Brad Cape opened a celebratory bottle of bourbon on Friday when he got word from his attorney.
Cape’s three hunting partners — Philip Yeomans, John Slowensky and Zach Smith — also felt a weight lifted from their shoulders.
A federal judge ruled that the four Missouri residents didn’t trespass when they corner-crossed through the airspace over private land in Wyoming during their 2020 and 2021 hunting trips, sparking a civil lawsuit that had the group facing more than $7 million in alleged damages.
A year after the hunters were declared not guilty in Wyoming criminal court, Chief U.S. District Judge Scott Skavdahl dismissed much of a subsequent civil federal lawsuit filed by Elk Mountain Ranch owner and wealthy pharmaceutical magnate Fred Eshelman.
More: Found not guilty, these 4 Missouri hunters still face a $9M federal trespassing suit
Cape, who lives in Steelville, and the other Missouri men used a stepladder at a four-corner crossing — one leg planted on each side of a public Bureau of Land Management parcel — to get over a fence and avoid the corner sections of Eshelman’s private land.
Corner-crossing often involves passing from a parcel of public land to another at the common corner with two pieces of private property — similar to moving through a checkerboard pattern — to avoid setting foot on private land.
The Missouri hunters argued that the federal Unlawful Inclosures Act of 1885 prevents a private land owner from obstructing access across the corner, with which the court agreed.
In a 32-page ruling, the judge noted that “corner crossing on foot in the checkerboard pattern of land ownership, without physically contacting private land and without causing damage to private property does not constitute an unlawful trespass.”
The case had garnered mass attention from hunters who believe the unprecedented nature of the lawsuit could have implications on the future of public lands access in America.
More than 8 million acres of federal land in Western states are landlocked by private land.
The Missouri hunters’ Wyoming-based attorney, Ryan Semerad, made his case in court on May 10 and found out the judge’s ruling last week in a filing.
“There’s a huge sense of relief, and a satisfaction that the right outcome was reached,” said Semerad, who expects an appeal from the plaintiff. “This decision is the first domino in a series of dominoes that could lead to more access to public lands.”
Yeomans, a fleet mechanic who lives in Cuba, Missouri, was confident that the judge would rule in his group’s favor, saying “It solidified what we believe about corner-crossing.”
He admitted that the potential financial penalty was initially unnerving.
“I don’t think you can put all four of our assets together and put anything close to that amount of money,” Yeomans said.
More: Kansas canceled its fall turkey hunting season. What does it mean for Missouri?
Eshelman claimed in his lawsuit that hunters essentially devalued his property, an area of private land encompassing more than 22,000 acres, with their alleged repeated trespassing. He requested $7.75 million from the hunters.
The judge noted in his ruling that any damages for the alleged trespass would be “nominal.”
Cape, a fence contractor, said that he was especially careful while hunting out of state, and couldn’t have imagined facing legal ramifications.
“We were hunters, going on a hunting trip, never thought we’d be in this situation,” Cape said. “But money talks, and it was used by enough people in power to push this case forward.”
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Judge rules Missouri hunters didn’t trespass when “corner-crossing”
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