ELK MOUNTAIN, Wyo.—As the name suggests, there are hundreds of elk on Elk Mountain, an 11,000-foot peak in southern Wyoming. The problem for hunters: You can’t get there from here. The sprawling mountain is surrounded by private ranchland. While the prime hunting ground is checkerboarded with federal and state property, access is limited by an age-old Western doctrine. Ranchers consider it unneighborly for outsiders to hopscotch through their land by crossing over public sections that meet only at a corner.

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