No Trespassing! By Jim Palmer Jr.

Owning property in this country is one of our basic rights that we should not take for granted! In this country any person who is of legal age can own land. As part of that ownership, the landowner can reasonably expect that no one may enter that property without permission.

Criminal trespass in the first degree is legally described as a gross misdemeanor, which is knowingly entering the property of another without first gaining permission. Trespassing while hunting is also punishable as a game violation which could result in the loss of one’s hunting privileges for up to two years. In Washington State the property is not required to be posted or delineated by landmarks such as fences.

Each fall when the hunting season comes around it seems as though many careless hunters find their way onto private property without permission and seem to think that because “they’ve been hunting there for years,” that it’s is okay to trespass. Those same misguided scalawags probably also think it is okay to access private property via railroad right-of-ways or power line right-of-ways, which couldn’t be further from the truth.

One exception to this topic is when someone has permission to access lands that have easement access, which means they must travel across someone else’s property along a designated easement road to gain access to the land they have permission to access. They are using the easement legally because they are an invited guest of the landowner who has that property right.

A few years ago when asking for hunting permission from the owner of a large tract of ground, I was informed by the gracious land owner that I “was the only one who has ever asked”, so she willingly granted me written permission.

Tree trespass is a commonly prosecuted violation where someone crosses a property line and harvests timber, firewood or even a Christmas tree from someone else’s property. This is punishable by treble damages, meaning that the landowner can recoup three times the value of their lost timber. (RCW 64.12.030)

Another notable exception to the concept of trespass law has to do with range animals. One property owner was prosecuted when he killed the neighbor’s cow that had traipsed onto his unfenced property and damaged trees and garden vegetables. His thinking was that the cow was trespassing on his property so he had that right. Open Range laws require landowners to fence out any livestock that could possibly access their property. (RCW 16.24)