Bighorn Sheep - Conservation and Management
Video: 'Livin' the Wildlife' Bighorn Sheep in Colorado
Conservation in Action
Bighorn Sheep in Colorado
Despite its iconic status and current prominence, the bighorn sheep was near extinction at the turn of the century. Diseases introduced through European livestock and unregulated hunting had decimated populations throughout the West, and only a small number of the native sheep remained in Colorado in the early 1900s.
Thanks to the creation of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation and the work done in Colorado over the past century bighorn sheep along are doing very well. This model takes funding from the sale of hunting and fishing licenses to invest into wildlife management, research and habitat enhancement.
Herd Management Plans
Bighorn Sheep Herd Management
The purpose of a Herd Management plan (HMP) is to integrate the plans and intentions of Colorado Parks and Wildlife with the concerns and ideas of land management agencies and interested public to determine how a big game herd in a Data Analysis Unit (DAU) should be managed.
Big game populations are managed to achieve population and sex ratio objectives established for Data Analysis Units. A DAU is the geographic area that represents the year-around range of a big game herd and includes all of the seasonal ranges of a specific herd. Each DAU usually is composed of several Game Management Units (GMUs), but in some cases only one GMU makes up a DAU.
Draft Herd Management Plans
There are currently no draft plans open for public comment. When comment periods are available, they are open for 30 days.
About the Draft Plan Process
Traditionally, Colorado Parks and Wildlife staff have presented one herd management plan at a time for approval to the Parks and Wildlife Commission. In order to address the large numbers of HMPS that need to be updated, staff have taken a new approach to develop a regional roll-up of all HMPs in a CPW region for a single big game species to update or establish new population and sex ration objectives. The regional plans also describe the significant management issue for herds within each Region, what public input was used to develop proposed objectives, and the individual HMPs for each herd.
Finalized Herd Management Plans
- DBS61 - Dolores River
- RBS1 - Poudre/Rawah/Lone Pine
- RBS3 - Georgetown
- RBS4 - Mount Evans
- RBS5 - Buffalo Peaks/Mount Silverheels/Tenmile Range
- RBS8 - Pikes Peak/Dome Rock/Beaver Creek
- RBS9 - Arkansas River
- RBS10 - Sangre De Cristo
- RBS12 - Collegiate Range
- RBS14 - Rampart
- RBS20 - Weminuche
- RBS21 - San Juans West
- RBS22 - Central San Juans
- RBS37 - Mount Zirkel
About Preparing an HMP
In preparing an HMP, agency personnel attempt to balance the biological capabilities of the herd and its habitat with the public's demand for wildlife recreational opportunities.
The primary decisions needed for each HMP plan are how many animals should exist in the DAU and what is the desired sex ratio for the population of big game animals (e.g., the number of males per 100 females).
The selection of population and sex ratio objectives (which are set for a 10-year period of time) drive important decisions in the big game season setting process, namely:
- How many animals must be harvested to maintain or move toward the objectives
- What types of hunting seasons are required to achieve the harvest objective
Bighorn Sheep Access Program
The Bighorn Sheep Access Program provides public access for bighorn sheep hunting on private lands in Colorado through the formation, or continuation of partnerships with private landowners. Through this program, hunters can play an important role in assisting CPW and landowners in managing bighorn sheep populations on private lands.