Bighorn Mountains Wildlife Viewing Calendar: Month by Month

You can see wildlife in the Bighorns every month of the year — the question is what, and where. This Bighorn Mountains wildlife viewing calendar breaks it down: elk bugle in September and October, moose hold the willow drainages most of the year, deer and pronghorn work the foothills daily, and winter belongs to the eagles.

The Bighorns sit differently than the famous parks. There are no bear jams here, no boardwalks, no ranger waving traffic past a bison. Wildlife watching in Sheridan County is quieter work — a spotting scope on a gravel pullout along US-14, a slow evening drive up Red Grade Road, coffee going cold on a cabin porch while a mule deer doe picks her way through the yard. The animals are genuinely wild, the crowds are genuinely thin, and the viewing runs all year if you know the rhythm. We've watched that rhythm since 2017, hosting guests across Sheridan, Big Horn, Story, Dayton, and Buffalo, and this calendar is what we tell people when they ask what they'll actually see.

One honest note up front: wildlife doesn't keep appointments. Everything below describes typical patterns, not guarantees — a wet spring or an early snow shifts the whole schedule by weeks.

How to Use This Bighorn Mountains Wildlife Viewing Calendar

The table below pairs each month with the species most worth looking for and the habitat where your odds are best. Dawn and dusk beat midday in every month; the first hour of light is worth the alarm clock. Elevations matter too — animals drift uphill as snow melts and back down as it returns, so "where" is really "how high."

Month	What to watch for	Where to look
January	Bald and golden eagles; deer and elk concentrated low	Cottonwoods along the Tongue and Goose Creek drainages; foothill hay meadows
February	Wintering elk herds; coyotes hunting open snow	Lower foothill slopes off WYO 335 and US-87; sagebrush flats
March	Elk shedding antlers; first sandhill cranes typically returning	South-facing foothill slopes; river-bottom fields near Sheridan and Big Horn
April	Pronghorn spreading out; turkeys strutting; bears typically emerging	Sage country east of the mountains; creek bottoms at dawn
May	Elk calving and deer fawning begin (give them room); songbird migration	Mid-elevation meadows greening up; Tongue River Canyon
June	Moose with young calves; wildflower-meadow marmots	Willow bottoms along US-14 and US-16; rockpiles near Meadowlark Lake
July	Elk and deer at high summer range; moose in ponds at dusk	High meadows off US-14A; alpine basins near Powder River Pass
August	Bulls in velvet feeding hard; hawks working cut hayfields	Timber edges at first light; foothill benches in the evening
September	Elk rut — bugling typically peaks mid-September to early October	Meadow-timber edges at dawn and dusk, mid to high elevations
October	Late bugling; deer and pronghorn ruts building; bears feeding before den-up	Transition slopes as animals drift lower; berry patches
November	Mule deer rut; elk moving to winter range	Foothills and ranch-edge country; low sage draws
December	Eagles back on the rivers; big game grouped and visible on snow	River cottonwoods; open south slopes within a short drive of town

If you only get one trip, the third week of September is the one locals circle — cold mornings, gold aspens, and bulls bugling across the drainages.

What Animals Live in the Bighorn Mountains?

Elk, mule deer, and white-tailed deer are the reliable headliners, with pronghorn owning the sage flats between Sheridan and the mountain front. Moose — introduced generations ago and now well established — favor the willow bottoms; the stretch of US-14 near Burgess Junction and the ponds along US-16 near Meadowlark Lake are classic places to scan. Black bears live throughout the range, and despite the name, actual bighorn sheep are scarce here — a herd historically hangs on toward the Devil Canyon country in the far north, but most visitors never see one. There is no established grizzly population in the Bighorns, which changes the feel of a hike compared to the ranges farther west.

September up here sounds like nothing else — you'll hear the bugle bounce off the timber before you ever find the bull in the glass. — a Wyo Stays local

Smaller stuff rewards patience: yellow-bellied marmots and pikas in the high rockpiles, wild turkeys in the foothill oak brush, and a genuinely good raptor show — golden eagles year-round, bald eagles stacking into the river cottonwoods once the cold sets in.

Viewing Well: Distance, Light & Local Help

The rules that keep viewing good are simple. Stay far enough away that the animal never changes its behavior because of you — if it stops feeding and stares, you're too close, and with moose that line matters most, because a cow with a calf will close distance fast. Never feed anything, keep dogs leashed or home, and give May and June babies a wide berth even when they look "abandoned"; the mother is almost always bedded nearby. Wyoming Game & Fish (wgfd.wyo.gov) publishes seasonal guidance worth a read before you come, and our wildlife safety guide for the Bighorns covers the close-encounter playbook in detail.

Local outfitters and guides around Sheridan and Buffalo run horseback and vehicle-based trips into country you'd be slow to find alone, and a guided fall day during the rut is worth every dollar for a first-timer. Check road and seasonal access before you plan a high-country morning — our Bighorn road closures guide explains what's typically open when — and pack out everything you pack in, per the ethic in our Leave No Trace guide.

Stay Nearby: Mountain-View Cabins & Homes

The best wildlife blind we offer is a porch. Our mountain-view cabins and homes around Sheridan, Big Horn, Story, and Dayton sit where the foothills meet the ranchland — the exact edge habitat deer, turkeys, and the occasional moose actually use — with full kitchens for 5 a.m. thermos-filling and big windows facing the range. Wyo Stays is a licensed, insured Wyoming vacation rental brokerage based in downtown Sheridan, and every home is cleaned and inspected between stays. Browse the mountain-view collection at book.wyostays.com — Book Direct — No Channel Fees.

Practical Tips

• Binoculars minimum; a spotting scope turns a pullout into a front-row seat.
• Plan around light: first hour of the day, last hour of the evening.
• Drive slow at dawn and dusk on US-14, US-14A, and US-16 — for the viewing and for the deer on the road.
• Dress for two seasons in one day; high-country mornings run cold even in July.
• Book fall stays early — September rut weekends fill fast at book.wyostays.com.

FAQ: Wildlife Watching in the Bighorns

Q: When is the best time to see elk in the Bighorn Mountains?

A: The rut, typically mid-September through early October, when bulls bugle at dawn and dusk along meadow-timber edges at mid to high elevations. Winter is the other easy window — elk group up on low foothill slopes where snow concentrates them and they're visible from county roads. Midsummer elk are up high and scattered, so bring optics and patience.

Q: Are there grizzly bears in the Bighorn Mountains?

A: No established population — the Bighorns are black bear country. Occasional wandering grizzlies have been documented in the region over the years, so treat any bear with distance and respect, but the day-to-day reality here is very different from the Absaroka or Teton ranges. Standard food storage and bear awareness still apply everywhere in the forest.

Q: Where can I see moose near Sheridan?

A: Willow bottoms and beaver-pond country in the high Bighorns — the meadows near Burgess Junction along US-14 and the drainages around Meadowlark Lake on US-16 are the classic scans, typically best at dawn and dusk in summer. Moose look placid and are not; give them more room than any other animal on this list, especially cows with calves.

Q: Can I watch wildlife in the Bighorns without hiking?

A: Yes — much of the best viewing here is from a vehicle or a porch. The scenic byways (US-14, US-14A, US-16) cross prime habitat with legal pullouts, foothill county roads pass winter range, and homes on the mountain edge get deer and turkeys through the yard. A slow evening drive often beats a long hike.

Twelve months, twelve different shows, and never a crowd between you and the animals. Pick your month, pack the binoculars, and set up camp somewhere with a view of the range — we'll point you toward that morning's best odds when you get here. Plan your trip and book direct at wyostays.com.