Josh Grant recalled a recent elk hunt with his son in the central part of Wyoming.
Despite being in an area they knew was public land, they came across a post with a “no trespassing” sign on it in the middle of a two-track access road.
They decided to ignore the sign and hunt there anyway.
“We knew we were on public land because of Onyx and GPS,” Grant told the Wyoming House Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee on Tuesday.
Nevertheless, just as they were closing to within “ethical shooting distance” some elk they’d found, an adjoining landowner came speeding over to them on an ATV, Grant said.
The landowner chased the elk onto his property so the hunters couldn’t get to them, then came after the hunters.
“He was violently screaming at us, just trying to be absurd about the whole situation,” Grant told the committee.
Grant was testifying in favor of House Bill 147, which would crack down on people who falsely mark public lands with “no trespassing” signs or harass hunters using that land.
Hunter harassment is punishable by fines of up to $10,00 for the first offense, and up to $50,000 for subsequent offenses.
Reoccurring Problem
Other hunters recounted similar stories of being harassed or even threatened by people trying to lay false claims to public lands.
Buzz Hettick of Laramie said that a few years ago an adjacent landowner tried to push the matter regarding a parcel of public land where Hettick was hunting near the Natrona/Converse county...
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