A Virginia homeowner has filed a lawsuit against state game wardens accusing them of trespassing on his private property and stealing his hunting camera without a warrant.

Josh Highlander owns nearly 30 acres of land in New Kent County, Virginia. His expansive land is outfitted with no trespassing signs surrounding the perimeter of this property, alerting the public that it is private land.

The Highlander family home is nestled in the heavily wooded property as seen by aerial footage released by the Institute for Justice, the public interest law firm handling his case. According to reports, on April 8th, the first day of turkey hunting season, Highlander's wife and her six-year-old son were at home playing basketball when the ball rolled off of their court and into the heavily wooded backyard. When her son went to retrieve the ball, Highlander’s wife spotted a stranger dressed in full camouflage gear.

Highlander explains, "My wife has got, like, this panic in her eyes,” Highlander shares that he assumed it was hunters who mistakenly came on his property. However, after he went to check on one of his trail cameras located about 150 yards from his home, he realized it was missing.

After reporting his camera missing to his local sheriff's department, Highlander was told that the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources had taken the camera and that officials would reach out to him. Highlander details that after over two months, he has still not been contacted by wildlife authorities regarding what he describes as his stolen property.

Highlander explains that this is not his family’s first encounter with wildlife officials. Earlier that day, wildlife officials issued a “hunting over bait” citation to Highlander’s brother in a nearby county. Agents concluded that seeds found in a field were bait put there to lure turkeys and that Highlander's brother was the responsible party. His brother is currently contesting the ticket.

Highlander is represented by Joseph Gray, an attorney with the non-profit Institute for Justice. His lawsuit attempts to challenge a Supreme Court ruling that is nearly 100 years old. In Hester v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled that the Fourth Amendment does not protect against the search of “Open Fields” and that police searches in areas including open pastures, wooded areas, open water, and vacant lots do not need to comply with the requirements for warrants and probable cause, even if they are surrounded by a fence or a no trespassing sign. A number of states have extended the Fourth Amendment protections to apply to privately owned land beyond the area of a home; however, Virginia is not one of those states.

Highlander’s lawyer, Joe Gay, explains, "The basic principle here is that if we as ordinary people can't sneak onto somebody's land and steal their camera, then government agents shouldn't be able to do that either, not without a warrant." Gay adds, "Part of what this case wants to do is to establish the principle that no trespassing signs should apply to government agents, too."

The Virginia lawsuit follows similar cases in other states. In Pennsylvania, two hunting clubs have filed a lawsuit accusing the state of sending wildlife officers onto private property to spy on and harass members of the hunting club. In Tennessee, another property owner is accusing wildlife officials of installing a surveillance camera on his property without the homeowners' knowledge or consent. Another couple in Connecticut has accused state officials of strapping a camera onto a bear in order to have the animal surveil the over 100-acre wooded property.

Highlander shares, "I don't care about money. I care about the principle and it is not happening to someone else."