{"id":41708,"date":"2022-03-14T22:24:40","date_gmt":"2022-03-15T04:24:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/rocky-mountain-bighorn-sheep-graze-along-colorado-145\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:02:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:02:56","slug":"rocky-mountain-bighorn-sheep-graze-along-colorado-145","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/rocky-mountain-bighorn-sheep-graze-along-colorado-145\/","title":{"rendered":"Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep graze along Colorado 145"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Rocky
Rocky Mountain Bighorn sheep have been spotted along Colorado Highway 145 in San Miguel County near Sawpit. Drivers are cautioned to watch out for the wildlife. (Courtesy San Miguel County Sheriff)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep were reported grazing this month along Colorado Highway 145 between Telluride and Placerville.<\/p>\n

The San Miguel County Sheriff\u2019s Office warned drivers to watch out for a herd of ewes and rams seen near Sawpit and Sliverpick between mile markers 78 and 80.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese look like Rocky Mountain bighorns,\u201d said Brad Weinmeister, area biologist for Colorado Parks and Wildlife in an email. \u201cAs the snow comes off and the green-up begins, they\u2019ll start becoming more active.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sheep are turning the corner from the winter nutrition deficit to maintaining calories with improved grazing conditions, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey will also start shedding their winter coats and getting their sleek new summer hair,\u201d Weinmeister said. \u201cIn the meantime, they can look rough and scraggly.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said ewes will give birth to lambs in a couple of months.<\/p>\n

\"Bighorn
Bighorn sheep ewes graze along Colorado Highway 145 near Sawpit. (Courtesy San Miguel County Sheriff)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

CPW estimates 7,000 Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep live in Colorado.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlease drive with caution as these guys don\u2019t understand how cars can kill them,\u201d said a post on the San Miguel Sheriff\u2019s Office Facebook page.<\/p>\n

Bighorn sheep have three subspecies, including the Rocky Mountain, Sierra Nevada and desert bighorns.<\/p>\n

Southwest Colorado also is home to desert bighorn sheep. According to a 2020 CPW report, about 175 bighorns live in the Dolores River canyons and tributaries below McPhee Reservoir. Their population inexplicably plummeted to 75 animals in 2001, down from 235 animals in 2003. But the herd has since rebounded and continues to grow, according to the report.<\/p>\n

jmimiaga@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bighorn sheep shed winter coats and head for greener pastures as snow melts<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41709,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29,1561,603],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-41708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-san-miguel-county","tag-wildlife"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41708"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85069,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41708\/revisions\/85069"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41708"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=41708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}