Wildlife at McGregor Mountain Lodge

Bighorn sheep have chosen the slopes of McGregor Mountain Lodge as one of their favorite habitats. Professional photographers familiar with our local wildlife come to McGregor to shoot bighorn, so "our bighorn" are often featured on postcards, calendars and posters.

In the 1980's, the Park re-introduced bighorn into an extremely remote area two canyons north of McGregor. Over the next few years, the sheep themselves moved to Mcgregor Mountain and thrived. Since then, the Department of Wildlife has trapped bighorn on our property and relocated them to other areas, including the Big Thompson Canyon east of Estes. Now when we drive down that canyon (US 34) to Loveland we often see "our bighorn."

To protect the sheep, we have a strict pet policy and we ask our guests to not approach them when they come wandering among the cottages. Our only fatalities have been the picnic tables that the bighorn used for butting practice.

Bighorn visit the lodge year round but are most frequently seen from late October to April. The fall rut brings head-butting contests October -early December. Ewes and rams particularly like our sunny south-facing mountainside in the winter and occasionally the ewes bring their new lambs in May and June.

While bighorn are the stars of our wildlife show, we also feature elk and deer, fox, squirrels and hummingbirds in season. Rarely seen visitors have included mountain lion, bear, marmot and bobcat.

To see some of the lesser seen critter, you can go here... MORE WILDLIFE

All photos seen on this page were taken on the property of McGrgeor Mountain Lodge.