Wyoming legislator Rep. Karlee Provenza, D-Laramie, and a Montana lawmaker took video of themselves corner-crossing at a site in Carbon County where a years-long legal battle began.
A federal court’s decision ruled corner crossing technically legal in Wyoming last year, although the Legislature this year stopped short of codifying it into Wyoming statute.
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 remains illegal in Montana, according to the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP).
‘I Didn’t Touch Anything’
Provenza told Cowboy State Daily that she’s not concerned about possible legal blowback over her and Montana state Rep. Josh Seckinger, D-Bozeman, corner-crossing between parcels of public land adjacent to private property held by Iron Bar Holdings LLC in Carbon County on April 12. The video they took was later posted on social media.
“If it (a 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling) is overturned tomorrow, nobody can come get me for corner-crossing when it was legal,” Provenza said.
The video wasn’t planned out in advance, and Seckinger didn’t come to Wyoming planning to corner-cross here, he told Cowboy State Daily.
Seckinger said that when he mentioned to Provenza that the controversial Iron Bar corner wasn’t far away, they decided to go visit the site, and then made the corner-crossing video.
“You didn’t touch it (private property),” Provenza remarks in the video after Seckinger crosses the corner.
“I didn’t touch anything, that’s the point,” he replies.
Seckinger came to Wyoming to attend an event hosted by the Muley Fanatics deer conservation organization.
Provenza said that she and Seckinger took the video to demonstrate the legality of corner-crossing in Wyoming and to educate the public.
An Epic Legal Battle
The site in Carbon County where the video was taken is the same spot where four out-of-state elk hunters ignited a legal battle in 2021 by crossing a corner adjacent to land held by Iron Bar and owned by Fred Eshelman.
The hunters were initially charged with trespass, but a jury found them innocent.
Eshelman and Iron Bar filed a civil lawsuit against the hunters. After a long battle in lower courts, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in the hunters’ favor in March 2025.
The plaintiffs tried to file an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case.
Illegal In Montana
That meant that the 10th Circuit Court’s decision held, which many took to mean that corner crossing is legal in states under the court’s jurisdiction, including Wyoming.
Provenza co-sponsored a bill that would have codified it into Wyoming statute, but the measure failed during the Legislature’s 2026 session.
However, Montana isn’t included the 10th Circuit's jurisdiction, and officials there have stated that corner-crossing is illegal in Montana.
FWP Director Christy Clark in March reminded Montanans that corner-crossing is illegal there, the Daily Montanan reported.
“Corner crossings have always been unlawful in Montana, and there’s a lot of confusion around corner crossings because of that 10th Circuit Court decision,” Clark said, according to the Daily Montanan.
Seckinger said he and other Montana legislators plan to introduce a bill to make corner-crossing legal there.
“Fundamentally, it’s just that Montana is not in the 10th Circuit. Our current administration up here in Montana has decided that the 10th Circuit ruling doesn’t apply. And it has instructed game wardens to start citing hunters for hunting trespass if they corner cross, and everyone else with criminal trespass,” he said.
Provenza said that nobody should take for granted that the 10th Circuit Court’s decision settled the matter in Wyoming either.
If she’s re-elected this year, Provenza plans to continue efforts to get the Legislature to codify corner-crossing as legal in Wyoming.
There is also the unresolved matter of public land that is completely surrounded by private property and can’t be accessed by corner-crossing, she said.
In some instances, hunters have hired helicopter pilots to fly them in to the isolated public lands.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
