Why It Likely Doesn’t Make Any Difference That The Corner Crossing Bill Died

For now, at least the question of whether corner crossing is legal in Wyoming remains murky, but some doubt that hunters will face trespassing charges if they do it.

House Bill 19 died Monday in the Wyoming Senate. It would have clarified in Wyoming Statute what many argue that a federal court already established; that crossing corners between parcels of public land adjacent to private property isn’t trespassing.

Corner crossing is stepping from one parcel of public land to another at a shared corner without touching the private land that also meets at that point. 

The practice, used by hunters to access prime hunting grounds, has upset some property owners who believe it leads to trespassing and that frequent traffic from hunters across their land could damage property values. 

Not Many Complaints

HB 19’s main sponsors were Reps. Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie, and Andrew Byron, R-Jackson. They argued it was necessary to clarify matters for Wyoming sheriff’s deputies, who enforce criminal trespass laws.

Corner-crossing complaints don’t seem to be a persistent problem for law enforcement, said Allen Thompson, executive director of the Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs Of Police (WASCOP).

“I think it comes down to the fact that there just aren’t that many property corners in Wyoming that would apply to,” he told Cowboy State Daily.

There are certain parts of the state where private and public parcels are intermixed in a checkerboard pattern with adjoining corners, but that’s not the case in many other parts of Wyoming, he said.

“The 10^th Circuit Court decision seems to have set the precedent for now,” he added.

He was referring to that court’s 2025 decision in favor of four out-of-state hunters accused of trespassing by corner-crossing in Carbon County in 2021.

The hunters used a ladder-like device to cross a fence at a corner between two federal land parcels adjoining Elk Mountain Ranch owner Fred Eshelman’s land — technically held by Iron Bar Holdings LLC — in Carbon County.

Eshelman and Iron Bar initially filed a criminal trespass complaint against them, but a Carbon County jury found them not guilty of those charges.

Eshelman and Iron Bar took the matter before civil court, and the 10^th Circuit upheld lower courts’ ruling in the hunters’ favor.

The plaintiffs tried to take it to the U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to hear the case.

Let’s See What Happens

Some hunters opposed HB 19 after amendments aiming to clarify such things as “setting foot on private land” and damaging private property were added, Buzz Hettick, co-chair of the Wyoming chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers, told Cowboy State Daily.

“In my opinion, it made corner crossing more unclear,” he said.

Corner crossing was already a common practice among hunters before the Iron Bar Holdings case blew up, he said.

It might be best for hunters to just keep acting under the assumption that the 10^th Circuit Court’s decision settled the matter and continue to corner cross, he said.

If problems arise, then “stakeholders,” hunters, landowners and law enforcement, can sit down together and seek solutions. That could law the foundations for a future bill, he said.

Hettick said he saw a similar process unfold decades ago in Montana, after that stated loosed stream access statutes. That gave the public the right to access streambeds anywhere between natural high-water marks on the banks.

“When stream access in Montana was first granted, there was a lot of discussion about it. People were asking ‘what does this mean?’ There was some confusion and a lot of discussion over what was going to happen,” he said.

“What we found out in Montana is, after everybody went out and started doing it, the issues were pretty minimal,” said Hettick, who moved to Wyoming in 2001.

“I think it’s going to be the same exact thing with corner crossing. I don’t think there’s going to be all the issues everybody is worried are going to happen,” he added.

Applies Only To Federal Land?

Some Wyoming agriculture advocates said that while the 10^th Circuit Court decision might have settled matters related to parcels of federal land, corner crossing might not be settled here.

The court’s decision doesn’t seem to apply to state trust lands, or lands controlled by county or municipal governments, said Jim Magagna, executive vice president of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association.

The federal court ruling “is not what we wanted, but it’s what the court decided, and we are willing to abide by that,” he said.

However, there should be some clarity in Wyoming statutes regarding other jurisdictions, he said.

And also, more clarity regarding the legal parameters of “stepping over or stepping on” private property at the pinpoint where corners meet,” Magagna said.

 Wyoming Farm Bureau policy advocacy director Kelly Carpenter told Cowboy State Daily that the federal court decision determines that corner crossing is legal “in certain circumstances.”

“We recognize that decision as being the governing decision as it pertains to certain situations,” she said.

The Iron Bar Holdings case involved federal land at a marked corner, in a situation where the hunters never actually set foot on private property, she said.

Moving forward, broader questions over corner crossing should be settled by ranchers, public land users and law enforcement working together, Carpenter said.

“We believe in a stakeholder-driven process. That’s the Wyoming way, getting everybody to sit down at the table together,” she said.  

A Bill In 2027?

Provenza and Byron told Cowboy State Daily that they aren’t certain if they’ll bring another corner crossing bill before the 2027 Legislature.

“I haven’t decided yet and I still need to be re-elected in November to make sure I can continue to represent my district, Provenza said.

“I am committed to protecting public land access, so as we see any issues come, I will work hard to make sure people have the freedom to access their public lands,” she added.

“I look forward to working on corner crossing in the future with any colleague that wants to put in the time on the complicated topic. I am unsure if we will see a bill next year,” Byron said.

Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.