Colorado Bighorn Sheep

Unit S15 (Sheep Mountain)

Colorado Hunting Guide — Bighorn Sheep

Unit S15 lies in Hinsdale, Mineral and Rio Grande counties. CPW bounds it by Rio Grande River and Colo. 149 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put bighorn sheep success here as high as 73%. Federal land covers about 62% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

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62%

Public Land

Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit S15

Answer a few questions about your tag, your season and your rig, and the Field Intelligence Report builds a print-ready Colorado Unit S15 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 S15

Where to Find Bighorn Sheep in Unit S15

CPW draws an exact line around unit S15 and says nothing about where the bighorn sheep stand inside it. 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 Hinsdale, Mineral and Rio Grande counties.

The lines of the unit: Rio Grande River, Colo. 149 and U.S. 160

CPW has unit S15 bounded on the north by Rio Grande River; on the east by Colo. 149, U.S. 160 and Continental Divide; on the south by USFS 667, Mineral-Archuleta and Hinsdale-Archuleta Co. lines; on the west by Piedra River, Middle Fork of Piedra River, Middle Trout Creek, West Trout Creek and Trout Creek. 12 2026 Colorado Sheep & Goat Hunting. Read it as a frame, not as a hint about animals. What it does give you is the way in: the rivers and highways you cross, and the divides that decide which drainage you end up in.

High ground inside the line: South River Peak, Fisher Mountain and Mount Hope

Named high points inside the unit include South River Peak at 13,108 feet, Fisher Mountain at 12,861 feet, Mount Hope at 12,808 feet, Beautiful Mountain at 12,743 feet and Table Mountain at 12,682 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: Windy Pass, Goodrich Park and Sheep Park

Below them sit Windy Pass at 9,973 feet, Goodrich Park at 9,591 feet, Sheep Park at 9,507 feet, Dark Canyon at 9,106 feet and Mullins Hole at 9,091 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past on the way to somewhere steeper. Work out which of them you can see from one position before you pick a camp.

Public ground to start from: Big Meadows Reservoir SWA, Coller SWA and Coller SWA - Rio Grande River Access

CPW lists Big Meadows Reservoir SWA, Coller SWA, Coller SWA - Rio Grande River Access and Creede 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 62% of the unit on top of those.

Water: Wainwright Spring and Piedra Falls

Named sources include Wainwright Spring and Piedra Falls. 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-20

CPW does not manage bighorn sheep unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit RBS-20, and unit S15 is one piece of it. The rest of RBS-20 is unit S16 and unit S28. That matters twice over: the population objective and the licence numbers are set for the whole area, and the animals move across unit lines inside it without noticing them.

Unit S15 terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: South River Peak (13,108 ft), Fisher Mountain (12,861 ft), Mount Hope (12,808 ft), Beautiful Mountain (12,743 ft)

Holding ground: Puerto Blanco (11,870 ft), Decker Meadows (11,488 ft), Piedra Pass (11,421 ft), Big Meadows Reservoir SWA, Coller 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 S15

CPW's own harvest estimates put bighorn sheep success in unit S15 at 73% across all manners of take. A number like that comes from few tags and a short season, not from easy hunting. The plan: pick a glassing position across from the escape terrain and stay on it for hours, not minutes.

Glassing from Sugarloaf Mountain, Cherry Cairn and Toner Mountain

Take a position on one of Sugarloaf Mountain (12,572 ft), Cherry Cairn (12,495 ft), Toner Mountain (12,469 ft) and Sheep Mountain (12,354 ft) and be on it before light. Cold air slides downhill in the dark, so keep your scent out of the bowl you mean to watch; expect the thermals to turn uphill an hour after the sun reaches the slope. Give a basin forty minutes before you decide it is empty. On the rut hunts, late hunts put rams with ewe groups on the same rock.

Getting past the roads

There is little true four-wheel-drive road here, so distance from the gravel is the only thing separating you from the next hunter. One mapped public entry point falls inside the unit, so decide which one you take before the morning you take it.

Where unit S15 sits inside RBS-20

Across RBS-20, CPW's 2023 bighorn sheep success runs 100% in unit S28, 73% in unit S15 and 63% in unit S16. That puts unit S15 behind 1 of the 2 other units in the herd. If the draw lets you choose, unit S28 carried the better number in the same herd — check its tag count before you read that as an easier hunt.

The way in: Colo. 149, U.S. 160 and USFS 667

We have no road inventory for this unit, so the only routes we can name are the ones CPW draws the boundary with: Colo. 149, U.S. 160 and USFS 667. Those are its edges, not its interior — useful because they are where you leave the pavement, and useless for telling you what the inside is like. Park on the boundary and walk; a unit you can only enter from its rim rewards whoever is willing to leave the truck at the rim.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks South River Peak, Fisher Mountain, Mount Hope and Beautiful Mountain as places to see from, and Puerto Blanco, Decker Meadows, Piedra Pass and Big Meadows Reservoir SWA as ground to watch. Each pin is a named feature verified to fall inside the unit line, not a spot anyone has hunted. Walk between two of them rather than driving between four, and you will learn more in a day.

What a day here costs you

559 square miles is more country than a week will cover, so pick one drainage and learn it rather than driving the unit. The ground is gentle enough that the pack-out is a distance problem rather than a climbing one. Decide the night before where you will be at first light, and go there in the dark.

What we can't tell you

Some of the ground named above carries no land-status flag we trust, so check ownership on a current layer before you hunt it.

Colorado rules that decide your day

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

Legal shooting hours

Big game may be taken from half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset.

Motorized retrieval

Colorado has no general off-road retrieval allowance. Travel stays on designated routes, so plan to pack every animal out on your back or with stock. Check the forest or BLM travel map for the roads that are actually open in hunting season.

Tagging

Validate and attach your carcass tag before the animal is moved, and keep evidence of sex attached until the carcass reaches your home or a processor.

Leaving meat

Abandoning edible meat is illegal. CPW counts the four quarters and the loins.

Where you may not shoot

Occupied structures — No discharging a firearm within 50 yards of a developed campsite, and never toward an occupied building.
Roads — No shooting from or across a public road, and no shooting from a motor vehicle.

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

All manners of take73%

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put bighorn sheep success in unit S15 at 73% — 8 animals taken by 11 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)	1	23	4.3%	3
Rifle — 1st Season ewe only (nonresident)	1	16	6.3%	3
Rifle — 1st Season ram only (resident)	2	167	1.2%	3
Rifle — 1st Season ram only (nonresident)	1	338	0.3%	3
Rifle — 2nd Season ram only (resident)	2	101	2.0%	3
Rifle — 2nd 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 Engine

CPW's 2026 draw recap for bighorn sheep in unit S15, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:

SMS15O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Ram Only, nonresident: 338 applicants for 1 licences, 0.3% drawn, 3 preference points needed
SMS15O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Ram Only, resident: 167 applicants for 2 licences, 1.2% drawn, 3 preference points needed
SMS15O2R — Rifle, 2nd Season, Ram Only, resident: 101 applicants for 2 licences, 2% drawn, 3 preference points needed
SFS15O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Ewe Only, resident: 23 applicants for 1 licences, 4.3% 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

Planning Notes

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Trailer Access

Yes — CO-14 paved over Cameron Pass. Trailhead parking limited.

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Water

Abundant alpine streams and tarns.

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Road Conditions

CO-14 paved; FSR 740 gravel.

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Terrain Difficulty

Very difficult. 11,000-12,900 foot alpine terrain.

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Hunting Pressure

Low.

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Weather

Alpine snow possible any time. Expect winter conditions by late October.

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Cell Service

Spotty at Cameron Pass; none in cirques.

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Nearest Town

Walden (population ~600) for basics; Fort Collins (~170,000) east.

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Permit Notes

Once-in-a-lifetime resident tag after harvest.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Colorado unit S15?

Unit S15 lies in Hinsdale, Mineral and Rio Grande counties, and CPW has it bounded on the north by Rio Grande River; on the east by Colo. 149, U.S. 160 and Continental Divide; on the south by USFS 667, Mineral-Archuleta and Hinsdale-Archuleta Co. lines; on the west by Piedra River, Middle Fork of Piedra River, Middle Trout Creek, West Trout Creek and Trout Creek. 12 2026 Colorado Sheep & Goat Hunting.

What is the bighorn sheep success rate in unit S15?

CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put bighorn sheep success in unit S15 at 73% across all manners of take. Those are the agency's own figures for this unit, not a statewide average.

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Sources & Verification

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 S15, 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