Corner crossing in Montana is treated as unlawful by the state’s wildlife agency, and game wardens continue to refer cases to county attorneys for prosecution. That remains the operative reality even after a March 2025 federal appellate ruling found the practice protected by federal law in a neighboring circuit. Roughly 1.95 million acres of Montana public land can be reached only by stepping across the single point where two public sections touch at their corners, and whether you can legally take that step is genuinely unsettled. What is settled is what happens on the ground today: if a warden encounters you at a corner, expect a citation.
Montana FWP’s Current Enforcement Position
In January 2026, following the Tenth Circuit’s decision in the Iron Bar Holdings case, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Director Christy Clark issued a memo reaffirming that corner crossing remains unlawful under Montana law. The agency said it would continue referring cases to local county attorneys. Lt. Gov. Kristen Juras cited a 1902 Ninth Circuit decision, Potts v. United States, as controlling precedent in the federal circuit that covers Montana.
Whether that position would survive a direct legal challenge is a separate question. Conservation organizations have sued FWP, arguing the memo amounts to an administrative rule adopted without following the Montana Administrative Procedure Act and that the agency’s interpretation conflicts with federal law. Until that case resolves, or the legislature acts, FWP’s stance dictates enforcement.
What You Can Be Charged With
Two Montana statutes are in play, and which one a county attorney reaches for depends heavily on whether you were hunting and whether the surrounding land is posted.
General Criminal Trespass (MCA 45-6-203)
The general trespass statute makes it a misdemeanor to knowingly enter or remain on someone else’s property without permission. The maximum penalty is a $500 fine, up to six months in county jail, or both. If the trespass occurred while hunting, fishing, or trapping, a conviction also triggers revocation of those privileges for up to 24 months.1Montana State Legislature. Montana Code 45-6-203 – Criminal Trespass to Property
There’s a critical limitation. Montana’s general trespass law only applies to land that has been posted. Under MCA 45-6-201, you have the privilege to enter unposted private land unless the landowner personally tells you to leave. FWP itself states that “a person is not trespassing if the landowner does not provide notice of a private property boundary.”2Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Posting Private Land If none of the four adjoining parcels around a corner are posted, this statute doesn’t reach the conduct.
Hunting Without Landowner Permission (MCA 87-6-415)
This is the provision most likely to be used against a corner crosser during hunting season, because it does not depend on posting. The statute’s definition of “hunt” includes entering private land to access public land for hunting purposes. That reaches corner crossing directly, even if you never intended to hunt anything on the private parcel.3Montana State Legislature. Montana Code 87-6-415 – Failure to Obtain Landowner’s Permission for Hunting
A first offense carries a fine of $135 to $500. A second offense within five years brings a fine of $500 to $1,000, mandatory forfeiture of all hunting, fishing, and trapping licenses, and loss of those privileges for one to three years. A court can also order restitution for property damage.3Montana State Legislature. Montana Code 87-6-415 – Failure to Obtain Landowner’s Permission for Hunting
Civil Trespass
Landowners can also pursue a civil lawsuit for trespass and seek damages. A civil case and a criminal charge can move forward at the same time.
Why Posting Matters at Corner Points
Because the general trespass statute hinges on posting, whether the four parcels around a corner are properly posted can decide whether you have any exposure under 45-6-203. Montana requires notice at every outer gate and normal access point, either through written signs or fluorescent orange paint on posts, structures, or natural objects. On unfenced roads crossing private property, a conspicuous sign must be placed at least 30 feet from the road centerline, or orange markings placed at quarter-mile intervals.2Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Posting Private Land
At a corner point in the backcountry, you’re unlikely to find a sign placed at the exact spot where four sections meet, and whether the surrounding parcels comply with the posting rules can be hard to determine in the field. FWP’s Hunt Planner map can help identify ownership boundaries, but the agency warns the map is “intended for use as a guide” only and that “it is every hunter’s responsibility to know the land ownership of the area they are hunting.”4Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Hunt Planner Map A GPS error on a boundary app is not a defense.
Keep in mind the posting nuance only affects the general trespass statute. The hunting-access statute applies whether or not the property is posted, so during hunting season the posting question offers little practical protection.
The Iron Bar Holdings Ruling and Its Limits
In March 2025, the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court ruling in favor of four hunters who used a ladder to step between two diagonal public sections in Wyoming without touching the private land owned by Iron Bar Holdings. The court agreed that under Wyoming common law the crossing was a civil trespass, because Wyoming treats a landowner’s property rights as extending into the airspace above the surface. But it held that the Unlawful Inclosures Act of 1885, a federal statute that prohibits obstructing free passage over public land, preempts state trespass law when a landowner’s assertion of property rights has the effect of completely enclosing public land.5Justia. Iron Bar Holdings v. Cape
Montana sits in the Ninth Circuit, not the Tenth, so Iron Bar Holdings does not bind Montana courts. That circuit gap is the opening FWP has used to maintain its enforcement posture. The underlying federal statute applies nationwide, and the same checkerboard ownership pattern exists across Montana, so the reasoning is available to any defendant charged in a Montana case.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Unlawful Inclosures or Occupancy; Obstructing Settlement or Transit Whether a Montana court or the Ninth Circuit would adopt the Tenth Circuit’s analysis is untested.
The Airspace Question Montana Hasn’t Answered
Corner crossing is different from ordinary trespass because a person using a ladder or stile can pass over the corner point without touching private ground. The legal question is whether occupying the airspace above private land, even briefly, counts as entering the property. No Montana court has ruled on whether “premises” in MCA 45-6-203 includes airspace, and the legislature hasn’t defined it either.
Complicating the picture, Montana’s 2025 legislative session produced Senate Bill 493, which established criminal trespass for flying a drone below 200 feet over private land. That law effectively treats low-altitude airspace as protected private space, which cuts against arguments that stepping through the airspace column at a corner is not an intrusion.
What Could Change the Answer
Three developments are worth tracking.
The lawsuit against FWP over its January 2026 memo could force a Montana court to rule on whether corner crossing is actually unlawful under state law, or whether federal law preempts the state’s position.
Rep. Josh Seckinger and Sen. Ellie Boldman have drafted legislation to explicitly legalize corner crossing in Montana. The bill is expected to be taken up when the legislature next convenes. Passage in a legislature that has historically favored private property protections is uncertain.
A Ninth Circuit case adopting the Tenth Circuit’s reasoning would resolve the question in Montana’s favor, but no such case is currently pending on appeal.
Legal Ways to Reach Landlocked Public Land
Two Montana programs create legal access corridors through private land to reach otherwise inaccessible public parcels.
Unlocking Public Lands Program
FWP pays landowners a $750 annual tax credit per agreement, up to $3,000 per year, to allow public passage across their property to landlocked public parcels. Access must be available for at least six months starting no later than June 30 and running through December 31. Enrollment does not give the public any right to hunt or recreate on the private land itself; the access is a corridor only. Parcels already enrolled in Block Management or other FWP access programs are not eligible.7Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Unlocking Public Lands
Block Management
Block Management compensates landowners up to $17 per hunter-day, with an agreement cap of $50,000, to open private land for public hunting access from September 1 through January 1. Some agreements include corridors to landlocked public land. Enrolled properties appear on FWP’s online maps.8Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Block Management
Both programs depend on willing landowners, and much of Montana’s nearly two million landlocked public acres remains unreachable through either one. For a specific parcel you want to access, contacting the surrounding landowner and asking for written permission is the approach least likely to result in a citation while the underlying legal question stays unresolved.