Arizona Bighorn Sheep

Unit 15BW (Lake Mead west, unit 15B)

Arizona Hunting Guide — Bighorn Sheep

15BW is the western bighorn hunt area of GMU 15B, west of the Temple Bar Road in Mohave County, with a large part of it inside the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Hunting is allowed in the recreation area except in posted no-hunting zones; target shooting is prohibited throughout it, off-road travel is prohibited, and driving is restricted to the Park Service's signed backcountry roads — yellow arrows with a black road number. The country is rugged and remote with few roads, four-wheel drive is recommended, and the agency says to be prepared for a lot of hiking. Fortification Hill, the Mount Wilson Wilderness, Indian Canyon, Canyon Ridge and Arch Mountain are the named areas.

View Draw Odds Arizona Hunting Guide

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94%

Public Land

Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit 15BW

Answer a few questions about your tag, your season and your rig, and the Field Intelligence Report builds a print-ready Arizona Unit 15BW guide around your hunt: three ranked spots with morning, afternoon and evening plays, a day-by-day plan, topo maps with every pin numbered, a camp and access plan, the legal and retrieval rules for this unit, shot discipline, a meat-care and pack-out plan, and a pre-trip checklist. Every coordinate sits on land recorded as public.

Bighorn Sheep guide

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Bighorn Sheep Hunting in Unit 15BW

Where the rams are in 15B West: Fortification Hill, Mount Wilson and Arch Mountain

Unit 15B splits into two bighorn subunits at the Temple Bar Road — 15B West, and 15B East which also takes in 15A. Check the regulations for the exact boundary. This page is the western half.

Fortification Hill

Take Highway 93 to the Kingman Wash Road and follow it to the Fortification Hill Road. Camping is allowed at Kingman Wash, which makes this the most straightforward base in the subunit.

The Mount Wilson Wilderness

Several access points off Highway 93. At milepost 13.5 there's Old Highway 93, which parallels the current road and can be taken to milepost 10 to rejoin it. Milepost 9 is the Boundary Mine Road, which also reaches Mount Wilson. You can also use the Temple Bar Road, leaving it at the Mount Wilson Wilderness road and following that to the wilderness boundary.

Indian Canyon, Canyon Ridge and Arch Mountain

All three come off the same road. Take the Temple Bar Road to the Bonelli Landing Road, then find the Cohenhour Loop Road — there are several camping areas along it. Follow Cohenhour Loop to the fork, then take Gilbert Canyon Road to get close to Arch Mountain, or Pope Mine Road for Canyon Ridge and Indian Canyon. The agency describes this area as extremely remote and rugged: be prepared to hike a lot, find a high spot and glass as much country as you can.

The recreation area rules

A large part of 15B West is Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Hunting is allowed except in posted no-hunting zones. Target shooting is prohibited throughout the recreation area. Off-road travel is prohibited and you must stay on marked roads — the Park Service has maps of the approved backcountry road network, and every approved road is signed with a yellow arrow and a black road number.

Camping rules

Vehicle camping is permitted at designated backcountry campsites. If you're hiking, you may camp anywhere in the backcountry, but the site must be at least 500 feet off a designated road.

Unit 15BW terrain and land status

Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Mount Tipton (7,125 ft), Cherum Peak (6,976 ft), Packsaddle Mountain (6,415 ft), Mount Wilson (5,455 ft)

Holding ground: Cedar Basin (5,161 ft), Todd Basin (4,520 ft), Fall Canyon (4,233 ft), Putman Spring, Sacaton Spring

Every one of these was tested against the unit polygon before it went on the map. They are starting points, not agency recommendations.

How to hunt 15B West: find a high spot, glass everything, and expect to walk

This subunit has few roads and a lot of country. The agency's method advice amounts to one sentence: find a high spot and glass as much of the area as possible.

Plan on hiking

Four-wheel drive is recommended to reach the trailheads, and beyond them it's foot. Be prepared to do a lot of walking in rugged, remote terrain — that's the guide's own framing, and the Indian Canyon and Canyon Ridge country especially earns it.

Glass from a high point, then from the base

Get above the country first to find sheep across a wide area. Once you have animals located, the standard desert sheep approach applies: glass from the base of their mountain with 10 or 20 power before you climb, stay in the lower two-thirds when you do, and stop regularly to sit, glass and listen.

Stay on the yellow arrows

Off-road travel is prohibited in the recreation area and the approved roads are signed. That means no easing into a wash for a better angle and no driving to a downed ram. Park legally, walk, and plan the pack-out before the shot.

Scout and glass before the season

The agency advises spending time scouting and glassing the areas you'll hunt. With few roads and a lot of ground, a scouting trip's real value is learning which high points give you the widest view — that's what your hunting mornings will be built on.

Camp legally and pack out

Vehicle camping only at designated backcountry sites; hike-in camps anywhere in the backcountry but 500 feet off a road. Take your rubbish with you — the guide asks for it twice. And no target shooting anywhere in the recreation area, which includes checking a zero.

Arizona rules that decide your day

Summarised from AZGFD regulations. They change — read the current regulations and your permit-tag before you hunt.

Legal shooting hours

Big game may be taken only during daylight hours — from sunrise to sunset. Check the sunrise and sunset times for your unit, not for Phoenix.

Motorized retrieval

Arizona permits motorized big-game retrieval only where the unit's travel-management decision allows it, and in several units only for elk. Where it is allowed it means one vehicle, one trip, within one mile of a road shown open on the Motor Vehicle Use Map — never inside a quiet area, a wilderness or a closed area. Pull the MVUM for your ranger district and confirm before you shoot somewhere you cannot carry an animal out of.

Tagging

Sign your tag before you go afield and attach it to the animal immediately after the kill. Hunters aged 10–13 must carry their Hunter Education card with the licence and tag.

Leaving meat

Leaving edible meat in the field is illegal. Edible meat means the four quarters and the loins at a minimum.

Where you may not shoot

Occupied structures — No shooting within a quarter mile of an occupied farmhouse, cabin, lodge or building without the owner's permission. That rules out shooting toward most lakeside cabin tracts.
Campsites and developed areas — Forest Service rules prohibit discharging a firearm within 150 yards of a residence, building, campsite, developed recreation site or occupied area.
Roads and water — No shooting from a vehicle, and no shooting on, across or into a road. No shooting across a body of water adjacent to a Forest road.

Bighorn Sheep: where to put the shot

Broadside or quartering away, on the back edge of the front leg about a third of the way up the body.

Shots to refuse

Nothing behind or overlapping the animal you picked.
Your maximum range is the farthest you have shot a three-shot group into a paper plate from the rest you are carrying.
Pass the shot you are talking yourself into.

Plan the carry: roughly 40– 120 lb of boned-out meat, before head and hide — two large coolers. ProHunt planning estimate, not an agency figure.

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Bighorn Sheep Success Rates

Rifle75%

Unit 15BW bighorn hunts run at or near 100% success. Ram quality is exceptional — 175-185 B&C class rams are taken most years, with occasional 190+ animals. Widely regarded as the best desert bighorn horn-quality unit in Arizona.

Bighorn Sheep Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts (n/p)
Rifle — General Rifle bull/buck only (combined pool)	2	130	0.8%	—
Rifle — Late Rifle Dec bull/buck only (combined pool)	2	154	0.0%	—

Data from 2023 draw results. Each row is one residency pool — read the label before the number. This agency publishes no point thresholds, so the Pts column stays blank and these are pool odds, not what a point total draws.

Open in Draw Odds Engine

15BW is a lifetime draw. Only ~4 tags against ~332 recent 3-year applicants via the weighted bonus-point system with Hunter Education bonus. Most successful applicants hold 25+ bonus points. The random component keeps hope alive for low-point hunters. Apply every year for life.

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Planning Notes

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RV Sites

Temple Bar Marina has RV campground with hookups. Meadview and Kingman have private RV options.

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Camp Sites

Dispersed camping on BLM outside LMNRA. Within LMNRA, shoreline camping per NPS regulations.

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Trailer Access

Pearce Ferry and Temple Bar Roads handle trailers. Interior BLM tracks require 4WD.

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Water

Lake Mead for non-drinking uses; haul drinking water from Meadview, Kingman, or Temple Bar.

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Road Conditions

Primary routes graded. Side two-tracks require 4WD; wet weather closes clay roads.

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Terrain Difficulty

Very hard. Cliff exposure, loose rock, 2,000+ ft vertical on retrievals. Ankle-supporting boots and rope skills recommended.

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Hunting Pressure

Very low. 4-tag allocation plus boat-required access keeps hunters scattered.

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Weather

December-January: 50-70°F days, 30-45°F nights. Wind off the lake is persistent. Clear dry conditions typical.

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Cell Service

Spotty along lake shore. None in most interior canyon country.

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Nearest Town

Meadview (limited services). Kingman (90 min) for full outfitting. Las Vegas (2.5 hr) for major resupply.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I hunt Unit 15BW from a boat?

Yes — boat-based scouting and shore-approach hunting is a legitimate strategy in 15BW. Temple Bar Marina is the primary launch. Many tag holders run a boat base camp for the entire hunt.

What is the best time of year to hunt Unit 15BW?

Arizona bighorn season runs December-January. Pre-hunt scouting starts the week results publish. Most tag holders log 10-15 scouting days before opening to locate their target ram.

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Sources & Verification

Every fact on this page is tied to a primary source below. Last fact-checked 2026-04-17.

GMU 15BW — Unit Landing Page — Arizona Game and Fish Department · supports: Unit boundary, Lake Mead sheep habitat, Access · accessed 2026-04-17
2026 Arizona Hunting Regulations — Arizona Game and Fish Department · supports: Bighorn hunt structure, Tag allocation, Season dates · accessed 2026-04-17
Lake Mead National Recreation Area — National Park Service · supports: NPS hunting regulations within LMNRA, Boat access points, Shore camping · accessed 2026-04-17

Unit 15BW (Lake Mead west, unit 15B)

Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit 15BW

Bighorn Sheep Hunting in Unit 15BW

Where the rams are in 15B West: Fortification Hill, Mount Wilson and Arch Mountain

Fortification Hill

The Mount Wilson Wilderness

Indian Canyon, Canyon Ridge and Arch Mountain

The recreation area rules

Camping rules

Unit 15BW terrain and land status

Named features inside the unit

How to hunt 15B West: find a high spot, glass everything, and expect to walk

Bighorn Sheep Success Rates

Bighorn Sheep Draw Odds

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Explore Related Units

Unit 16A — Bighorn Sheep

Unit 13B — Bighorn Sheep

Frequently Asked Questions

Free Hunt Planning Tools

Plan Your Hunt with ProHunt Pro

Sources & Verification