Unit S48 (Carrizo Canyon)
Colorado Hunting Guide — Bighorn Sheep
Unit S48 lies in Baca and Las Animas counties. CPW bounds it by U.S. 160 and Baca CR 13 (Pritchett Grade Rd.) among others. CPW's harvest estimates put bighorn sheep success here as high as 100%. Federal land covers about 88% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
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Bighorn Sheep Hunting in Unit S48
Unit S48 lies in Baca and Las Animas counties. CPW bounds it by U.S. 160 and Baca CR 13 (Pritchett Grade Rd.) among others. CPW's harvest estimates put bighorn sheep success here as high as 100%. Federal land covers about 88% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
Where to Find Bighorn Sheep in Unit S48
What CPW publishes for unit S48 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 Baca and Las Animas counties.
The lines of the unit: U.S. 160, Baca CR 13 (Pritchett Grade Rd.) and Colo. 389
CPW has unit S48 bounded on the north by U.S. 160; on the east by Baca CR 13 (Pritchett Grade Rd.); on the south by NM; W by Colo. 389. It tells you the shape of the unit and nothing about its inhabitants. 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: Mesa de Maya, The Corona and Lone Butte
Named high points inside the unit include Mesa de Maya at 6,835 feet, The Corona at 6,816 feet, Lone Butte at 6,685 feet, Seven L Buttes at 6,569 feet and Fallas Mesa at 6,278 feet. None carries a public-land flag we trust, so settle the ownership question before you plan to stand on one. Sheep on lower country still need rock, and on a desert unit the rock is the whole hunt.
Holding ground: Honeymoon Canyon, Negro Canyon and Steel Trap Canyon
Below them sit Honeymoon Canyon at 5,840 feet, Negro Canyon at 5,751 feet, Steel Trap Canyon at 5,672 feet, Gotera Rincon at 5,629 feet and Hart Canyon at 5,627 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past on the way to somewhere steeper. Reaching the edge of one before light beats reaching its middle at noon.
Public ground to start from: East Carrizo Creek STL, Kirkwell STL and Pat / Whitby Canyon STL
CPW lists East Carrizo Creek STL, Kirkwell STL, Pat / Whitby Canyon STL, Poitrey Creek STL and Sand Canyon STL 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 88% of the unit on top of those.
Water: Dripping Vat Spring, Trujilla Spring and Major Spring
Named sources include Dripping Vat Spring, Trujilla Spring, Major Spring, Hatfield Spring, Dripping Springs and Fallas Spring. 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-17
CPW does not manage bighorn sheep unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit RBS-17, and unit S48 is one piece of it. The rest of RBS-17 is unit S61. Read a neighbour in the same herd before you read the state average — the herd, not the unit line, is what the agency is steering.
Unit S48 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
Named features inside the unit
Glass from: Miners Peak (5,736 ft), Little Black Mesa (4,730 ft), Mesa de Maya (6,835 ft), Lone Butte (6,685 ft)
Holding ground: The Narrows (6,621 ft), George Canyon (5,937 ft), East Carrizo Creek STL, Kirkwell STL, Pat / Whitby Canyon 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 S48
Bighorn Sheep Success Rates
CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put bighorn sheep success in unit S48 at 100% — 2 animals taken by 2 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) | 1 | 32 | 3.1% | 3 |
| Rifle — 1st Season ram only (nonresident) | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | — |
| Rifle — 1st Season ram only (resident) | 1 | 276 | 0.4% | 3 |
| Rifle — 1st Season ram only (nonresident) | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | — |
| Rifle — 2nd Season ram only (resident) | 1 | 299 | 0.3% | — |
Data from 2024 draw results. Each row is one residency pool — read the label before the number.
Open in Draw Odds EngineCPW's 2025 draw recap for bighorn sheep in unit S48, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:
- SMS48W2R — Rifle, 2nd Season, Ram Only, resident: 299 applicants for 1 licences, 0.3% drawn, no preference points needed
- SMS48W1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Ram Only, resident: 276 applicants for 1 licences, 0.4% 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. Figures checked against CPW's own statistics pages on 2026-06-09.
Unit Logistics & Expectations
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Colorado unit S48?
What is the bighorn sheep success rate in unit S48?
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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 S48, 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