Backcountry Hunters & Anglers > Get Involved > Issues > Access and Opportunity > Corner Crossing

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CORNER CROSSING 

BHA strongly believes that lawful access to public lands and respect for private property go hand in hand. Our work on corner crossing is dedicated to advancing durable policy solutions that reflect a shared understanding from a broad group of stakeholders.

What is Corner Crossing?

  • As affirmed by federal courts in the landmark 10th Circuit Decision Iron Bar Holdings, LLC v. Cape, corner crossing is the lawful act of stepping precisely from one public land parcel to another at a shared corner.

What Corner Crossing is NOT

  • Corner crossing is not a public easement across private property and is not a dilution of longstanding private property rights.
  • Corner crossing is not an excuse for disregarding property boundaries or an excuse to create a shortcut across private lands.

 

Issue Background & “The Missouri Four”

In 2020 and 2021, four hunters from Missouri lawfully accessed federal public lands in Wyoming’s Elk Mountain region by stepping from one public land parcel to another at shared corners within a checkerboard landscape of public and private ownership. After being confronted by a private landowner’s representatives, the hunters were charged with criminal trespass under Wyoming law. In 2022, a jury acquitted them of all criminal charges.

Following the acquittal, the landowner, Iron Bar Holdings, filed a civil trespass lawsuit seeking $9 million dollars in damages, arguing that corner crossing unlawfully infringed on private property rights. The U.S. District Court of Wyoming ruled in favor of the hunters, and the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed that decision, holding that corner crossing—when conducted carefully and without causing damage to private land —does not constitute trespass.

The landowner subsequently petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case. In October 2025, the Court declined to hear the appeal, allowing the Tenth Circuit’s ruling to stand and reinforcing the legal framework supporting lawful corner crossing.

The Legal Framework Supporting Corner Crossing

There is a well-established legal framework supporting lawful corner crossing between public land parcels. That framework rests on the following core principles:

1. The Unlawful Enclosures Act (UIA)

Longstanding federal law prohibits any person from using fences, structures, or other means to exclude or obstruct the public from lawfully accessing federal public lands.

Courts have interpreted the UIA to mean that:

  • A private landowner cannot implement a program which has the effect of denying access to public lands for lawful purposes. Actions that functionally block access to public lands—without lawful justification—can violate federal law.

2. Narrow and Specific Application

The legal framework supporting corner crossing has a very specific and narrow application. For lawful corner crossing to occur, individuals must:

  • Cross at the precise corner adjoining public land parcels
  • Exhibit careful, precise conduct that respects private property rights and does not cause actual damage to private property.

Based on the court’s interpretation of the Unlawful Inclosures Act and the precedent set in the 10th Circuit, corner crossing does not constitute trespass when crossers are authorized to enter and remain on the public lands they are trying to access, they cross at the precise corner adjoining public lands, and do not cause physical damage to private lands.

Therefore, and within this context ensuring respect for private property in pursuit of lawful access to public lands, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA) asserts: Corner Crossing is Not a Crime.

Barriers to Widespread Adoption

Despite existing legal framework, uncertainty surrounding corner crossing still exists in some states due to the following:

  • Practical challenges in identifying precise corner locations, such as monument pins that have been moved, knocked over, or covered by vegetation
  • Natural/man-made structures that make crossing at precise corners impractical or unsafe
  • Select parties asserting the 10th Circuit ruling applies only to federal lands, not state lands (this includes 9th & 10th Circuit states)
  • Select parties in states within the 9th Circuit asserting corner crossing is unlawful or that a legal gray area still exists in the absence of a 9th Circuit case with binding legal precedent rather than the existing persuasive precedent from the 10th Circuit.

Legislation

  • Where necessary, codifying existing rights to access public lands in a way that reduces risk for individuals and liability for landowners
  • Ensuring that the principles of the UIA, and access to public lands, are upheld

Education and Good-Faith Efforts

  • Encouraging the use of voluntary signage at known or agreed-upon corners
  • Sharing images and GIS assets identifying where to corner cross legally and respectfully (see BHA's survey 123 form below)
  • Collaborative projects with agencies, landowners and NGOs to implement wildlife friendly fence modifications or access aids at corners where appropriate

Corner Crossing Survey