Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep were reported grazing this month along Colorado Highway 145 between Telluride and Placerville.
The San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office warned drivers to watch out for a herd of ewes and rams seen near Sawpit and Sliverpick between mile markers 78 and 80.
“These look like Rocky Mountain bighorns,” said Brad Weinmeister, area biologist for Colorado Parks and Wildlife in an email. “As the snow comes off and the green-up begins, they’ll start becoming more active.”
The sheep are turning the corner from the winter nutrition deficit to maintaining calories with improved grazing conditions, he said.
“They will also start shedding their winter coats and getting their sleek new summer hair,” Weinmeister said. “In the meantime, they can look rough and scraggly.”
He said ewes will give birth to lambs in a couple of months.
CPW estimates 7,000 Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep live in Colorado.
“Please drive with caution as these guys don’t understand how cars can kill them,” said a post on the San Miguel Sheriff’s Office Facebook page.
Bighorn sheep have three subspecies, including the Rocky Mountain, Sierra Nevada and desert bighorns.
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.
jmimiaga@the-journal.com
