Arizona Hunting

Overview

Known For

Arizona is home to some of the best trophy elk hunting anywhere. Along with elk, hunts for Coues, whitetail, and mule deer are common. Other big game include Bighorn sheep, antelope, and even javelina.

Terrain

Arizona is landlocked, and its terrain is comprised of deep canyons, high- and low-elevation deserts, many natural rock formations, and volcanic mountain ranges. Humphreys Peak is the highest point in Arizona, sitting at 12,637 feet in elevation, and it is a dormant volcano. With just under 114,000 square miles of territory, Arizona is the sixth largest state by area.

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Arizona Hunting Seasons

Research. Draw. Hunt.

Hunt Research Tools is designed to help hunters research, plan, and apply for hunts and tags every year.

• Build a successful strategy with easy-to-understand, accurate data
• Covers all 12 Western states and all major big game species
• Simple and powerful filtering sorts answers quickly
• Compare across states, species, weapons, dates, and hunt types
• Free with onX Hunt

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Arizona Draw Specifics

ARIZONA – ELK, DEER, ANTELOPE

Point System

• Arizona uses a traditional Bonus Point system
• Bonus Points are like raffle tickets – the more you have, the more “chances” you have in the draw
• You get one chance for your current application, and then one additional chance for every Bonus Point you have (so with 3 points, you’d get 4 chances)
• If you apply for a tag and are unsuccessful, you will be awarded a Bonus Point for that species that will apply to next year’s application
• Or you can also choose to apply for a Bonus Point Only each year to accumulate Bonus Points
• If you apply for 5 consecutive years for any species, you will be awarded an additional Loyalty Bonus Point for that species, but you will lose that if you fail to apply in a year
• You can also accumulate an additional and permanent Bonus Point for every species if you complete an approved Hunter Education course in the state of Arizona

Tag Allocation

• For every individual hunt code, 20% of the total number of tags for that hunt will be awarded to the applicants with the most Bonus Points (“Bonus Pass”)
• The remaining 80% of tags for any given hunt code will be issued in the Random Draw (“1/2 Pass”)
• For elk, deer and antelope up to 10% of the total number of tags can be issued to nonresidents
• This 10% is not guaranteed, but most buck or bull tags have sufficient nonresident demand to trigger the full 10% allocation
• Of the 10% nonresident tag pool, a maximum ½ (50%) of those tags may be issued in the Bonus Point drawing
• Example:
  • Hunt Code X has 100 total tags
  • 20% will be issued in the Bonus Pass: 20 tags
  • 80% will issued in the Random Draw (1/2 Pass): 80 tags
  • 10% of the total number of tags can be issued to nonresidents: 10 tags total
  • 50% of the total number of nonresident tags can be issued in the Bonus Pass: 5 tags total
  • The remaining nonresident tags will be issued in the Random Draw: 5 tags total
  • Of the 100 total tags, nonresidents can draw 10 (5 in the Bonus Pass, 5 in the Random Draw)
  • Residents will draw a minimum of 90 tags (15 tags in the Bonus Pass, and 75 in the Random Draw)

Understanding the Draw Odds

• In Arizona, we include 2 draw odds columns in our List View: Bonus Point Draw Odds and Random Odds (1/2 Pass)
• Bonus Point Draw Odds: We show the minimum # of Bonus Points it took to draw in the Bonus Pass, and the % of applicants that were successful at that point level. So 25% @ 16 pts means that 25% of the applicants with 16 Bonus Points were successful. It also means that 100% of applicants with more than 16 Bonus Points were successful, and that 0% of applicants with less than 16 Bonus Points drew a tag in the Bonus Pass. In this example there are more applicants at 16 points than tags left to issuing the Bonus Pass quota, so they randomly select from the pool of 16 point applicants until the quota is reached (thus the 25%). Use this column to evaluate if you have any shot to draw a tag in the Bonus Pass given your point total. It’s also a key indicator of demand for the hunt, and it’s implied quality.
• Random Draw Odds (1/2 Pass): All applicants are eligible to draw in the Random drawing, regardless of your point level. The more Bonus Points you have, the better your random odds to draw are. If you change the selected value in the “Your Points” dropdown, this value will recalculate. Unless you are chasing a tag in the Bonus Pass draw, this is the important column to consider.If you have 10 Bonus Points, and a hunt could have been drawn in the Bonus Pass with less than 10, the random column will not show a value. This is because you would have drawn in the Bonus Pass and awarded a tag before the Random draw occurred.It is called the “1/2 Pass” because they only evaluate the 1st and 2nd hunt choice on your application to see if they have a tag available to give. If not, they move on to the next application.The 3rd, 4th and 5th hunt choices on your application are only considered if there are leftover tags available after everyone’s 1st and 2nd choice have been considered. So later choices are only really valid for very low demand hunts. But be careful, you will still lose your accumulated Bonus Points if you draw your 3rd choice or later!

Other Tips

• If you are hoping to draw a tag in the random draw, on your application you generally want to put the harder to draw hunt as your 1st choice, and the easier to draw hunt as your 2nd choice. If you’d actually prefer to go on the easier to draw hunt, move it to your 1st choice and consider choosing another easier to draw hunt as your 2nd choice so you can maximize your overall odds to at least draw. If you put a 20% odds hunt as your 1st choice, and a harder 10% odds hunt as your 2nd choice, our draw simulations show you are essentially wasting your 2nd choice. In this scenario, if you do draw, it will almost always be your 1st choice.

Arizona Licenses, Permits, and Regulations

Arizona hunting licenses, permits, and regulations for resident and non-resident hunters can be purchased on the official website of the Arizona Game and Fish Department. Click below to view the website.

Hunting GPS Maps

Every Arizona hunter should have hunting GPS maps on hand. Arizona hunting maps are available from onX Hunt. With a paid membership you can access Satellite, Topo, or Hybrid Basemaps, over which you can view maps of game management units, along with State, Forest Service, and other public and private property boundaries. You can view trails and roads, and even download maps to the Hunt App for use offline. Click below to get onX Hunt for Arizona.

Game Management Units

Arizona’s game management units (GMUs) help define where and what hunters in the state can hunt. From top choices like GMU 13b for mule deer to 37a for going after javelina in the Picacho Mountains, it’s worth exploring all of Arizona’s dozens of GMU boundaries. Click below to view Arizona’s game management units in more detail through an interactive map.

Hunting Layers

AZ Private Lands

Over 2,700,000 parcels mapped by the onX team, this layer helps you know who the property owners are in Arizona. Tap any parcel to learn more info about the owner and acreage.

AZ Gov Lands

onX has the most accurate maps of Gov Lands, covering over 61,000,000 acres in Arizona. Not all Gov Lands offer access opportunities, check regulations before recreating.

SUBLAYERS (4)

AZ GMUs

Arizona Game Management Units. Please hunt responsibly, obey all signage and have a safe legal hunt.

Includes 4 Sublayers

• GMUs
• Yuma Proving Grounds Big Game Units
• Elk Sub Units
• Bighorn Sheep Sub Units

AZ Possible Access

onX has mapped 25,000 acres of possible access lands in Arizona including timber companies and land conservation groups. Research rules on these private lands before recreating.

SUBLAYERS (17)

AZ Game Distribution

Arizona Game Distribution data for 17 different species.

Includes 17 Sublayers

• Band Tailed Pigeon
• Black Bear
• Blue Grouse
• Elk
• Fox Squirrel
• Gambel’s Quail
• Javelina
• Mearn’s Quail
• Mountain Lion
• Mule Deer
• Pronghorn
• Red Squirrel
• Scaled Quail
• Tassel Eared Squirrel
• Turkey
• Whitetail Deer
• White Winged Dove

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