Unit S18 (Douglas Creek)
Wyoming Hunting Guide — Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep
Bighorn Sheep Hunt Area 18, which Wyoming Game and Fish names Douglas Creek, covers about 2,300 square miles in Carbon and Albany counties. It belongs to WGFD's Douglas Creek bighorn sheep herd unit. WGFD's 2025 harvest survey gives no bighorn sheep success figure we can tie to this area alone. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
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Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep Hunting in Unit S18
Bighorn Sheep Hunt Area 18, which Wyoming Game and Fish names Douglas Creek, covers about 2,300 square miles in Carbon and Albany counties. It belongs to WGFD's Douglas Creek bighorn sheep herd unit. WGFD's 2025 harvest survey gives no bighorn sheep success figure we can tie to this area alone. Check land status on a current map before you plan a route.
Where to Find Bighorn Sheep in Bighorn Sheep Hunt Area 18
The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission names bighorn sheep hunt area 18 "Douglas Creek". It runs to about 2,300 square miles, in Carbon (51%) and Albany (49%) counties. WGFD reports these bighorn sheep as the Douglas Creek herd unit, and no other hunt area shares it. WGFD prints the line and counts the harvest. It doesn't say where inside the line the bighorn sheep live, so that part is our read of the ground, labelled as such.
Where bighorn sheep hunt area 18 begins and ends
WGFD's 2026 Chapter 9 walks the line around bighorn sheep hunt area 18 corner by corner. It starts where Wyoming Highway 287 crosses the Wyoming-Colorado state line. On the way round it follows Wyoming Highway 287, Wyoming Highway 230, Wyoming Highway 130 and Interstate Highway 80. It is the description your license is good inside, so it is worth reading once in full before you go. 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 18s
WGFD numbers each species' hunt areas on its own grid, so the number 18 also belongs to its deer, antelope and moose hunt areas 18. 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.
Ground WGFD opens: Jelm and Pennock Mountain
WGFD administers 4 Wildlife Habitat Management Areas inside or across the line, including Jelm (636 acres), Pennock Mountain (9,858 acres) and Forbes/Sheep Mountain (1,579 acres). Public Access Areas such as Saratoga Lake (852 acres) and Big Creek are public ways onto water and land; check what each allows before you count on it for hunting.
High ground inside the line: Medicine Bow Peak, Browns Peak and Snowy Range
Named high points inside bighorn sheep hunt area 18 include Medicine Bow Peak at 11,985 feet, Browns Peak at 11,717 feet, Snowy Range at 11,417 feet, Sugarloaf Mountain at 11,402 feet and Elk Mountain at 11,150 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: Fish Creek Park, Hay Park and Grindstone Park
Below them sit Fish Creek Park at 9,185 feet, Hay Park at 9,105 feet, Grindstone Park at 9,051 feet, Chimney Park at 8,978 feet and Sawmill Park at 8,877 feet. Those are the basins and bottoms of the area, and they are what you glass into from above.
Reading the land status
Named ground inside bighorn sheep hunt area 18 runs from 6,743 feet to 11,985 feet — more than 4,000 feet between the named features alone, so the season you draw decides which part of it you hunt.
Unit S18 terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up
Named features inside the unit
Glass from: Medicine Bow Peak (11,985 ft), Browns Peak (11,717 ft), Elk Mountain (11,150 ft), Rock Creek Knoll (11,125 ft)
Holding ground: Snowy Range Pass (10,879 ft), Johnson Park (10,411 ft), Rock Creek Park (9,848 ft), Pennock Mountain WHMA, Forbes/Sheep Mountain WHMA
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 18
Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep Success Rates
WGFD's 2025 harvest report carries no bighorn sheep row we can read back to bighorn sheep hunt area 18 on its own, so no figure is given here — a statewide average printed under this heading would look measured and would not be. WGFD's harvest reports page has the full tables.
Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep Draw Odds
Draw odds data not available for this specific unit/species combination in our database.
Search Wyoming Draw OddsWyoming Game and Fish's 2026 demand report for bighorn sheep in bighorn sheep hunt area 18, residents and nonresidents kept apart because they draw from different license pools:
- Type 1 (any ram), residents: 78 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
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Wyoming bighorn sheep hunt area 18?
What is the bighorn sheep success rate in bighorn sheep hunt area 18?
Is bighorn sheep hunt area 18 the same ground as deer hunt area 18?
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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 18, Season dates, license types and limitations by hunt area · 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, WHMAs, Public Access Areas, Hunter Management Areas and Walk-In Areas inside the area · 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