Unit S36 (Bellows Creek)
Colorado Hunting Guide — Bighorn Sheep
Unit S36 lies in Mineral, Rio Grande and Saguache counties. CPW bounds it by USFS Trail 787 and Mineral/Saguache Co. line among others. CPW's harvest estimates put bighorn sheep success here as high as 75%. Federal land covers about 84% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
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Bighorn Sheep Hunting in Unit S36
Unit S36 lies in Mineral, Rio Grande and Saguache counties. CPW bounds it by USFS Trail 787 and Mineral/Saguache Co. line among others. CPW's harvest estimates put bighorn sheep success here as high as 75%. Federal land covers about 84% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
Where to Find Bighorn Sheep in Unit S36
What CPW publishes for unit S36 is a boundary, not a bighorn sheep map. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's. The unit lies in Mineral, Rio Grande and Saguache counties.
The lines of the unit: USFS Trail 787, Mineral/Saguache Co. line and USFS 630
CPW has unit S36 bounded on the north by USFS Trail 787; on the east by Mineral/Saguache Co. line and ATV trail also known as La Garita Stock Driveway, USFS 630, Rio Grande CRs 15 and 18; on the south by U.S. 160 and Rio Grande River; on the west by Colo. 149 and USFS 504. Read it as a frame, not as a hint about animals. Its value is practical — those are the features you will navigate by, and the ridges that separate one day's country from another's.
High ground inside the line: Pool Table Mountain, Mammoth Mountain and Campbell Mountain
Named high points inside the unit include Pool Table Mountain at 12,220 feet, Mammoth Mountain at 11,646 feet and Campbell Mountain at 10,890 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: Pool Table Park, Corral Park and Deer Park
Below them sit Pool Table Park at 11,069 feet, Corral Park at 11,030 feet, Deer Park at 10,933 feet, Long Park at 10,757 feet and Round Park at 10,691 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.
The herd this unit belongs to: RBS-22
CPW does not manage bighorn sheep unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit RBS-22, and unit S36 is one piece of it. The rest of RBS-22 is unit S22 and unit S53. 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 S36 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
Named features inside the unit
Glass from: Pool Table Mountain (12,220 ft), Mammoth Mountain (11,646 ft)
Holding ground: Divide Park (11,675 ft), Wason Park (11,606 ft), Silver Park (11,379 ft)
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 S36
Bighorn Sheep Success Rates
CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put bighorn sheep success in unit S36 at 75% — 3 animals taken by 4 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 ram only (resident) | 2 | 135 | 1.5% | 3 |
| Rifle — 1st Season ram only (nonresident) | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | — |
| Rifle — 1st Season ewe only (resident) | 2 | 33 | 6.1% | 3 |
| Rifle — 1st Season ewe 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 S36, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:
- SMS36O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Ram Only, resident: 135 applicants for 2 licences, 1.5% drawn, 3 preference points needed
- SFS36O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Ewe Only, resident: 33 applicants for 2 licences, 6.1% 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. Figures checked against CPW's own statistics pages on 2026-06-09.
Unit Logistics & Expectations
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Colorado unit S36?
What is the bighorn sheep success rate in unit S36?
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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 S36, 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