Unit S03 (Mount Blue Sky)
Colorado Hunting Guide — Bighorn Sheep
Unit S03 lies in Clear Creek, Jefferson and Park counties. CPW bounds it by Colo. 74 and Bear Creek among others. CPW's harvest estimates put bighorn sheep success here as high as 75%. Federal land covers about 45% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
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Bighorn Sheep Hunting in Unit S03
Unit S03 lies in Clear Creek, Jefferson and Park counties. CPW bounds it by Colo. 74 and Bear Creek among others. CPW's harvest estimates put bighorn sheep success here as high as 75%. Federal land covers about 45% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
Where to Find Bighorn Sheep in Unit S03
What CPW publishes for unit S03 is a boundary, not a bighorn sheep map. Every place named below sits inside the unit line. Which of them holds animals in your season is for you to find out. The unit lies in Clear Creek, Jefferson and Park counties.
The lines of the unit: Colo. 74, Bear Creek and Beartrack Creek
CPW has unit S03 bounded on the north by I-70; on the east by Colo. 74; on the south by Bear Creek, Beartrack Creek, Tumbling Creek, a line from head of Tumbling Creek to junction of USFS trails 603 and 602, USFS Trail 603 and Pike-Arapaho national forests boundary; on the west by Continental Divide. It tells you the shape of the unit and nothing about its inhabitants. Those features are what you will check against the map all week, and the divides among them are the ones that matter.
High ground inside the line: Front Range, Torreys Peak and Mount Blue Sky
Named high points inside the unit include Front Range at 14,258 feet, Torreys Peak at 14,254 feet, Mount Blue Sky at 14,231 feet, Mount Bierstadt at 14,037 feet and Mount Edwards at 13,842 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Sheep need rock to escape into and will not stand far from it.
Holding ground: Stevens Gulch, Grizzly Gulch and Kearney Gulch
Below them sit Stevens Gulch at 10,304 feet, Grizzly Gulch at 10,294 feet, Kearney Gulch at 9,934 feet, Mestaa’ėhehe Pass at 9,806 feet and Wide-awake Gulch at 9,620 feet. That is the low country of the unit — the ground animals drop into when they are pushed or when the weather turns. Pick the one with the least road on its upwind side.
Public ground to start from: Beaver Brook STL and Bergen Peak SWA
CPW lists Beaver Brook STL and Bergen Peak SWA inside this unit as ground open to public hunting. Each property sets its own restrictions, and the agency's page for it is where they are written down. Federal land covers about 45% of the unit on top of those.
The herd this unit belongs to: RBS-04
CPW does not manage bighorn sheep unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit RBS-04, and unit S03 is one piece of it. The rest of RBS-04 is unit S4 and unit S41. So the objective behind your tag was written for that whole area, and a neighbouring unit in the same herd is a fairer comparison than the statewide figure.
Unit S03 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
Named features inside the unit
Glass from: Front Range (14,258 ft), Mount Blue Sky (14,231 ft), Gray Wolf Mountain (13,595 ft), McClellan Mountain (13,575 ft)
Holding ground: Summit Lake Flats (12,112 ft), Highland Park (11,395 ft), Hells Hole (11,308 ft), Beaver Brook STL, Bergen Peak SWA
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 Bighorn Sheep in Unit S03
Bighorn Sheep Success Rates
CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put bighorn sheep success in unit S03 at 75% — 9 animals taken by 12 hunters. On a sample that small the percentage moves several points with one animal, so read the hunter count beside it.
These are the agency's own printed figures for this unit, not a modelled estimate and not a state average. They describe one season, so check CPW's current harvest estimates before you read a trend into them.
Bighorn Sheep Draw Odds
| Season | Tags | Applicants | Draw % | Pts Req |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rifle — 2nd Season ewe only (resident) | 8 | 73 | 11.0% | 3 |
| Rifle — 2nd Season ewe only (nonresident) | 2 | 22 | 9.1% | 3 |
| Rifle — 1st Season ram only (resident) | 3 | 245 | 1.2% | 3 |
| Rifle — 1st Season ram only (nonresident) | 1 | 391 | 0.3% | 3 |
| Rifle — 2nd Season ram only (resident) | 2 | 125 | 1.6% | 3 |
| Rifle — 2nd Season ram only (nonresident) | 1 | 320 | 0.3% | 3 |
| Archery — 1st Season ewe only (resident) | 4 | 21 | 19.0% | — |
| Archery — 1st Season ewe only (nonresident) | 1 | 15 | 6.7% | 2 |
| Archery — 1st Season ram only (resident) | 2 | 49 | 4.1% | 3 |
| Archery — 1st Season ram only (nonresident) | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | — |
Data from 2026 draw results. Each row is one residency pool — read the label before the number.
Open in Draw Odds EngineCPW's 2026 draw recap for bighorn sheep in unit S03, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:
- SMS03O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Ram Only, nonresident: 391 applicants for 1 licences, 0.3% drawn, 3 preference points needed
- SMS03O2R — Rifle, 2nd Season, Ram Only, nonresident: 320 applicants for 1 licences, 0.3% drawn, 3 preference points needed
- SMS03O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Ram Only, resident: 245 applicants for 3 licences, 1.2% drawn, 3 preference points needed
- SMS03O2R — Rifle, 2nd Season, Ram Only, resident: 125 applicants for 2 licences, 1.6% drawn, 3 preference points needed
Colorado runs a pure preference-point draw, so the point figure above is the requirement the agency published for that code in that year, not a forecast for the next one. There are 5 further code-and-residency combinations in the recap for this unit. Figures checked against CPW's own statistics pages on 2026-06-09.
Unit Logistics & Expectations
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Colorado unit S03?
What is the bighorn sheep success rate in unit S03?
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Every fact on this page is tied to a primary source below. Last fact-checked 2026-10-23.
- Colorado Sheep & Goat Hunting Brochure — Game Management Unit (GMU) Descriptions (pp. 16-17) — Colorado Parks and Wildlife · supports: GMU boundary description, Counties the unit lies in, Data analysis unit (DAU) the unit belongs to · accessed 2026-10-22
- 2023 Colorado Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep Harvest Estimates — Colorado Parks and Wildlife · supports: Percent success for bighorn sheep in unit S03, Hunters and harvest by weapon and season · accessed 2026-10-22
- CPW CPWAdminData feature service — GMU and sheep/goat unit boundaries — Colorado Parks and Wildlife GIS Unit · supports: Mapped extent of the unit, Which named ground falls inside the unit line · accessed 2026-10-22