Colorado bighorn sheep range map
Where bighorn sheep live in Colorado, as Colorado Parks and Wildlife maps it, with separate maps for summer and winter. Free, over unit boundaries, land ownership and the topo map, with no account.
Open the bighorn sheep range map All the map does
The bighorn sheep range maps
7 maps are published for this animal. Switch on one or several. "Show it" opens the hunting map with that range drawn.
| Range | What it is | CPW's name for it | Mapped | Last changed | On the map |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year-round range | All the country bighorn sheep are known to use, at any time of year. CPW's definition: The area which encompasses all known seasonal activity areas within the observed range of a bighorn sheep population. | Bighorn Overall Range | 49 areas | October 2025 | Show it |
| Summer range | Where most bighorn sheep spend the summer. CPW's definition: That part of the overall range where 90% of the individuals are located between spring green-up and the first heavy snowfall. Summer range and winter range may overlap. | Bighorn Summer Range | 77 areas | August 2025 | Show it |
| Summer concentration | Summer ground that holds more bighorn sheep than the country around it. CPW's definition: Those areas where bighorn sheep concentrate from mid-June through mid-August. High quality forage, security and lack of disturbance may be characteristic of these areas. | Bighorn Summer Concentration Area | 156 areas | September 2025 | Show it |
| Winter range | Where most bighorn sheep spend an ordinary winter. CPW's definition: That part of the overall range where 90 percent of the individuals are located during the average five winters out of ten from the first heavy snowfall to spring green-up, or during a site specific period of winter as defined for each Data Analysis Unit. | Bighorn Winter Range | 129 areas | August 2025 | Show it |
| Winter concentration | The parts of the winter range that hold far more bighorn sheep than the rest of it. CPW's definition: That part of the winter range where densities are at least 200% greater than the surrounding winter range density, in the average five winters out of ten. | Bighorn Winter Concentration Area | 202 areas | September 2025 | Show it |
| Severe winter range | Where most bighorn sheep end up in the hardest winters, about two in every ten. CPW's definition: That part of the overall range where 90% of the individuals are located when the annual snowpack is at its maximum and/or temperatures are at a minimum in the two worst winters out of ten. | Bighorn Severe Winter Range | 162 areas | August 2025 | Show it |
| Production area | Where female bighorn sheep are known to have their young in spring. CPW's definition: That part of the overall range occupied by pregnant females during a specific period of spring: May 1 to June 30 for Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep and February 28 to May 1 for desert bighorn sheep. | Bighorn Production Area | 245 areas | September 2025 | Show it |
Counts and dates are from Colorado Parks and Wildlife's map service, read October 13, 2026. CPW revises these maps a region at a time, each region about every four years.
How to read a range map
- It is a broad area, not a sighting. Biologists and district wildlife managers draw these areas from what they know of each herd or population. It does not show where an animal is today.
- Weather, hunting pressure and the year all move animals. Winter range is where most are in an ordinary winter. In a mild fall they can be well above it on opening day, and after a hard storm well into it.
- Being inside a mapped range gives no right to hunt the ground. Much winter range is private. Switch on land ownership and tap the spot for the owner on record.
- Your license names the units it is good in. Switch on unit boundaries to see the range and the unit line together.
Nothing on this map promises an animal. It is the published record of where the animal generally lives, and the hunting is still yours to do.
Units, seasons and licenses
Look up any license by its code under Colorado hunt codes, and put units side by side with the unit comparison.
What is left off, on purpose
Colorado Parks and Wildlife also maps single spots an animal comes back to, such as mineral licks, water sources and roost sites, and it maps migration. Those are left off this map. That is part of our fair chase promise: published public maps of broad areas only, and never a hunter's own sightings.
Other big game range maps
Elk, Mule deer, White-tailed deer, Moose, Pronghorn, Mountain goat, Black bear, Mountain lion. Small game and birds: wild turkey, dusky grouse, pheasant.
The map shows the ground. A plan tells you where to go.
The map is free. A FilledTag hunt plan is the paid part: for your tag and where you drive from, one exact plan with a legal place to park, a camp, morning and evening spots and the walk between them, checked against land records.