Idaho California Bighorn Sheep

Unit C55 (Bighorn Sheep Hunt Area 55)

Idaho Hunting Guide — California Bighorn Sheep

Hunt Area 55 is drawn from units 54 and 55, in Cassia and Twin Falls counties. Named ground inside it runs from 3,982 to 10,316 feet. Idaho Fish and Game publishes no per-unit California bighorn sheep success figure we can verify for this hunt area. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

View Draw Odds Idaho Hunting Guide

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Answer a few questions about your tag, your season and your rig, and the Field Intelligence Report builds a print-ready Idaho Unit C55 guide around your hunt: three ranked spots with morning, afternoon and evening plays, a day-by-day plan, topo maps with every pin numbered, a camp and access plan, the legal and retrieval rules for this unit, shot discipline, a meat-care and pack-out plan, and a pre-trip checklist. Every coordinate sits on land recorded as public.

California Bighorn Sheep guide

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California Bighorn Sheep Hunting in Unit C55

Where to Find California Bighorn Sheep in Hunt Area 55

Idaho Fish and Game's material on hunt area 55 stops at the boundary — there is no agency account of where its California bighorn sheep live. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's.

What hunt area 55 is

Idaho Fish and Game describes California bighorn sheep hunt area 55 as all of Units 54 and 55. That is whole units, so the outline on this page follows unit lines all the way round. The units it is drawn from lie in Cassia and Twin Falls counties. Idaho Fish and Game also uses the code 55 for deer and moose hunts, and in its own words "hunt areas are different for each species" — those are other pieces of ground, and this page is the California bighorn sheep area.

High ground inside the line: Independence Mountain, Cache Peak and Mount Independence

Named high points inside the hunt area include Independence Mountain at 10,316 feet, Cache Peak at 10,313 feet, Mount Independence at 9,936 feet, Mount Harrison at 9,253 feet and Graham Peak at 8,856 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: Durfee Meadow, Basin-Elba Pass and Fuller Pasture

Below them sit Durfee Meadow at 7,207 feet, Basin-Elba Pass at 7,090 feet, Fuller Pasture at 7,048 feet, Joes Basin at 7,047 feet and Trout Creek Pass at 7,012 feet. Those are the basins, parks and bottoms this hunt area has, and they are what you glass into from above. Pick the one with the least road on its upwind side.

Water: Howell Creek Spring, Parke Spring and Bennett Spring

Named sources include Howell Creek Spring, Parke Spring, Bennett Spring, North Willow Springs, Indian Spring and Goat Springs. Nothing in the data says which of them run in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.

How high the named ground goes

Named ground inside hunt area 55 runs from 3,982 feet to 10,316 feet — more than 4,000 feet between the named features alone, so the season you draw decides which part of it you hunt.

Unit C55 terrain and land status

Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Independence Mountain (10,316 ft), Mount Harrison (9,253 ft), Albion Mountains (8,597 ft), Middle Mountain (8,447 ft)

Holding ground: Stines Pass (8,311 ft), Connor Flat (7,848 ft), Deerhorn Pass (7,490 ft), Howell Creek Spring, Parke Spring

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 California Bighorn Sheep in Hunt Area 55

Idaho Fish and Game's per-unit harvest statistics describe general seasons on game management units, so there is no California bighorn sheep success figure we can tie to hunt area 55 alone, and we won't borrow one from a unit. The plan: pick a glassing position across from the escape terrain and stay on it for hours, not minutes.

The 2025 and 2026 controlled hunts

Idaho Fish and Game's 2025 and 2026 rules list one controlled hunt for California bighorn sheep in hunt area 55.

Hunt 7004 — 2 tags, Aug 30–Oct 8

Dates and tag numbers are IDFG's as printed for that season, and IDFG changes hunt areas between years, so check the current booklet before you apply.

Applying for hunt area 55

Idaho Fish and Game takes moose, bighorn sheep and mountain goat applications together, and anyone who applies for one of the three may not apply for another big game controlled hunt in the same year's first drawing, apart from the unlimited, extra, black bear and depredation hunts IDFG names. A hunter drawn for either bighorn may not apply for a bighorn tag for two years, and IDFG allows one Rocky Mountain and one California bighorn per hunter in a lifetime. Two hunters may apply together on one application. Idaho's draw is random, with no preference or bonus points to build.

Glassing from Monument Peak, Jim Sage Mountains and Trapper Peak

Take a position on one of Monument Peak (8,046 ft), Jim Sage Mountains (8,029 ft), Trapper Peak (7,876 ft) and Trout Creek Mountain (7,839 ft) and be on it before light. Work the morning with the air falling away from you, then accept that by mid-morning the wind has reversed and the plan has to change with it. A tripod is worth more here than another hour of walking. On the rut hunts, late hunts put rams with ewe groups on the same rock.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Independence Mountain, Mount Harrison, Albion Mountains and Middle Mountain as places to see from, and Stines Pass, Connor Flat, Deerhorn Pass and Howell Creek Spring as ground to watch. Each pin is a named feature verified to fall inside the hunt-area line, not a spot anyone has hunted. Walk between two of them rather than driving between four, and you will learn more in a day.

What a day here costs you

With 6,334 feet between the lowest and highest ground, the walk back up out of a kill site is the part to plan first. One good position held through the whole of first light beats three visited in a hurry.

What we can't tell you

Some of the ground named above carries no land-status flag we trust, so check ownership on a current layer before you hunt it. We have no California bighorn sheep success figure for this hunt area that survives checking against Idaho Fish and Game's own harvest and hunter counts, and we would rather say so than print a statewide average as though it were measured here.

Idaho rules that decide your day

Summarised from IDFG regulations. They change — read the current regulations and your permit-tag before you hunt.

Legal shooting hours

Big game may be taken from half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset.

Motorized retrieval

Idaho has no general off-road retrieval allowance on federal ground; stay on designated routes.

Tagging

Validate the tag by cutting out the month and day, and attach it to the carcass before moving it.

Leaving meat

Wasting edible meat is illegal.

Where you may not shoot

Occupied structures — No shooting from or across a public highway, and no shooting toward an occupied dwelling.

California Bighorn Sheep: where to put the shot

Broadside or quartering away, on the back edge of the front leg about a third of the way up the body.

Shots to refuse

Nothing behind or overlapping the animal you picked.
Your maximum range is the farthest you have shot a three-shot group into a paper plate from the rest you are carrying.
Pass the shot you are talking yourself into.

Plan the carry: roughly 40– 120 lb of boned-out meat, before head and hide — two large coolers. ProHunt planning estimate, not an agency figure.

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California Bighorn Sheep Success Rates

Idaho Fish and Game's per-unit harvest statistics describe general seasons on game management units, and hunt area 55 is a controlled-hunt area, not a unit, so there is no figure here we can tie to it. A unit's general-season number would describe different hunters on different ground. Idaho Fish and Game's hunt planner reports controlled-hunt results hunt by hunt, which is the figure to check before you apply.

California Bighorn Sheep Draw Odds

Draw odds data not available for this specific unit/species combination in our database.

Search Idaho Draw Odds

Idaho Fish and Game's 2026 first drawing for California bighorn sheep in hunt area 55, with residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different tag pools:

Hunt 7004 — residents 106 applicants for 1 tag, 1% drawn; nonresidents 93 applicants for 1 tag, 1% drawn

Idaho draws at random with no point system, so these are what that year happened to look like, not a requirement to build toward. Idaho Fish and Game reuses hunt numbers for different areas between years, so the figures are matched on the area each hunt had in 2026. Checked against Idaho Fish and Game's hunt planner draw results on 2026-06-09.

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Planning Notes

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Water

154 named water sources inside the hunt area in our water layer, including Howell Creek Spring, Parke Spring and Bennett Spring. Which of them run in autumn is something only a scouting trip will tell you.

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Terrain Difficulty

Named features inside the hunt area run from 3,982 to 10,316 ft. More than 4,000 feet between them alone, so plan the pack-out before the shot.

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Permit Notes

Idaho Fish and Game controlled hunt 7004 (2025 and 2026 rules). Moose, bighorn sheep and mountain goat applications run April 1 to 30. Idaho's draw is random, with no preference or bonus points.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Idaho hunt area 55?

Hunt Area 55 is drawn from units 54 and 55, in Cassia and Twin Falls counties. Idaho Fish and Game describes California bighorn sheep hunt area 55 as all of Units 54 and 55.

What is the California bighorn sheep success rate in hunt area 55?

Idaho Fish and Game's per-unit harvest statistics cover general seasons on game management units, and hunt area 55 is a controlled-hunt area, so there is no figure we can tie to it. Idaho Fish and Game's hunt planner reports controlled-hunt results hunt by hunt, and that is the number to check before you apply.

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Sources & Verification

Every fact on this page is tied to a primary source below. Last fact-checked 2026-10-24.

Moose, Bighorn Sheep & Mountain Goat 2025 & 2026 Seasons & Rules — Idaho Department of Fish and Game · supports: Controlled hunt area description for California bighorn sheep hunt area 55, The game management units the area is drawn from, Controlled hunt numbers, tags and season dates · accessed 2026-10-24
IDFG Hunt Planner — controlled hunt drawing odds — Idaho Department of Fish and Game · supports: Applicants, tags and percent drawn by hunt, year and residency · accessed 2026-06-09
IDFG GameManagementUnits and ControlledHunts_All feature services — game management units and every species' controlled-hunt areas — Idaho Department of Fish and Game · supports: Mapped extent of the unit or hunt area, Which named ground falls inside its line · accessed 2026-10-24