Unit San Rafael, South
Utah Hunting Guide — Bighorn Sheep
Unit San Rafael, South lies in Emery, Sevier and Wayne counties and covers about 1,358 square miles. Ground runs from 4,453 to 7,275 feet. UDWR's harvest estimates put bighorn sheep success here as high as 72%. Most of the unit is private, so access comes before tactics. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
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Bighorn Sheep Hunting in Unit San Rafael, South
Unit San Rafael, South lies in Emery, Sevier and Wayne counties and covers about 1,358 square miles. Ground runs from 4,453 to 7,275 feet. UDWR's harvest estimates put bighorn sheep success here as high as 72%. Most of the unit is private, so access comes before tactics. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
Where to Find Bighorn Sheep in Unit San Rafael, South
What UDWR publishes for unit San Rafael, South is a boundary, not a bighorn sheep map. The country below is verified; where to begin in it is our judgement, not the agency's. The unit lies in Emery, Sevier and Wayne counties. It runs to about 1,358 square miles.
The lines of the unit: Rock Springs, Willow Springs and Windy Peak
UDWR draws unit San Rafael, South in Emery, Sevier and Wayne counties with a boundary that runs on I-70, and on Rock Springs, Willow Springs and Windy Peak, walked corner by corner in its hunting district legal descriptions. That is a legal description, not a habitat map. 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: San Rafael Knob, Block Mountain and Ghost Rock
Named high points inside the unit include San Rafael Knob at 7,899 feet, Block Mountain at 7,410 feet, Ghost Rock at 7,360 feet, Square Top at 7,330 feet and Family Butte at 7,305 feet. Several carry a public-land flag in our data, which makes them the first places to try for a view. Sheep on lower country still need rock, and on a desert unit the rock is the whole hunt.
Holding ground: Paige Flat, Rods Valley and McKay Flat
Below them sit Paige Flat at 6,742 feet, Rods Valley at 6,739 feet, McKay Flat at 6,737 feet, Road Draw at 6,715 feet and Indian Flat at 6,696 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.
Water: Bullberry Spring, Secret Springs and Corral Canyon Spring
Named sources include Bullberry Spring, Secret Springs, Corral Canyon Spring and Tan Seep. Nothing in the data says which of them run in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.
Before you apply: who owns this unit
A UDWR permit does not authorise hunting on Native American trust lands, on a CWMU without that CWMU's own permit, or on National Park land, and written permission is required to hunt private land. Our ownership read for this unit is approximate — it comes out as Private / Other 85% and BLM 15%, so treat it as a starting point and check a current land-status layer before you plan a route. The unit runs from 4,453 feet to 7,275 feet, averaging 5,640 — enough relief to separate summer range from winter range.
Unit San Rafael, South terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
The lay of it
- 4,453–7,275 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 5,640 ft ; peaks can run higher.
- 1,357.9 sq mi inside the boundary. Big enough that picking one drainage beats driving three.
Who owns the ground
- BLM — 15%
- Private / Other — 85%
Roughly 15% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.
Water on the ground
Counts from mapping data, so this is how many exist, not how many hold water in a dry year. Sitting water only pays where you find fresh tracks.
Named features inside the unit
Glass from: San Rafael Knob (7,899 ft), Block Mountain (7,410 ft), Ghost Rock (7,360 ft), Square Top (7,330 ft)
Holding ground: Justensen Flats (7,073 ft), Home Base (6,881 ft), Link Flats (6,854 ft), Bullberry Spring, Secret Springs
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 San Rafael, South
Bighorn Sheep Success Rates
UDWR's 2023 harvest estimates carry no bighorn sheep row for unit San Rafael, South that we can read back to this unit on its own. Where the agency reports a unit inside a grouping, or prints a table our parser cannot resolve to a single column, we leave the number out rather than publish a statewide average as though it had been measured here. UDWR's current harvest estimates are the place to check before you apply.
Bighorn Sheep Draw Odds
| Season | Tags | Applicants | Draw % | Pts Req |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rifle — Limited Entry ram only (resident) | 11 | 810 | 1.4% | 27 |
| Rifle — Limited Entry ram only (nonresident) | 1 | 2,123 | 0.0% | 27 |
| Any Legal Weapon — Once-in-a-lifetime bull/buck only (resident) | 10 | 789 | 1.3% | 27 |
| Any Legal Weapon — Once-in-a-lifetime bull/buck only (nonresident) | 2 | 2,003 | 0.1% | 27 |
Data from 2024 draw results. Each row is one residency pool — read the label before the number.
Open in Draw Odds EngineUDWR's 2025 draw recap for bighorn sheep in unit San Rafael, South, with resident and nonresident kept apart because the two draw from different licence pools:
- Any Legal Weapon, Once-in-a-lifetime, Bull/Buck Only, nonresident: 2,003 applicants for 2 licences, 0.1% drawn, 27 bonus points needed
- Any Legal Weapon, Once-in-a-lifetime, Bull/Buck Only, resident: 789 applicants for 10 licences, 1.3% drawn, 27 bonus points needed
Utah draws on bonus points in a weighted random draw, not in point order, so the figure above is what it happened to take that year rather than a threshold you can plan to reach. More points buy more chances, never a turn. These are the figures as published in UDWR's own draw recap; we have not yet checked them back against the agency row by row, so confirm the hunt you mean to apply for before you count on a number.
Unit Logistics & Expectations
Frequently Asked Questions
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Upgrade to Pro — $49/yrSources & Verification
Every fact on this page is tied to a primary source below. Last fact-checked 2026-10-24.
- UDWR Hunt Boundaries — boundary descriptions from the Hunt Planner boundary layer — Utah Division of Wildlife Resources · supports: GMU boundary description, Counties the unit lies in, UDWR's private-land note for the unit · accessed 2026-10-24
- UDWR DWR_Hunt_Boundaries_combined feature service — all 687 published hunt boundaries, including the CWMUs — Utah Division of Wildlife Resources · supports: Mapped extent of the unit, Which named ground falls inside the unit line · accessed 2026-10-24