This session though, there’s something different. A most unlikely pair of legislators has teamed up to solve the complex issue of corner crossing. House Bill 235, co-sponsored by liberal Missoula representative Ellie Hill and Tea Party firebrand Kreyton Kerns of Laurel, would finally put to rest the question of whether or not hunters and recreationists can access public lands by crossing the corner where those lands intersect.

There must be something strange in Utah water. The powers that be seem to have some problems with public land, especially land the public actually likes to use.

That means there must be 60 Senators who think that a bill widely praised by the NRA, Boone and Crockett Club, and just about every big sportsman’s organization should pass without bogging down in the time-tested stall tactics our elected officials like to engage in.

Unfortunately, election-year politics sunk the timely passage of this bill. The Sportsmen’s Act of 2012 is a kind of “best of” mix tape of bills and reauthorizations of conservation programs that were penned by Republicans and Democrats alike.