Unit S21 (Encampment River)

The Wyoming Game and Fish Commission names bighorn sheep hunt area 21 "Encampment River". It runs to about 1,073 square miles, entirely in Carbon County. WGFD reports these bighorn sheep as the Encampment River 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: North Platte River, Spring Creek and Little Snake River

WGFD's 2026 Chapter 9 walks the line around bighorn sheep hunt area 21 corner by corner. It starts where Wyoming Highway 130 crosses the North Platte River in the town of Saratoga. On the way round it follows Wyoming Highway 130, Wyoming Highway 230, Wyoming Highway 70 and U.S.F.S. Road 801, and North Platte River, Spring Creek, Little Snake River and Sage Creek. 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 21s

WGFD numbers each species' hunt areas on its own grid, so the number 21 also belongs to its elk, deer, antelope and moose hunt areas 21. Only the elk area 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: Public Access Areas

Public Access Areas such as North Platte River-Pick Bridge (50 acres) and North Platte River-Sanger (229 acres) are public ways onto water and land; check what each allows before you count on it for hunting.

Wilderness inside the line: Huston Park Wilderness and Encampment River Wilderness

About 4% of bighorn sheep hunt area 21 lies in the Huston Park Wilderness and 2% of bighorn sheep hunt area 21 lies in the Encampment River Wilderness. WGFD's 2026 regulations print the rule that matters there: no nonresident may hunt big game in a designated wilderness area unless accompanied by a licensed professional guide or a resident guide, with at least one guide for every two nonresident hunters. Inside the wilderness there are no roads, so every animal there comes out on your back or on a horse.

High ground inside the line: Bridger Peak, Sierra Madre and Blackhall Mountain

Named high points inside bighorn sheep hunt area 21 include Bridger Peak at 10,982 feet, Sierra Madre at 10,958 feet, Blackhall Mountain at 10,957 feet, Vulcan Mountain at 10,769 feet and Red Mountain at 10,490 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: Deadhorse Park, Dead Horse Park and Hidden Treasure Gulch

Below them sit Deadhorse Park at 8,806 feet, Dead Horse Park at 8,634 feet, Hidden Treasure Gulch at 8,552 feet, Jerry Park at 8,541 feet and Casteel Park at 8,525 feet. These are the folds worth watching, and the ones other hunters walk past.