"Checkerboard" is the term given to alternating sections of private and BLM lands stretching for some 300 miles along the Union Pacific Railroad in southern Wyoming. Even though this area is approximately 50 percent public, the same requirements apply as with accessing any public lands, namely, you must have public access to public lands to be able to hunt there. If the access to public lands is on a private road, landowner permission must be obtained. A person can hunt on the BLM lands provided there is public access to those sections. A person who carefully follows a BLM land status map or GPS units loaded with land status info can often figure out which sections are public and private and have a successful hunt. However, it makes for a much more trouble free hunt if permission is first obtained to avoid the concern and possibility of trespassing.