An elk hunter who helicoptered into a section of public land surrounded by private land in Johnson County, and later accused the rancher of trying to swipe an elk head from his party, was cited for trespassing after shooting a bull elk on private land.
A video of the hunt appears to show that the hunter, Andrew McKean, shooting the bull a short distance inside private land, though he says he was unaware of it at the time.
McKean has since taken full responsibility and pleaded no contest to trespass charges in Johnson County Circuit Court in Buffalo, according to an article he has authored for Outdoor Life. He said he paid a fine and surrendered the bull elk.
“That’s on us. We, as hunters, have to know where we are,” McKean told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday.
It could be the final twist in one of the strangest and most complicated cases in Wyoming hunting history.
It started when McKean, an outdoor writer who lives in Glasgow, Montana, and others chartered a helicopter to fly into the isolated public parcel.
The hunters claimed Brett D. DeLapp, who owns a ranch adjacent to the public land, attempted to carry off the head of a bull elk one of them killed.
DeLapp was later charged with theft.
He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor theft charge and on April 29 was fined $220, according to Johnson County Circuit Court records.
That seemed to be the end of it. The hunters had shown that with enough determination, even “landlocked” parcels of public land could be reached.
And the rancher they say tried to bully them was punished.
‘I Gave My Pound of Flesh’
But it wasn’t over.
DeLapp watched a video of the hunt on the Outdoor Life YouTube channel. Scrutinizing the scene in which McKean shot his bull, DeLapp recognized landmarks and surmised the bull was on his land when, according to McKean’s article.
McKean on Monday pleaded no contest to one count of Title 23 trespass and one count of use of a silencer to take a big-game animal while trespassing, according to Johnson County Circuit Court documents.
He was fined $1,270.
Wyoming’s Title 23 trespass statutes apply to hunting, angling, trapping, and shed antler collecting. And outdoorspeople are solely responsible for knowing where they are in relation to private property.
McKean said he fully accepts that applies in his case.
“There was just no way out of it (the trespass charge),” he told Cowboy State Daily during a telephone interview Thursday.
He said he had a suppressor (sometimes referred to as a silencer) on his rifle. But the “silencer”-related charge seemed arcane.
“That’s an artifact of the old days, when suppressors were equated with criminal activity,” he said.
McKean said he bears no ill will toward DeLapp.
“I gave my pound of flesh. And I know that he (DeLapp) has gone through a lot, too,” McKean said.
DeLapp could not be reached for comment.
McKean said he wrote DeLapp a letter and tried calling him in hopes of arranging a visit to the kill site to better determine how he miscalculated the property lines when he shot the elk.
He said DeLapp hasn’t responded.
Why the Miscalculation?
McKean said that as best as he could determine, the elk was probably 22 to 40 yards inside DeLapp’s property when it was shot.
In hindsight, he said he realizes it was poor judgment to hunt so close to a property line, and that’s a mistake he won’t make again.
Property lines can be unmarked and difficult to determine in many areas, but that’s never an excuse for trespassing, even if it’s by mistake.
Hunting map apps, such as onX, show property boundaries, and so it’s wise to hunt well away from those lines, McKean said.
In his case, he wonders whether there was “a deviation between the survey boundary and the onX map.”
A discrepancy of just a few yards is enough to prompt trespassing charges, he said.
Other hunters have noted that even small deviations between officially surveyed property lines and hunting app maps could be enough to land them in trouble.
In a previous email to Cowboy State Daily, onX spokesman Jack Flatley stated the company doesn’t claim to provide pinpoint accuracy in all cases.
“All apps are limited to the same degree of GPS accuracy. The standard GPS is accurate to about 16 feet, which is the best that satellite hardware can offer, unless you upgrade to a ‘dual-frequency receiver,’ which is not available in modern-day smartphones,” he stated.
“We inform our customers that it’s important to know that your GPS readings can misguide you,” he added.
A request for further comment from Flatley on Thursday was not answered by publication time.
Won’t Fly In Again
McKean said he probably won’t go on another helicopter fly-in hunt.
“It was definitely an aggressive but novel way to gain access,” he said.
“One of the reasons is (it is) an elk paradise is because those animals don’t expect hunting pressure to come in from the sky,” he added.
McKean said he still holds out hope he can mend fences with DeLapp.
“I now have a relationship with a landowner that’s in need of repair,” he said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
