Backcountry Hunters & Anglers and the Public Land & Water Access Association Partners have filed suit in Montana’s Lewis and Clark District Court, asking a judge to rule that corner crossing is legal in the state.
The complaint covers roughly 871,000 acres of Montana public land that OnX mapping has catalogued as corner-locked. The filing continues a corner-crossing fight MidCurrent covered earlier this year.
Montana sits in the 9th Circuit, so the 10th Circuit’s pro-corner-crossing decision does not apply, and the state has been moving the opposite way. A January FWP memo instructs wardens to refer corner-crossing cases to local county attorneys for prosecution, reversing prior agency guidance that told wardens not to cite. On May 13, Lt. Gov. Kristen Juras presented to the Environmental Quality Council, reiterating that corner crossing is illegal under state law.
Public water, locked corners
Ryan Callaghan, BHA’s president and CEO, said in a statement announcing the filing:
“It doesn’t matter what side of the barbed wire, or political aisle you stand on, we are all public landowners with a vested interest in our public lands. Corner crossing while respecting private property is a practical ‘middle ground’ that the vast majority of Montanans support. Shutting the public out of 871,000 acres of public lands is not.”
Even if the court rules in favor of the plaintiffs, the question may end up in front of state lawmakers anyway. State Sen. Ellie Boldman (D-Missoula) and Rep. Josh Seckinger (D-Bozeman), co-chairs of the Montana Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus, are pursuing legislation that would explicitly make corner crossing legal in Montana, provided no private property is crossed or damaged. In a syndicated op-ed, Seckinger, a Bozeman fly fishing guide, wrote: “I’ve witnessed my fishing clients glass elk, on public lands they can clearly see but cannot legally reach.” Montana’s legislature meets only in odd years, so the earliest a bill can move is the 2027 session.
The fight’s next stop: Helena
The case now moves to the Lewis and Clark District Court calendar. A ruling for the plaintiffs would open the 871,000 acres OnX has mapped as corner-locked, including water Montana anglers currently can’t legally reach; a ruling against pushes the question to the 2027 legislative session, with the state’s current guidance and trespass-citation practice in place in the meantime.
