Unit S12 (Buffalo Peaks)
Colorado Hunting Guide — Bighorn Sheep
Unit S12 lies in Lake, Chaffee and Park counties. CPW bounds it by Colo. 9 and U.S. 285 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put bighorn sheep success here as high as 56%. Federal land covers about 48% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
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Bighorn Sheep Hunting in Unit S12
Unit S12 lies in Lake, Chaffee and Park counties. CPW bounds it by Colo. 9 and U.S. 285 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put bighorn sheep success here as high as 56%. Federal land covers about 48% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
Where to Find Bighorn Sheep in Unit S12
CPW's material on unit S12 stops at the boundary — there is no agency account of where its bighorn sheep live. So the ground below is the unit's own and the read on where to start is ours, labelled as such. The unit lies in Lake, Chaffee and Park counties.
The lines of the unit: Colo. 9, U.S. 285 and U.S. 24
CPW has unit S12 bounded on the north by I-70; on the east by Colo. 9 and U.S. 285; on the south by U.S. 285; on the west by U.S. 24, Colo. 91 and I-70. Read it as a frame, not as a hint about animals. 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: Tenmile Range, Mount Lincoln and Quandary Peak
Named high points inside the unit include Tenmile Range at 14,263 feet, Mount Lincoln at 14,247 feet, Quandary Peak at 14,243 feet, Mount Cameron at 14,241 feet and Mount Bross at 14,168 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: Iowa Amphitheater, Dyer Amphitheater and American Flats
Below them sit Iowa Amphitheater at 12,174 feet, Dyer Amphitheater at 12,103 feet, American Flats at 12,077 feet, Weston Pass at 11,925 feet and Clinton Amphitheatre at 11,705 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: Alma SWA, Antero STL and Chubb Park Ranch SWA
CPW lists Alma SWA, Antero STL, Chubb Park Ranch SWA, Chubb Park STL and Paddock 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 48% of the unit on top of those.
Water: Blue Rock Spring and Iron Springs
Named sources include Blue Rock Spring and Iron Springs. Nothing in the data says which of them run in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.
The herd this unit belongs to: RBS-05
CPW does not manage bighorn sheep unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit RBS-05, and unit S12 is one piece of it. The rest of RBS-05 is unit S39 and unit S78. 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 S12 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
Named features inside the unit
Glass from: Tenmile Range (14,263 ft), Mount Cameron (14,241 ft), Pacific Peak (13,930 ft), Gemini Peak (13,918 ft)
Holding ground: Cameron Amphitheatre (13,181 ft), Mosquito Pass (13,170 ft), Empire Amphitheater (12,200 ft), Alma SWA, Antero STL
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 S12
Bighorn Sheep Success Rates
CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put bighorn sheep success in unit S12 at 56% — 9 animals taken by 16 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 — 1st Season ewe only (resident) | 2 | 72 | 2.8% | 3 |
| Rifle — 1st Season ewe only (nonresident) | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | — |
| Rifle — 1st Season ram only (resident) | 5 | 840 | 0.6% | 3 |
| Rifle — 1st Season ram only (nonresident) | 1 | 893 | 0.1% | 3 |
| Archery — 1st Season ram only (resident) | 7 | 205 | 3.4% | 3 |
| Archery — 1st Season ram only (nonresident) | 1 | 302 | 0.3% | 3 |
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 S12, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:
- SMS12O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Ram Only, nonresident: 893 applicants for 1 licences, 0.1% drawn, 3 preference points needed
- SMS12O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Ram Only, resident: 840 applicants for 5 licences, 0.6% drawn, 3 preference points needed
- SMS12O1A — Archery, 1st Season, Ram Only, nonresident: 302 applicants for 1 licences, 0.3% drawn, 3 preference points needed
- SMS12O1A — Archery, 1st Season, Ram Only, resident: 205 applicants for 7 licences, 3.4% 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 1 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 S12?
What is the bighorn sheep success rate in unit S12?
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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 S12, 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