Unit S61 (Purgatory Canyon)
Colorado Hunting Guide — Bighorn Sheep
Unit S61 lies in Otero, Bent and Las Animas counties. CPW bounds it by U.S. 50 and Colo. 109 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put bighorn sheep success here as high as 100%. Federal land covers about 85% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
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Bighorn Sheep Hunting in Unit S61
Unit S61 lies in Otero, Bent and Las Animas counties. CPW bounds it by U.S. 50 and Colo. 109 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put bighorn sheep success here as high as 100%. Federal land covers about 85% of it. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
Where to Find Bighorn Sheep in Unit S61
CPW draws an exact line around unit S61 and says nothing about where the bighorn sheep stand inside it. 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 Otero, Bent and Las Animas counties.
The lines of the unit: U.S. 50, Colo. 109 and U.S. 160
CPW has unit S61 bounded on the north by U.S. 50; on the east by Colo. 109; on the south by U.S. 160; on the west by U.S. 350. It tells you the shape of the unit and nothing about its inhabitants. 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: Big Arroyo Hills, Mooney Hills and The Hogback
Named high points inside the unit include Big Arroyo Hills at 5,906 feet, Mooney Hills at 5,801 feet, The Hogback at 5,651 feet, Seven D Pocket at 5,592 feet and Bar Four Pocket at 5,579 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: Snake Canyon, Humbar Canyon and Rail O Canyon
Below them sit Snake Canyon at 5,244 feet, Humbar Canyon at 5,227 feet, Rail O Canyon at 5,200 feet, Miller Canyon at 5,177 feet and Rough Canyon at 5,162 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: Antelope Tank STL, Bloom Hills STL and Bull Pasture STL
CPW lists Antelope Tank STL, Bloom Hills STL, Bull Pasture STL, Crooked Arroyo STL and David 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 85% of the unit on top of those.
Water: Brown Spring
Named sources include Brown 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 S61 is one piece of it. The rest of RBS-17 is unit S48. 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 S61 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
Named features inside the unit
Glass from: Heart Rock (5,191 ft), Merker Hills (4,990 ft), Iron Springs Hills (4,958 ft), Shale Hills (4,851 ft)
Holding ground: Bachicha Canyon (5,043 ft), Poitrey Canyon (4,924 ft), Sheep Canyon (4,791 ft), Antelope Tank STL, Bloom Hills 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 S61
Bighorn Sheep Success Rates
CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put bighorn sheep success in unit S61 at 100% — 11 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 | 11 | 9.1% | 3 |
| Rifle — 1st Season ewe only (nonresident) | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | — |
| Rifle — 1st Season ram only (resident) | 3 | 241 | 1.2% | 3 |
| Rifle — 1st Season ram only (nonresident) | 1 | 1,214 | 0.1% | 3 |
| Rifle — 1st Season ram only (resident) | 1 | 226 | 0.4% | 3 |
| Rifle — 1st Season ram only (nonresident) | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | — |
| Rifle — 1st Season ram only (resident) | 1 | 493 | 0.2% | 3 |
| Rifle — 1st Season ram only (nonresident) | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | — |
| Rifle — 2nd Season ram only (resident) | 2 | 140 | 1.4% | 3 |
| Rifle — 2nd Season ram only (nonresident) | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | — |
| Rifle — 3rd Season ewe only (resident) | 1 | 25 | 4.0% | 3 |
| Rifle — 3rd Season ewe only (nonresident) | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | — |
| Rifle — 3rd Season ram only (resident) | 1 | 248 | 0.4% | — |
| Rifle — 3rd Season ram only (nonresident) | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | — |
| Rifle — 1st Season ewe only (resident) | 2 | 48 | 4.2% | 3 |
| Rifle — 1st Season ewe only (nonresident) | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | — |
| Rifle — 4th Season ram only (resident) | 1 | 255 | 0.4% | 3 |
| Rifle — 4th 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 S61, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:
- SMS61O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Ram Only, nonresident: 1,214 applicants for 1 licences, 0.1% drawn, 3 preference points needed
- SMS61W1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Ram Only, resident: 493 applicants for 1 licences, 0.2% drawn, 3 preference points needed
- SMS61W4R — Rifle, 4th Season, Ram Only, resident: 255 applicants for 1 licences, 0.4% drawn, 3 preference points needed
- SMS61W3R — Rifle, 3rd Season, Ram Only, resident: 248 applicants for 1 licences, 0.4% drawn, no 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 5 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 S61?
What is the bighorn sheep success rate in unit S61?
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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 S61, 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