corner hopping legal?

Question here. Is corner hopping legal or illegal? I had the understanding that it is illegal in Wyoming, but doing some web reading it appears for hunting and fishing purposes it may not be. Looks like a court case in 2004 ruled in favor of the hunter, but didn't set a precedent. Any one know of any other legal cases? This would have changed my unit 108 elk hunt a few years ago.

From the Wyoming game and fish website : In 2004, the Wyoming Attorney General?s Office issued an opinion that ?corner crossing? from one parcel of public land to another in order to hunt that other public parcel, depending on the factual situation involved, may not violate the game and fish trespass statute, but may be a criminal trespass violation. The factual situation would include whether the person doing the ?corner crossing? was hunting or intended to hunt private land at the time the corner was crossed.

From web article. https://billingsgazette.com/news/st...cle_0848ffe6-200c-11e1-8b59-001871e3ce6c.html

In 2004, an Albany County circuit judge found a man not guilty of corner hopping in a case that drew attention but didn't set a legal precedent because it wasn't a district court ruling.

The hunter was prosecuted under a state law against trespassing for the purpose of hunting or fishing. A separate law covers trespassing generally.

Then Attorney General Pat Crank wrote an opinion in response to the ruling. Intent to hunt or fish on private land was necessary to be guilty under the statute in question, he wrote, but corner hopping without such intent could constitute trespassing under the general trespassing statute.

LAST EDITED ON Dec-08-18 AT 11:04PM (MST)[p]


Many of us are aware of that article, and I say "article" loosely. Nowhere in it is there a single sentence that says corner crossing is a trespassing infraction.

I can only tell you what I have been told, from the chief game warden for wyoming, and the warden of the elk area I hunted.

I will not be cited for trespassing via corner crossing provided I cross at the corners and have no intent to hunt the private. The game dept does not cite for criminal trespass.

If a deputy is called, there is a laundry list of requirements that need to be met in order to be guilty of criminal trespass. Primary is to "knowingly enter or remain on the property...". As was stated to me, "did you enter private property by crossing at the corner..". Whether you are prosecuted will be on a county by county basis and you will not be prosecuted in the county you are hunting".
I showed the local warden where I planned to corner cross while looking at his map spread across the hood of his truck. I never needed to cross there but, it was a non issue regardless.

Another member here called the county DA and asked about prosecution, to which he was told "absolutely", but when pressed no case history could be recalled. Perhaps he will respond here as I'm sure JM and Buzz will.

My stock answer to your question is to call the warden in the area you plan to hunt and not take corner crossing advise from me or anybody else on the internet. When I see a response that it is "illegal", I ask for the statute..... I'm still waiting.

WapitiBob pretty well covered it except for one thing: if you plan to corner cross, call the District Attorney's office in the county or counties you will be hunting in and ask them if they will prosecute.

The G&F won't write the ticket anywhere in the state and if a new warden or a warden that is out of touch with current affairs, writes the ticket, a call to the Chief Game Warden in Cheyenne should fix it pronto.

If anyone ever gets a DA to say yes they will prosecute, PLEASE let me know or post the county on the Wyoming forum. We want to get ticketed to try and get a precedent set. Most likely the lower court will not find a defendant guilty of trespass and we will be back to square one.

I was told that people have been charged for corner crossing but every time the charges were disputed, they were dropped. And that nobody has ever been successfully charged with corner crossing. If this correct?

Does anybody know of a successful corner crossing prosecution?

It seems like we need the precedent to be set but the district attorneys avoid filing to not let that happen. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Grizzly

I've never heard of a corner crossing ticket where the accused actually crossed at the corner and had a gps track to prove it.
The warden told me to record the track, be darn sure is crossed at the corner, and if the land owner showed up to record everything.