Stockgrowers Urge Supreme Court to Take Up Corner Crossing Case

August 19, 2025

The Montana Stockgrowers Association (MSGA) has joined with the Wyoming Stock Growers Association (WSGA) and Wyoming Wool Growers Association (WWGA) in filing an amicus brief with the United States Supreme Court, calling for a definitive ruling on the legality of corner crossing.

“The Montana Stockgrowers Association has worked and defended private property rights for over the last 140 years. And in recent years we’ve worked really hard towards access solutions that respect both public and private interests. However, in this case, corner crossings may set a really harmful precedent that erodes the ability for landowners to manage their private property,” said MSGA Executive Vice President Raylee Honeycutt.

The case at the center of the debate involves hunters who used a ladder to cross from one section of public land to another at the corner of private land. Earlier this year, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that corner crossing does not constitute trespass if no private land is physically touched. Landowners have petitioned the Supreme Court to review that decision.

“We have proudly joined the Wyoming Stock Growers and Wyoming Wool Growers Association to ask the Supreme Court of the United States to take up this case and provide us a definitive answer on corner crossings. Our appeal really highlights to the court, the landowners perspective, and also the importance of the landowner's right and ability to protect their airspace and their land,” Honeycutt explained.

MSGA and its partners argue that corner crossing undermines long-standing property boundaries, weakens landowners’ rights to manage their land and airspace, and could establish precedent that ripples across the West. The associations emphasized their commitment to both protecting private property rights and working on access solutions that balance public and private interests.

Hunters & Public Access Advocates Respond

Backcountry Hunters & Anglers (BHA), a leading public‑land recreation advocacy group that backed the hunters in question, hailed the Tenth Circuit's decision as a pivotal victory:

“The value of public resources that remain land‑locked behind corners across the West cannot be understated nor ignored,” said Patrick Berry, BHA’s President and CEO.

Following the appellate ruling, Berry reaffirmed the importance of public land access:

“This decision is a major win for hunters, anglers, and anyone who values the freedom to access and enjoy our public lands,” he said. “The American ideal of public land ownership depends on access to the landscapes and wild places that belong to all of us, not just a select few. This ruling makes it clear that corner‑crossing is a legally acceptable way to preserve that access.”

Brad Cape, one of the hunters involved, reflected on the unusual nature of the dispute and the impact of advocacy and public support:

“Nobody in my part of the world knew that corner crossing was an issue,” he told Montana Free Press, calling the media attention “absurd”—in a good way. Without public‑access advocates rallying behind them, he said, “he and his fellow hunters probably would have paid the $750 trespassing charge and gone on their way despite their conviction they had done nothing wrong.”

Legal and Geographic Stakes

• Scope of Impact: The Tenth Circuit’s March 2025 ruling affirms that “corner‑crossing” is permissible—so long as no private land is physically touched—under the 1885 Unlawful Inclosures Act, which prohibits barriers, legal threats, or intimidation that block access to public land
• Geographic Reach: This precedent directly affects six Western states—Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kansas—and indirectly influences landlocked public acres across the West, totaling over 8 million acres
• Legal Conflict: The landowner’s argument centers on the assertion that crossing over private airspace, even momentarily, constitutes trespass—a claim the lower courts have repeatedly rejected

At a Crossroads

This case highlights a fundamental tension: safeguarding private property rights versus maintaining public access to millions of acres of checker-boarded public lands. MSGA and its counterparts call for clarity from the nation’s highest court to protect landowners' rights, while public-access advocates insist that corner crossing is essential to equitable access.