass––were it not for a federal law passed in 1885 called the Unlawful Inclosures Act (UIA) that prevented a landowner from blocking lawful public access to public lands. Because of the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, state courts are bound by federal law, which means whatever law the Wyoming legislature enacts could ultimately be overridden by federal law and judicial precedent.

So why enact a state law in the first place?

Legislators are looking to provide guidance to law enforcement and the general public on this amorphous issue that tends to take debates down a whole lot of “what if” rabbit holes. Clear rules and guidance for enforcement results in less litigation and unnecessary conflict across stakeholder groups. While we appreciate the intention to enact pro-corner crossing legislation, and even support the original bill text that was introduced by the Travel, Recreation, and Wildlife Committee, BHA has some strong reservations about amendments to the bill language that may end up creating more questions, confusion and conflict than before.

Here is the original bill language and why we liked it:

6-3-303. Criminal trespass; penalties
(d) For purposes of this section, a person does not commit criminal trespass if the person is traveling from one (1) parcel of land owned by a local government, the state of Wyoming or the federal government that the person is authorized to access to another parcel of land owned by a local government, the state of Wyoming or federal government that the person is authorized to access at the corner where the two (2) parcels meet and without causing damage to any privately owned land adjacent to the two (2)  parcels.

The bill did not create an easement across private land. It did not allow for someone to access public lands by cutting across private land. And, it did not authorize someone to drive across a corner to access public lands. It simply decriminalized lawful corner crossing, assuming it was done at the precise corner and without damaging private lands. Furthermore, it codified the legality of another important gray area in the 10^th Circuit regarding corner crossing to state lands (in Colorado, the AG’s office has indicated that this is not legal but has not substantiated the claim).

Unfortunately, this bill was amended causing BHA to hold off support until amendments could be addressed. Here is why we are not currently supportive of the bill that is headed to the Senate. Amendments to the bill language seek to tailor the decriminalization of corner crossing to mirror the precise fact pattern in the 10^th Circuit Case. The issue with only codifying this very narrow and precise application of the UIA, is that it doesn’t provide any clarification for law enforcement or the public at all. In fact, by only decriminalizing corner crossing in this very specific way, it creates greater uncertainty, conflict and ambiguity around enforcement for other stakeholders and scenarios that were not addressed by this law. Some “what if” examples include hunting with pack animals, bringing your bird dog across a corner, if the monument pin at the corner happens to have fallen over, or if there is an obstruction in your way at the corner. By choosing to decriminalize in a very narrow and specific way, we could be inviting future, protracted legal battles by hemming in the UIA in a way that isn’t consistent with the legislative intent or judicial precedent of the law.

We want to be very clear:

BHA strongly believes that lawful access to public lands and respect for private property go hand in hand. We are supportive of efforts to provide guidance to law enforcement and the public for how to corner cross respectfully and without damaging private property or trespassing. In fact, as part of an effort to alleviate landowner concerns regarding individuals accidentally trespassing while trying to locate the corner, BHA has built a beta ArcGIS survey (embedded below) to allow stakeholders the ability to share information about how to locate corners without trespassing, and to report fallen monument pins or obstructions to foster good faith solutions with landowners and agency partners.

We encourage you to check out the survey next time you are in the field, but first, reach out to your Wyoming State Senator, let them know how you feel about corner crossing and encourage them to amend this bill for the better.

Make your voice heard today!