Unit S71 (West Needles)
Colorado Hunting Guide — Bighorn Sheep
Unit S71 lies in San Juan and La Plata counties. CPW bounds it by San Miguel-Ouray Co. line and U.S. 550 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put bighorn sheep success here as high as 50%. 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 S71
Unit S71 lies in San Juan and La Plata counties. CPW bounds it by San Miguel-Ouray Co. line and U.S. 550 among others. CPW's harvest estimates put bighorn sheep success here as high as 50%. 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 S71
What CPW publishes for unit S71 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 San Juan and La Plata counties.
The lines of the unit: San Miguel-Ouray Co. line, U.S. 550 and Colo. 110
CPW has unit S71 bounded on the north by San Miguel-Ouray Co. line, U.S. 550, Colo. 110, Cunningham Gulch and Continental Divide; on the east by Vallecito Creek and Los Pinos River; on S U.S. 160; on the west by Montezuma-La Plata and Montezuma-Dolores Co. lines. 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: Mount Eolus, Needle Mountains and Windom Peak
Named high points inside the unit include Mount Eolus at 14,016 feet, Needle Mountains at 14,008 feet, Windom Peak at 13,979 feet, North Eolus at 13,975 feet and Sunlight Peak at 13,965 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: Ice Lake Basin, Spencer Basin and Woodchuck Basin
Below them sit Ice Lake Basin at 12,387 feet, Spencer Basin at 12,362 feet, Woodchuck Basin at 12,334 feet, Arrastra Basin at 12,182 feet and Royal Tiger Basin at 12,112 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: Andrews Lake SWA, Bayfield Lions Club Shooting Range SWA and Haviland Lake SWA
CPW lists Andrews Lake SWA, Bayfield Lions Club Shooting Range SWA, Haviland Lake SWA, Perins Peak SWA and Perins Peak SWA - Decker Tract 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: Caviness Spring and Valley View Spring
Named sources include Caviness Spring and Valley View 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-28
CPW does not manage bighorn sheep unit by unit. It manages them as data analysis unit RBS-28, and unit S71 is one piece of it. CPW puts no other unit in RBS-28, so this unit carries the herd on its own. 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 S71 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
Named features inside the unit
Glass from: Mount Eolus (14,016 ft), Windom Peak (13,979 ft), Vestal Peak (13,815 ft), Fuller Peak (13,742 ft)
Holding ground: Trimble Pass (12,877 ft), Mineral Basin (12,566 ft), Ice Lake Basin (12,387 ft), Andrews Lake SWA, Bayfield Lions Club Shooting Range 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 S71
Bighorn Sheep Success Rates
CPW's 2023 harvest estimates put bighorn sheep success in unit S71 at 50% — 1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Archery — 1st Season ram only (resident) | 1 | 45 | 2.2% | 3 |
| Archery — 1st Season ram only (nonresident) | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | — |
| Rifle — 1st Season ram only (resident) | 2 | 141 | 1.4% | 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 S71, by hunt code, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:
- SMS71O1R — Rifle, 1st Season, Ram Only, resident: 141 applicants for 2 licences, 1.4% drawn, 3 preference points needed
- SMS71O1A — Archery, 1st Season, Ram Only, resident: 45 applicants for 1 licences, 2.2% 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 S71?
What is the bighorn sheep success rate in unit S71?
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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 S71, 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