Wyoming Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep

Unit S12 (Porcupine)

Wyoming Hunting Guide — Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep

Bighorn Sheep Hunt Area 12, which Wyoming Game and Fish names Porcupine, covers about 230 square miles in Big Horn County. It belongs to WGFD's Devil's Canyon bighorn sheep herd unit. WGFD's 2025 harvest survey put bighorn sheep success here at 100%, with 8 hunters taking 8 bighorn sheep at about 4.2 days of hunting per animal. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.

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Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep guide

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Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep Hunting in Unit S12

Where to Find Bighorn Sheep in Bighorn Sheep Hunt Area 12

The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission names bighorn sheep hunt area 12 "Porcupine". It runs to about 230 square miles, entirely in Big Horn County. WGFD reports these bighorn sheep as the Devil's Canyon herd unit, and no other hunt area shares it. The boundary and the harvest figures are WGFD's. The read of the country inside them is ours, and it says so where it starts.

The line: Big Horn River, Sheep Mountain and Devils Canyon

WGFD's 2026 Chapter 9 walks the line around bighorn sheep hunt area 12 corner by corner. It starts where U.S. Highway 14A crosses the Big Horn River. On the way round it follows U.S. Highway 14A, U.S.F.S. Road 11 and U.S.F.S. Road 14, and Big Horn River, Sheep Mountain and Devils Canyon. Read it as the legal edge of your license rather than as a hint about animals. The full text is in Section 6 of that chapter, with this year's season dates and license limitations in Section 3.

Not the same ground as the other hunt area 12s

WGFD numbers each species' hunt areas on its own grid, so the number 12 also belongs to its elk and deer hunt areas 12. None of them shares a county with this one. A license is good only in the hunt area of its own species, so this page is about the bighorn sheep area, and the cards at the foot of the page link the others.

High ground inside the line: Medicine Mountain, Duncum Mountain and Sheep Mountain

Named high points inside bighorn sheep hunt area 12 include Medicine Mountain at 9,954 feet, Duncum Mountain at 9,827 feet, Sheep Mountain at 9,790 feet, Cone Mountain at 9,454 feet and Mexican Hill at 8,233 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: Cottonwood Canyon, Simmons Canyon and Petes Canyon

Below them sit Cottonwood Canyon at 5,308 feet, Simmons Canyon at 4,825 feet, Petes Canyon at 4,376 feet, John Blue Canyon at 3,648 feet and Wyoming Gulch at 8,996 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past.

Water: Harmon Springs, Roundup Spring and Little Spring

Named water inside the line includes Harmon Springs, Roundup Spring, Little Spring, School Section Spring, Red Seep and Richs Spring. Nothing in the data says which of it runs in autumn, so a scouting trip earns its fuel.

Reading the land status

Named ground inside bighorn sheep hunt area 12 runs from 3,648 feet to 9,954 feet — more than 4,000 feet between the named features alone, so the season you draw decides which part of it you hunt.

Unit S12 terrain and land status

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

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Medicine Mountain (9,954 ft), Duncum Mountain (9,827 ft), Sheep Mountain (9,790 ft), Mexican Hill (8,233 ft)

Holding ground: Wyoming Gulch (8,996 ft), Five Springs Basin (8,845 ft), Cookstove Basin (7,320 ft), Harmon Springs, Little 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 Bighorn Sheep in Bighorn Sheep Hunt Area 12

Wyoming Game and Fish's 2025 harvest survey estimates 8 hunters took 8 bighorn sheep in bighorn sheep hunt area 12 — 100% success, at about 4.2 days of hunting for every animal taken. Most hunters who held a license here filled it, so the real question is the draw, not the hunting. On a sample that small, one animal moves the percentage several points. The plan: pick a glassing position across from the escape terrain and stay on it for hours, not minutes.

Seasons and license types for bighorn sheep hunt area 12

WGFD sets this year's dates, license types and limitations for bighorn sheep hunt area 12 in Section 3 of its 2026 Chapter 9. We don't reprint them here, because a season table copied wrong is a citation waiting to happen; read the line for this area in the chapter itself. WGFD issues bighorn sheep licenses in small numbers, so the draw rather than the hunting is usually the long part.

Glassing from Winter Hill, Medicine Mountain and Duncum Mountain

Take a position on one of Winter Hill (5,632 ft), Medicine Mountain (9,954 ft), Duncum Mountain (9,827 ft) and Sheep Mountain (9,790 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. Late hunts put rams with ewe groups on the same rock.

The way in: U.S. Highway 14A, U.S.F.S. Road 11 and U.S.F.S. Road 14

We hold no road inventory for bighorn sheep hunt area 12, so the only routes we can name are the ones WGFD draws its boundary with: U.S. Highway 14A, U.S.F.S. Road 11 and U.S.F.S. Road 14. Those are its edges, not its interior — where you leave the pavement, not what the inside is like. Park on the boundary and walk; country you can only reach from its rim rewards whoever leaves the truck there.

A first plan from the pins on this page

The map above marks Medicine Mountain, Duncum Mountain and Sheep Mountain as places to see from, and Wyoming Gulch, Five Springs Basin and Cookstove Basin as ground to work. Each pin is a named feature or a WGFD access property placed inside the area line, not a spot anyone has hunted. Take the pair you can reach on one road and treat the rest as a second trip.

What a day here costs you

230 square miles is more country than a season will cover, so pick one drainage and learn it rather than driving the area. WGFD's figure of 4.2 days of hunting per animal is the one to budget against. With 6,306 feet between the lowest and highest named ground, plan the walk back out of a kill site before the shot. Decide the night before where you will be at first light, and go there in the dark.

What we can't tell you

We have no verified road, campground or town inventory for bighorn sheep hunt area 12, so the logistics below come from WGFD's own text and the map pins rather than a survey of the ground. Some named ground above carries no land-status flag we trust, so check ownership on a current layer before you hunt it.

Wyoming rules that decide your day

Summarised from WGFD 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

Wyoming has no general off-road retrieval allowance on federal ground. Travel stays on designated routes.

Tagging

Attach the carcass coupon to the animal before it is moved, and keep evidence of sex attached.

Leaving meat

Wanton waste of edible meat is a serious offence in Wyoming.

Where you may not shoot

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

Rocky Mountain 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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Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep Success Rates

Wyoming Game and Fish's 2025 harvest report estimates 100% bighorn sheep success in bighorn sheep hunt area 12: 8 animals taken by 8 active hunters over 34 days of hunting, or 4.2 days per animal.

These are WGFD's own estimates from its hunter survey, for this hunt area and season only — not a statewide average. One season isn't a trend, so check the current report before you read one into it.

Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep Draw Odds

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

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Wyoming Game and Fish's 2026 demand report for bighorn sheep in bighorn sheep hunt area 12, residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different license pools:

Type 1 (any ram), residents: 422 first-choice applicants for 1 license, 0.2% drawn
Type 2 (any ram less than), residents: 39 first-choice applicants for 0 licenses, 0% drawn
Type 2 (any ram less than), nonresidents: 8 first-choice applicants for 0 licenses, 0% drawn
Type 1 (any ram), nonresidents: 1 first-choice applicants for 0 licenses, 0% drawn

WGFD draws full-price bighorn sheep licenses partly on preference points, for residents and nonresidents alike, highest balance first (Chapter 44, Section 19); the figures above are from its random draw. Drawing a full-price license deletes your bighorn sheep points, and after a full-price bighorn sheep license from the initial drawing you may not apply for one again. WGFD publishes no preference-point level at which a hunt draws, so none is given here. Every figure was checked against WGFD's demand-report PDFs on 2026-08-10.

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Planning Notes

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Water

18 named water sources inside the hunt area in our water layer, including Harmon Springs, Roundup Spring and Little Spring. Which of them run in autumn is something only a scouting trip will tell you.

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Road Conditions

WGFD's boundary for the hunt area follows U.S. Highway 14A, U.S.F.S. Road 11 and U.S.F.S. Road 14. That is the edge, not a promise of access inside — check a current motor-vehicle-use map before you drive in.

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Terrain Difficulty

Named features inside the hunt area run from 3,648 to 9,954 ft. More than 4,000 feet between them alone, so plan the pack-out before the shot.

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Hunting Pressure

WGFD's 2025 survey counted about 8 bighorn sheep hunters spending 34 days here.

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Permit Notes

Season dates and license limitations: WGFD 2026 Chapter 9, Section 3.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Wyoming bighorn sheep hunt area 12?

Bighorn Sheep Hunt Area 12 (Porcupine) covers about 230 square miles in Big Horn County. WGFD's 2026 Chapter 9 walks the line around bighorn sheep hunt area 12 corner by corner. It starts where U.S. Highway 14A crosses the Big Horn River. On the way round it follows U.S. Highway 14A, U.S.F.S. Road 11 and U.S.F.S. Road 14, and Big Horn River, Sheep Mountain and Devils Canyon.

What is the bighorn sheep success rate in bighorn sheep hunt area 12?

Wyoming Game and Fish's 2025 harvest report estimates 100% bighorn sheep success in bighorn sheep hunt area 12, with 8 hunters taking 8 bighorn sheep at about 4.2 days of hunting per animal. That is WGFD's figure for this hunt area, not a statewide average.

Is bighorn sheep hunt area 12 the same ground as elk hunt area 12?

No. WGFD numbers hunt areas separately for each species, so elk hunt area 12 is a different piece of ground with its own boundary and its own page. A license is valid only in the hunt area of its own species.

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Sources & Verification

Every fact on this page is tied to a primary source below. Last fact-checked 2026-10-25.

Chapter 9 — Bighorn Sheep and Mountain Goat Hunting Seasons (2026) — Wyoming Game and Fish Commission · supports: Name and legal boundary of bighorn sheep hunt area 12, Season dates, license types and limitations by hunt area · accessed 2026-10-25
Bighorn Sheep 2025 Harvest Report — Wyoming Game and Fish Department · supports: Hunters, harvest, percent success and days per animal for bighorn sheep in bighorn sheep hunt area 12, The same by license type and residency · accessed 2026-10-25
WGFD draw results and odds — demand reports 2021-2026 — Wyoming Game and Fish Department · supports: First-choice applicants, licenses and percent drawn, by license type, residency and year · accessed 2026-08-10
Chapter 44 — Regulation for Issuance of Licenses, Permits, Stamps, Tags, Preference Points and Competitive Raffle Chances — Wyoming Game and Fish Commission · supports: Which licenses are drawn on preference points (Section 19), When preference points are deleted · accessed 2026-10-25
WGFD ArcGIS feature services — hunt areas by species, CWD sampling areas, WHMAs, Public Access Areas, Hunter Management Areas, Walk-In Hunting Areas — Wyoming Game and Fish Department · supports: Mapped outline of the hunt area, Herd unit and square miles · accessed 2026-10-25
TIGERweb State_County — Wyoming county boundaries (used only to measure which counties a hunt area lies in) — U.S. Census Bureau · supports: Which counties the hunt area lies in, and in what share · accessed 2026-10-25