In a last-ditch effort to prove he’s right, the landowner who lost the corner-crossing case is now trying to get the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) involved. Last week, the attorney for Iron Bar Holdings LLC and its owner, Fred Eshelman of North Carolina, filed a petition to have the case heard by SCOTUS, according to the Cowboy State Daily. 

The Iron Bar Holdings attorneys filed their petition on Wednesday, July 16, which was literally the last day they could file it. However, the initial petition is only the first step. Every year, SCOTUS receives between 7,000 and 8,000 petitions for review, but only accepts 100 to 150 for actual consideration, according to the U.S. Courts website.

Even so, it could take until October to know if SCOTUS will consider the case.

“The Supreme Court doesn’t need to hear this case,” said Ryan Semerad, a Wyoming attorney who represents the four Missouri hunters. “But if it chooses to, it should do so to announce — once and for all — that private landowners cannot prevent the public from lawfully accessing public land. Just as every other judge who has heard this case has decided. We are ready to defend those correctly decided lower-court decisions to protect the rights of all Americans to access their public lands.”

For anyone not following the corner-crossing case, here’s the basics: Four nonresident hunters were charged with illegal trespassing after they traveled to Wyoming to hunt elk and mule deer on public land. However, to access the BLM-owned property, they had to step over an area where two of the corners were public and the other two were privately owned. That land was the Elk Mountain Ranch owned by Eshelman. In March, a federal appeals court ruled in favor of the group of hunters, making the practice now federally protected in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming. 

What will happen if SCOTUS decides to hear the case? Stay tuned to GOHUNT for further updates.