Summary
Overview
This episode explores the story of four Missouri hunters who challenged land access restrictions in Wyoming's checkerboard pattern of public and private land. Their corner crossing strategy to access landlocked public land sparked a legal battle that reached the U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, ultimately establishing precedent for public land access across six western states and highlighting issues affecting over 8 million acres of inaccessible public land.
Discovery of Elk Mountain and the Checkerboard
In 2019, Brad Cape and his hunting partner discovered Elk Mountain in Wyoming while scouring maps for elk hunting spots. The mountain seemed perfect—isolated, full of elk, and surrounded by public land. However, they quickly learned from a local resident that a billionaire had purchased the area and wasn't allowing access, despite the presence of public land sections within the property's checkerboard pattern.
- Brad Cape, a fencing contractor from Missouri, discovered Elk Mountain—a lone mountain in open sagebrush country that screamed good hunting
- The mountain had everything elk needed: forage, water, and cover, and was even named Elk Mountain
- A local woman informed them a billionaire bought the mountain and doesn't allow anyone in, but elk were so numerous they'd become a nuisance to ranchers
- The hunters discovered the land was arranged in a checkerboard pattern—alternating square miles of public and private land
" It is a very unique place. And you can see on a map that it's a very unique place. But whenever you drive around it, it really comes to life. It is a rocky mountain that sits out by itself. You know, it might as well have a big bullseye on it that says there's elk here. "
" A billionaire bought it, and he don't let nobody in. "
The Checkerboard Pattern and Corner Crossing
The checkerboard land pattern creates alternating square miles of public and private property, making public squares inaccessible without crossing private land. Corner crossing—moving diagonally from one public square to another where corners meet—became the hunters' strategy. Despite researching the legality and getting initial approval from authorities, the ranch manager confronted them, setting up the legal conflict.
- The checkerboard creates a pattern where every public square is surrounded by private property, making it corner-locked and effectively inaccessible
- Corner crossing works like moving a checkers piece—staying on public land by crossing diagonally at corners where public squares touch
- Ranch manager Steve Grindy confronted the hunters, claiming any contact with fence posts constituted criminal trespassing
- The hunters had researched and been told by Wyoming Fish and Game and the state attorney general that corner crossing was legal
" Still, to this day, if I have someone ask me about this in a grocery store, I can't explain it. Unless I'm standing on a tile floor. Because here in the Midwest and the rest of the country, they just don't get it. "
" Because something where nobody else would be, that's where I want to be. And in order to do that, we had to cross these corners. "
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