The Checkerboard
20 hours ago
- #checkerboard land
- #public land access
- #hunting rights
- Hunters Brad Cape and Phil Yeomans discovered Elk Mountain in southeast Wyoming, ideal for elk hunting but difficult to access due to its location on 'the checkerboard'—a unique land ownership pattern in the American West.
- The checkerboard pattern originated from 19th-century railroad grants, where the U.S. government gave alternating square-mile parcels of land to railroad companies and retained public sections.
- Accessing public squares in the checkerboard is challenging because private landowners can block entry, as was the case with Elk Mountain, owned by a billionaire pharmaceutical executive.
- The hunters attempted 'corner crossing,' moving diagonally between public land squares without touching private property, but faced legal challenges from the ranch owner.
- A legal battle ensued over whether corner crossing is legal, culminating in a U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling favoring the hunters, affirming public access rights to checkerboarded public land.
- The court's decision applies only to six western states, leaving the legality of corner crossing in other states uncertain, as the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case.
- Despite the legal victory, broader implications for public land access remain unresolved, but Brad and Phil plan to return to hunt Elk Mountain.