5 pages of this and I am a little lost. I am reading this like hunters were trespassing on private land (corner of the property) to get to public land that is otherwise inaccessible from that area. Is that correct?
The hunters never set foot on private property. The private property owner wanted sole control of public land he does not own.
Not sure about slippery slope. No foot was set on private property and the owner even harassed people who flew aircraft in to the publicly owned land.
I am aware of a couple of incidents in the 1980's where people were in the process of buying a narrow strip of land from a public agency surrounding a large area of publicly owned land and another where property owners were selling a large tract of land to a public agency less a owned tract completely surrounding what was to be publicly owned and both attempts got torpedoed.
Slippery slope in terms of future non-hunting or public land related legal opinions based on this particular case. A good lawyer could even twist it into an eminent domain issue.
There should be an easement in to it.
§1063. Obstruction of settlement on or transit over public lands No person, by force, threats, intimidation, or by any fencing or inclosing, or any other unlawful means, shall prevent or obstruct, or shall combine and confederate with others to prevent or obstruct, any person from peaceably entering upon or establishing a settlement or residence on any tract of public land subject to settlement or entry under the public land laws of the United States, or shall prevent or obstruct free passage or transit over or through the public lands: Provided, This section shall not be held to affect the right or title of persons, who have gone upon, improved, or occupied said lands under the land laws of the United States, claiming title thereto, in good faith.
(Feb. 25, 1885, ch. 149, §3, 23 Stat. 322.)
Is that federal law?
My point in my comment about a slippery slope is, one could use that particular ruling in another state such as where I reside to levy the use of eminent domain for things such as power lines and the like. It would also be entirely possible to backdoor force proffers for certain private projects that trigger laws such as stormwater management and phosphorus/nitrogen reduction.
