California Bighorn Sheep Draw Odds
In the 2025 draw California offered 12 bighorn sheep hunts to residents and nonresidents in one shared draw, drawn partly by preference points and partly at random. At 0 points an applicant had at least an even chance in 0 hunts open to every hunter.
Open Apr 15 – Jun 2, 2027 (expected)
Kept if you miss. Bighorn Sheep license $2,123 only if drawn
2025 draw · nonresidents capped at 10%
2025 draw, first choice
Point only: $8.38 nonresident · on the draw application · apply by Jun 2, 2027 (expected) → Buying Points in California
How the California Draw Works (30-Second Version)
Hybrid: preference + random.
Say a hunt has 100 nonresident tags. 75 go to the applicants with the most preference points; if the last point level that draws has more applicants than tags left, that level is split at random. The other 25 are drawn at random from everyone who missed the points pass, so an applicant with no points still has a chance.
Before You Apply
One Tag Per Lifetime
Draw a tag once and you cannot apply for California bighorn sheep again.
Drawing a California bighorn sheep tag in any earlier year bars you from applying again for life; only the mature Nelson ram is hunted, there are no ewe tags, and fundraising (auction) tags are outside the limit.
Source: wildlife.ca.gov
- Limit
- One per lifetime
- Nonresident Share
- Up to 10%
- No more than 10% of the bighorn sheep tags go to nonresidents in a year, which on a 30-tag year is about three.
- Your Points
- Earned on a miss
- Missing the draw earns you a point for next year.
Every Hunt at 0 Points
12 hunt codes drawn in 2025 · 0 at 50% or better · first choice · all residencies
| Hunt | Season | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 501 Zone 1 · Ram · Zone 1 · Marble and Clipper Mountains · General Method · Ram | Ram · Zone 1 · Marble and Clipper Mountains · General Method · Ram | 1 | Dec 6–Feb 1 | <1% (small sample) | — | 1 / 1,515 | — |
| 502 Zone 2 · Ram · Zone 2 · Old Dad and Kelso Peak Mountains · General Method · Ram | Ram · Zone 2 · Old Dad and Kelso Peak Mountains · General Method · Ram | 2 | Dec 6–Feb 1 | <1% (small sample) | — | 3 / 971 | — |
| 503 Zone 3 · Ram · Zone 3 · Clark and Kingston Mountain Ranges · General Method · Ram | Ram · Zone 3 · Clark and Kingston Mountain Ranges · General Method · Ram | 3 | Dec 6–Feb 1 | <1% (small sample) | — | 4 / 1,535 | — |
| 504 Zone 4 · Ram · Zone 4 · Orocopia Mountains · General Method · Ram | Ram · Zone 4 · Orocopia Mountains · General Method · Ram | 4 | Dec 6–Feb 1 | <1% (small sample) | — | 1 / 799 | — |
| 505 Zone 5 · Ram · Zone 5 · San Gorgonio Wilderness · General Method · Ram | Ram · Zone 5 · San Gorgonio Wilderness · General Method · Ram | 5 | Dec 20–Feb 15 | <1% (small sample) | — | 1 / 793 | — |
| 506 Zone 6 · Ram · Zone 6 · Sheep Hole Mountains · General Method · Ram | Ram · Zone 6 · Sheep Hole Mountains · General Method · Ram | 6 | Dec 6–Feb 1 | <1% (small sample) | — | 1 / 569 | — |
| 507 Zone 7 · Ram · Zone 7 · White Mountains · General Method · Ram P1 | Ram · Zone 7 · White Mountains · General Method · Ram P1 | 7 | Aug 16–Sep 28 | <1% (small sample) | — | 3 / 1,419 | — |
| 511New 2025 Zone 7 · Ram · Zone 7 · White Mountains · General Method · Ram P2 | Ram · Zone 7 · White Mountains · General Method · Ram P2 | 7 | Jan 3–Feb 1 | <1% (small sample) | — | 2 / 469 | — |
| 508 Zone 8 · Ram · Zone 8 · South Bristol Mountains · General Method · Ram | Ram · Zone 8 · South Bristol Mountains · General Method · Ram | 8 | Dec 6–Feb 1 | <1% (small sample) | — | 1 / 380 | — |
| 509 Zone 9 · Ram · Zone 9 · Cady Mountains · General Method · Ram | Ram · Zone 9 · Cady Mountains · General Method · Ram | 9 | Dec 6–Feb 1 | <1% (small sample) | — | 2 / 754 | — |
| 512New 2025 Zone 10 · Rifle · Zone 10 · Newberry, Rodman and Ord Mountains | Rifle · Zone 10 · Newberry, Rodman and Ord Mountains | 10 | Dec 6–Jan 3 | <1% (small sample) | — | 4 / 1,297 | — |
| 513New 2025 Zone 10 · Rifle · Zone 10 · Newberry, Rodman and Ord Mountains P2 | Rifle · Zone 10 · Newberry, Rodman and Ord Mountains P2 | 10 | Jan 4–Feb 1 | <1% (small sample) | — | 4 / 1,091 | — |
Showing all 12 · sorted by zone · 1 hunt not offered in 2025 hidden — show discontinued hunts
What These Columns Mean
- Odds at your points —
- the share of first-choice applicants at your point level who drew this tag in the 2025 draw. Not a forecast: quotas and demand move every year. A badge marked * had under five tags, so one applicant either way swings it.
- Pts needed —
- the lowest point total that still got a tag in the 2025 draw; the ▲ or ▼ is how far that cut has moved since the earliest draw we hold. A 0 marks a hunt that went Undersubscribed: fewer first-choice applicants than tags, so everyone who applied drew.
- Tags / apps —
- tags on offer and first-choice applicants for them, as the agency published them.
- Success —
- the share of hunters in the zone who killed an animal, from the latest harvest report on file. It is the whole zone's figure, not the hunt's.
All 10 Zones
Each zone has its own page: where it is on the map, how much of it is public land, what the hunters who went there killed last season, and every license type you can apply for inside it.
Report an error on this page
About These Numbers
Every percentage here is the chance an applicant with that many points had in the draw year shown, computed from the agency's published results; quotas, applicant numbers and point levels change every year. A dash means the agency did not publish the number. Under five tags the percentage is flagged: one applicant either way swings it. Check the agency's site and apply there; we don't take applications. How we compute these.