HELENA — The Montana House is rejecting a plan that aims to give hunters and others access at “corner crossings” to public land that is adjacent to private land.
Hunters and advocacy groups packed the chamber Monday to see the Republican majority defeat an effort to take House Bill 235 out of a committee where it had been tabled.
The measure deals with government land mixed with private land in a checkerboard fashion. The hunters want to access patches of government land that meet at corners.
But opponents say there is no way to make such a crossing without trespassing.
Republicans instead advanced a bill that puts more money into the Block Management Program that pays landowners for hunter access.
Democrats argued it wrongly takes the money from a habitat program.