The sheriff in these parts has found himself in a spot of trouble since the locals caught him out of uniform. Way out of uniform. And they`ve got the tape to prove it.

It all started about a month ago when first-term Morris County Sheriff Corky Woodward went to the only video rental store in this farm town of 2,300 and checked out a camera, a videocassette player and some blank tape.

Then he and his wife, Dannette, made a movie--90 minutes, in full color, X-rated.

But when Woodward returned the equipment to the store, he apparently left the tape in the player by mistake. And when the player was rented out again, so was the homemade movie of him and his wife.

Suddenly the 32-year-old sheriff found himself with more public exposure than he knew what to do with. Copies were made and passed from living room to barroom to meeting hall as quickly as stores could sell blank tapes.

Some people estimate there are more than 200 copies of the videotape in circulation, with a demand for more that has stretched well beyond Council Grove.

''This is the hottest thing going right now,'' said Mary Picolet, owner of the Ritz Theater, who rented the equipment to the sheriff and then unknowingly passed along the tape.

She says she hasn`t seen the movie and doesn`t have any desire to see it. She has, however, fielded plenty of inquiries about it. So far, she has granted about half a dozen interviews with reporters, including a television crew that arrived recently from New York.

Picolet also has received more than a dozen phone calls from other video store owners wanting copies, some of whom she says have gotten a bit surly when she said she doesn`t stock it.

The tape has been dubbed everything from ''The Sheriff Without His Pants'' to ''The Sheriff Rides Again.''

Sheriff Woodward is not granting interviews these days and is rarely seen on the streets.

Despite a petition drive that started last week calling for his resignation, Woodward has said he has no plans to turn in his badge. He defeated the incumbent in 1984 and still has two years left in his term.

The tape and the month`s worth of jokes and speculation that followed have divided the town into three camps: those who think it is funny, those who are outraged, and those who are embarrassed not only for the sheriff and his wife but for the entire community.

''I feel sorry for her,'' said a waitress in a local diner that serves drinks in converted Mason jars. ''It`s embarrassing for all of us.''

It`s not that Council Grove is publicity shy. The tiny community tucked in the rolling Flint Hills of central Kansas likes to show off.

But the locals would prefer to gain national recognition for the 12 historic sites in town, including a huge statue of a stern-looking pioneer woman, clutching a baby in one hand and a rifle in the other, called the Madonna of the Trail.

Some say the people who made copies of the tape and passed it around are the real culprits. ''This one woman told me she saw it and it was so bad, so disgusting,'' said Picolet, who paused and then grinned, ''she`d watched it four or five times.''