Idaho’s 264 bighorn sheep records trace the state’s most rugged country. Lemhi County alone accounts for 99 of them, with Custer and Idaho counties close behind, and the canyon ground of the Frank Church-River Of No Return Wilderness and Hells Canyon Wilderness stands out among the named places.
Built for cliffs and canyon walls
A bighorn’s whole build serves steep ground: split, rubber-soled hooves that grip rock, and eyesight keen enough to spot a threat across a canyon. Ewes and lambs keep close to escape terrain nearly all year, while rams form separate bachelor bands outside the autumn rut. Grasses and browse from nearby benches feed them, but the cliffs are home.
Summer highs, winter lows
Idaho reports crest from June through August, when lambs are on their feet and bands graze high, snow-free slopes. In winter the sheep trade elevation for south-facing, windswept ground near the canyon bottoms, where wind clears the snow and forage stays reachable.
Status in Idaho
NatureServe ranks the bighorn sheep S2, Imperiled, in Idaho even though the species is G4 globally. The species is native to the state, and herds here are notoriously vulnerable to pneumonia carried by domestic sheep and goats, which keeps the bighorn among Idaho’s most closely watched big game animals.
Full species profile
