Hunters Sue Montana Over Corner-Crossing Enforcement as State Defends Trespass Policy
Why It Matters
A legal battle over corner crossing — the practice of stepping between non-adjacent parcels of public land at their shared corners — could determine recreational access to hundreds of thousands of acres across Montana. The outcome will affect hunters, anglers, and outdoor recreationists who rely on corner crossing to reach landlocked public land in states where private and public ownership follows a historic checkerboard pattern.
What Happened
Two public land advocacy groups, Montana Backcountry Hunters and Anglers and Public Land and Waters Access, filed suit in a Montana district court seeking to block enforcement of a January 21 state memo that declares corner crossing unlawful in Montana. The defendants named in the complaint are Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and its director, Christy Clark.
The memo, issued by Director Clark, directs game wardens to cite corner-crossing hunters and recreationists under state trespass and hunting laws. The lawsuit argues the directive violates Montana’s administrative rule-making procedures and conflicts with both state and federal law.
The suit was filed the same day Montana Lt. Governor Kristen Juras publicly defended the state’s position at a legal forum held during the Miles City Bucking Horse Sale. Juras described the Wyoming corner-crossing case — which produced a landmark federal ruling — as legally distinct from Montana’s situation, citing differences in applicable circuit court precedent.
The Legal Dispute
The lawsuit draws heavily on a ruling by the federal 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which held that corner crossing is lawful in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Kansas, and Oklahoma. That decision found that the 1885 Unlawful Inclosures Act bars landowners from blocking corner-crossing access to public land.
Montana falls within the 9th Circuit, not the 10th, meaning the earlier ruling does not carry direct binding authority in the state. Lt. Governor Juras emphasized that distinction, arguing Montana operates under a different legal framework. “We have Montana case law that does allow prosecution of trespass into airspace,” Juras said, citing rulings at both the district court and Montana Supreme Court levels.
The advocacy groups counter that the Clark memo fails to cite any Montana statute or court decision establishing that corner crossing is illegal, and that no Montana court decision supports the Fish, Wildlife and Parks position. The complaint argues that state trespass and hunting laws require physical contact with private land — not the brief, momentary passage through airspace that corner crossing involves.
The plaintiffs also invoke a 1946 U.S. Supreme Court ruling they say rejects the common-law doctrine that landowners hold rights from the earth’s depths to the heavens above, arguing that doctrine has no place in contemporary property law.
By the Numbers
- 871,000 acres of Montana public land that advocates say can only be accessed via corner crossing
- ~435,000 acres — the “corner-locked” acreage estimate offered by Lt. Governor Juras, roughly half the advocates’ figure
- 6 states covered by the 10th Circuit’s corner-crossing ruling (Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma)
- January 21 — date of the Fish, Wildlife and Parks memo directing wardens to enforce corner-crossing prohibitions
- 7 states in the 9th Circuit, including Montana, where that ruling carries no binding precedent
Zoom Out
The Montana dispute is the latest flashpoint in a broader national debate over public land access that has intensified across the American West. Wyoming has separately spent millions on wildlife management programs tied to public and private land conflicts, reflecting how land-use tensions increasingly intersect with hunting, ranching, and recreation policy.
The corner-crossing issue gained widespread attention after a Wyoming case in which hunters successfully argued their right to cross from one public parcel to another without touching private ground. That case drew support from outdoor recreation advocates who say checkerboard land patterns — a legacy of 19th-century railroad land grants — effectively lock the public out of land it legally owns.
Opponents, including many private landowners and some state officials, argue that even momentary airspace intrusion constitutes a property rights violation, and that any change in the law should come through legislatures rather than courts.
What’s Next
The Montana district court must now decide whether to grant the injunction sought by Backcountry Hunters and Anglers and Public Land and Waters Access, which would halt enforcement of the January memo while litigation proceeds. A ruling in the plaintiffs’ favor could temporarily restore corner-crossing access across disputed parcels. A ruling for the state would leave the enforcement directive in place pending a full hearing on the merits.
The case is likely to draw national attention given its potential to create a circuit split on corner-crossing law, setting up a possible eventual test before the U.S. Supreme Court.