Unit 16AS/18B (Burro Creek and the Santa Maria)

Desert bighorn here have been increasing since the department transplanted sheep into the area. Mature rams are seen on survey flights and have been consistently harvested. It remains a low-density population, but the ewe-to-ram ratio is high and wildlife managers are starting to see mature animals on their flights.

Hells Half Acre — the first place to look

Sheep are most commonly observed in the Hells Half Acre area. Access it from the Burro Creek Crossing Road, just south of Wikieup off Highway 93 at about milepost 132. If you have one morning in this hunt area, spend it here.

The rest of the agency's list

Kaiser Springs. Burro Cliffs. Red Knob. Negro Ed. Burro Creek itself. Francis Creek. Pinky Canyon. Boulder Creek. And Lawler Peak. That's a lot of named country for a low-density herd, which tells you how much ground these sheep use.

Why the hunt spans two units

Sheep move readily between unit 16A South and unit 18B, from Kaiser Spring south to the Santa Maria River. The hunt area follows the animals rather than the unit line, so read your tag's description and hunt the whole of it.

The wilderness, and the access

The Upper Burro Creek Wilderness Area is part of what makes this a hard hunt — no vehicles inside it — along with limited access generally and rocky terrain throughout. Hunters must be prepared for difficult, strenuous hiking and be willing to cover a lot of ground to find a ram worth taking.

Call the wildlife manager

The agency's own advice: if you draw a desert bighorn tag here, contact the 18B wildlife manager for information and possible access issues. On a hunt with limited access and a low-density herd, that call is worth more than a week of driving.

Rifle success on these tags runs about 75 percent. The agency is candid that this can be a hard hunt, and the difficulty is terrain and access rather than finding sheep at all.

Make the phone call first

Contact the 18B wildlife manager when you draw. Ask which areas are currently holding sheep, what the survey flights have shown, and where access has changed. That conversation shapes everything else.

Begin where sheep are most often seen

Hells Half Acre, off Burro Creek Crossing Road near milepost 132 south of Wikieup. Glass it from below at first light before committing to a climb. Then work outward through Kaiser Springs, the Burro Cliffs and Red Knob.

Expect to hike, and plan a pack-out

Rocky terrain, limited access and the Upper Burro Creek Wilderness mean strenuous walking and no vehicle retrieval inside the wilderness. A ram boned out with head and cape is a serious load out of a creek canyon. Decide with your partner which slopes you're willing to shoot on.

Glass from the base, climb the lower two-thirds

Ten or 20 power from the bottom of a face before you go up — sheep left with escape room above them often stand and watch. On the mountain, stay within the lower two-thirds and stop regularly to sit, glass and listen for rock-fall in the canyons.

Cover ground, but cover it from vantages

A low-density herd across Burro Creek, Francis Creek, Pinky Canyon, Boulder Creek and Lawler Peak means you need to see a lot of country. Do it from high points rather than by walking the bottoms — walking a creek canyon moves sheep you never see.

Water and weather

Carry everything you'll drink. The Burro Creek Crossing Road and the Highway 93 access roads degrade quickly in wet weather, so have a second route in mind and tell someone which canyon you're in.