Wyoming lawmakers want to pass a bill to legalize corner crossing. House Bill 99, “Access to public lands-corner crossing,” is currently making the rounds with bipartisan support. If passed, it would protect the public’s right to access the 2.4 million acres of public land within the state – even if they have to “pass through the air above private property to do so,” according to WyoFile.

“It’s important we codify that the people of Wyoming have the right to access their public lands,” said Rep. Karlee Provenza (D-Laramie), the principal sponsor of the one-page measure.

Corner crossing is an issue many Western hunters face. It occurs when you step from one corner of public land to another, crossing over corners of private land to do so. According to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, “crossing or entering private lands without landowner’s permission may result in a violation of Wyoming’s game and fish or criminal trespass statutes.” However, corner crossing isn’t the same as blatantly walking across private land to public. In fact, in 2004, the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office issued an official opinion that acknowledged the difficulty in determining whether corner crossing violated that game and fish trespass statute.

HB99 aims to clarify language that would eliminate criminal trespass charges. It states that “a person does not commit criminal trespass if the person incidentally passes through the airspace or touches the land or premises of another person while the person is traveling from one (1) parcel of land that the person is authorized to access to another parcel of land that shares a common corner with or is immediately connected to the first parcel and that the person is authorized to access.”

However, this isn’t the first time a bill has been introduced to clarify this issue. In 2022, lawmakers introduced HB0103 – Prohibit travel across private land for hunting purposes to “broaden the definition of hunter trespass” after a now-infamous incident involving four Missouri hunters who used a ladder to cross from a section of public U.S. Bureau of Land Management land in Wyoming to another, leading to criminal charges and a lengthy court hearing. That bill appears to still be undecided and, while the judge ruled in favor of the hunters, the landowner has appealed the judge’s decision and a ruling is still pending.

“The Wyoming Constitution guarantees the right to hunt, fish and trap,” said Provenza. “Inherent is the public’s right to [access] public land.”

She added that the bill would “make our laws clear and easy to follow — simple, direct to the point. It’s hard to cite somebody if you don’t have a law to do so.”

Stay tuned to GOHUNT for further updates.