Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch has granted a request by Elk Mountain Ranch owner Fred Eshelman for additional time to file a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court in a high-profile corner-crossing case that could reshape public land access across the West.
Eshelman, through his company Iron Bar Holdings LLC, now has until July 16 to ask the high court to review a civil trespassing case he lost against four hunters who passed through the airspace of his private land while accessing public land.
In a May 21 application for a 30-day extension, attorneys for Iron Bar Holdings said the legal question “has vast reach, covering a huge portion of the roughly 300 million acres of checkerboard land and affecting landowners throughout the American West.” The checkerboard pattern—a legacy of 19th century land grants—creates a patchwork of alternating public and private parcels where access hinges on whether stepping from one public corner to another constitutes trespass.
The conflict began when Iron Bar Holdings accused four Missouri hunters of trespassing on its Wyoming property during the 2020 and 2021 hunting seasons. In fall 2020, the hunters used the onX Hunt GPS app to locate public land corners near the ranch, marked with steel U.S. Geological Survey caps. They crossed from one public parcel to another without stepping on private ground, only momentarily passing through Iron Bar’s airspace. Although Iron Bar had posted “No Trespassing” signs and placed a chain across the corner markers, the hunters maneuvered around the obstacles without causing damage.
When the hunters returned in 2021, they brought a steel A-frame ladder to ensure they didn’t touch Iron Bar’s signs. Iron Bar staff confronted them repeatedly, even using motorized vehicles to drive off nearby game. After the hunters refused to leave, Iron Bar staff contacted law enforcement, resulting in criminal trespassing charges.
Lower courts sided with the hunters, finding that the federal Unlawful Inclosures Act (UIA) of 1885 effectively preempted Eshelman’s claims of trespass, even though no physical barrier existed and Wyoming state law suggested that the corner-crossings constituted trespassing.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit affirmed the ruling, but on different grounds. The 10th Circuit agreed with Iron Bar Holdings that the hunters had technically trespassed under Wyoming law but ruled that the UIA overrode the state law. The court found that even though Iron Bar had not built any fences, its attempt to use trespass laws to block public access amounted to a “nuisance” preempted by federal statute.
Relying on existing circuit precedent, the panel distinguished this case from the Supreme Court’s 1979 ruling in Leo Sheep Co. v. United States, which held that the public had no implied rights of way across private checkerboard lands. However, Judge Timothy Tymkovich explicitly called on the Supreme Court to “reconsider the scope of Leo Sheep as it applies to this case.”
The ruling legalized corner-crossing between sections of federal land in the six states under the 10th Circuit’s jurisdiction: Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming.
Lawyers for Iron Bar Holdings argued in their application that the case offers the Supreme Court a prime opportunity to clarify how the UIA applies to modern disputes over land access. They contend the 10th Circuit’s ruling “upended decades of accepted understanding—shared by federal and state officials—that corner crossing is unlawful,” leading to widespread confusion about the scope and limits of the decision.
“This area of confusion and disagreement must be resolved,” the attorneys wrote, to provide clear guidance for both landowners and hunters across the West.
Ryan Semerad, attorney for the four hunters, confirmed his commitment to defending the ruling, stating, “our legal team is ready to keep fighting for and defending public access to public lands.”
Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA), a leading public lands advocacy group, said it will continue to monitor the case and stand with hunters and public land users nationwide in pursuit of a solution that balances property rights with access to public lands.
“Corner crossing has always been about the right of the public to access the lands they own,” said Patrick Berry, BHA president and CEO. “The 10th Circuit made it clear: stepping from one corner of public land to another is not a crime. If the Supreme Court takes this case, we’ll be ready—because access for all is worth fighting for, all the way to the highest court in the land.” — Charles Wallace, WLJ contributing editor
