Unit S53 (Bristol Head)
Colorado Hunting Guide — Bighorn Sheep
Unit S53 lies in Mineral and Hinsdale counties. CPW bounds it by North Clear Creek and Colo. 149 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put bighorn sheep success here as high as 80%. Federal land covers about 79% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
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Bighorn Sheep Hunting in Unit S53
Unit S53 lies in Mineral and Hinsdale counties. CPW bounds it by North Clear Creek and Colo. 149 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put bighorn sheep success here as high as 80%. Federal land covers about 79% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
Where to Find Bighorn Sheep in Unit S53
CPW's material on unit S53 stops at the boundary — there is no agency account of where its bighorn sheep live. 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 Mineral and Hinsdale counties.
The lines of the unit: North Clear Creek, Colo. 149 and USFS trails 473
CPW has unit S53 bounded on the north by North Clear Creek, Colo. 149 and USFS trails 473 and 787; on the east by USFS Trail 803 and USFS 507; on the south by Colo. 149 and Rio Grande River; on the west by Lost Trail Creek. It tells you the shape of the unit and nothing about its inhabitants. 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: Table Mountain, Bristol Head and Finger Mesa
Named high points inside the unit include Table Mountain at 12,814 feet, Bristol Head at 12,694 feet, Finger Mesa at 12,297 feet, Black Mountain at 11,860 feet and Hermit Peak at 10,891 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: Sawmill Canyon, Porcupine Gulch and Ptarmigan Meadows
Below them sit Sawmill Canyon at 9,859 feet, Porcupine Gulch at 9,809 feet, Ptarmigan Meadows at 9,700 feet, Carcass Gulch at 9,655 feet and Santa Maria Pass at 9,518 feet. That is the low country of the unit — the ground animals drop into when they are pushed or when the weather turns. Reaching the edge of one before light beats reaching its middle at noon.
Public ground to start from: Brown Lakes SWA and Road Canyon Reservoir SWA
CPW lists Brown Lakes SWA and Road Canyon Reservoir 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 79% of the unit on top of those.
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 S53 is one piece of it. The rest of RBS-22 is unit S22 and unit S36. 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 S53 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
Named features inside the unit
Glass from: Table Mountain (12,814 ft), Bristol Head (12,694 ft), Finger Mesa (12,297 ft), Black Mountain (11,860 ft)
Holding ground: Long Park (10,327 ft), Trouble Hill (10,187 ft), Horse Thief Pasture (10,022 ft), Brown Lakes SWA, Road Canyon Reservoir 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 S53
Bighorn Sheep Success Rates
CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put bighorn sheep success in unit S53 at 80% — 4 animals taken by 5 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) | 3 | 28 | 10.7% | 3 |
| Rifle — 1st Season ewe only (nonresident) | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | — |
| Rifle — 1st Season ram only (resident) | 2 | 128 | 1.6% | 3 |
| Rifle — 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 S53, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:
- SMS53O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Ram Only, resident: 128 applicants for 2 licences, 1.6% drawn, 3 preference points needed
- SFS53O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Ewe Only, resident: 28 applicants for 3 licences, 10.7% 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 S53?
What is the bighorn sheep success rate in unit S53?
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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 S53, 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