Arizona Deer · Unit 23
Arizona Unit 23 covers 758,159 acres and lies 26 miles south-east of Payson and 43 miles north of Globe. 98% of it is public land, mostly national forest (98%). In 2025, hunters took 154 mule deer here (sum of published weapon rows); hunter counts not published. Its most applied-for hunt, 1087, put up 7 tags (all residencies) in the 2026 draw for 181 nonresident first-choice applicants, 3 of whom drew, and the last tag went to someone with 17 points.
5 licenses · NR capped at 10%
first choice, NR
not published
98% Forest Service
758,159 acres
Boundaries are drawn for orientation only. The written boundary description in the regulations governs.
Best Bets at 0 Points
Ranked by your odds times how often that license type's hunters filled their tag in 2025. Nonresident, first choice, 2026 draw; licenses with at least 10 tags that anyone can buy.
Every License in Unit 23
| What | Season | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1038 | General Deer | 5% | 6 | |
| 1085 | General Deer | 15% | 6 ▲1 | |
| 1086 | General Deer | 9% | 5 ▲1 | |
| 1087 | General Deer | <1% | 17 ▲12 | |
| 1161 · youth | Youth-Only (General) Deer | 9% | 4 ▼1 |
First-choice nonresident odds at your points, 2026 draw. Cut = points the last tag went at; ▲ = points added since the earliest draw on file.
Draw results: AZGFD 2026 F Draw Report, retrieved Aug 31, 2026.
If you draw (2026 nonresident fees): $475 ($175 to apply). Closes Jun 2, 2027 (expected). Full fee breakdown.
Harvest
All deer
| Year | Hunters | Deer | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 (summed) | 1,863 | 280 | 15% |
| 2024 (summed) | 1,686 | 401 | 24% |
| 2023 (summed) | 1,641 | 422 | 26% |
| 2022 (summed) | 2,049 | 336 | 16% |
| 2021 (summed) | 2,793 | 379 | 14% |
| 2020 (summed) | 2,906 | 579 | 20% |
| 2019 (summed) | 2,521 | 561 | 22% |
| 2018 (summed) | 3,426 | 829 | 24% |
Mule Deer
| Year | Hunters | Deer | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 (summed) | — | 154 | — |
| 2024 (summed) | — | 191 | — |
| 2023 (summed) | — | 186 | — |
| 2022 (summed) | — | 147 | — |
| 2021 (summed) | — | 147 | — |
| 2020 (summed) | — | 287 | — |
| 2019 (summed) | — | 226 | — |
| 2018 (summed) | — | 373 | — |
White-tailed Deer
| Year | Hunters | Deer | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 (summed) | — | 122 | — |
| 2024 (summed) | — | 209 | — |
| 2023 (summed) | — | 236 | — |
| 2022 (summed) | — | 181 | — |
| 2021 (summed) | — | 234 | — |
| 2020 (summed) | — | 292 | — |
| 2019 (summed) | — | 335 | — |
| 2018 (summed) | — | 456 | — |
A dash under Hunters: hunter counts not published for that year or sub-species.
| 2025 by License | Hunters | Deer | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| General · 341 licenses | 274 | 70 | 26% |
| Mule deer · firearm (hunt 1 of 2) | — | 69 | — |
| General · 173 licenses | 149 | 39 | 26% |
| White-tailed deer · firearm (hunt 1 of 4) | — | 37 | — |
| General · 168 licenses | 141 | 25 | 18% |
| White-tailed deer · firearm (hunt 2 of 4) | — | 25 | — |
| General · 71 licenses | 44 | 14 | 32% |
| White-tailed deer · firearm (hunt 3 of 4) | — | 14 | — |
| Youth-only (general) | 125 | 78 | 62% |
| Mule deer · firearm (hunt 2 of 2) | — | 55 | — |
| White-tailed deer · firearm (hunt 4 of 4) | — | 22 | — |
| Otc archery | 1,130 | 54 | 6% |
| Mule deer · archery | — | 30 | — |
| White-tailed deer · archery | — | 24 | — |
2025 split: firearm 124 (81%), archery 30 (19%)
What Arizona Game & Fish Department publishes after each season, for everyone who hunted the area: harvest statistics, not draw odds. Arizona Game & Fish Department publishes no whole-unit line for 2025; a year's total is the sum of published weapon rows, added only where the lines do not overlap. Hunter counts not published for 2025. Arizona's figures come from AZGFD's post-season hunter questionnaire - survey estimates carrying a 90% confidence interval and a return count, not a census of animals checked in. Source: AZGFD 2025 AZ Deer Harvest Summary; AZGFD 2025 AZ Over-the-Counter Archery Deer…; AZGFD 2024 AZ Deer Harvest Summary.
The Ground
| National Forest | 743,793 ac | 98% |
| Private | 13,763 ac | 2% |
| Bureau of Reclamation | 484 ac | <1% |
| Tribal | 118 ac | <1% |
What the Agency Says About the Area
Unit 23 – Beginning at the confluence of Tonto Creek and the Salt River; northerly along Tonto Creek to the spring box, north of the Tonto Creek Hatchery, on Tonto Creek; northeasterly along the east fork of Tonto Creek to the Tonto-Sitgreaves National Forest boundary along the Mogollon Rim; east along this boundary to the White Mountain Apache Indian Reservation boundary; southerly along the reservation boundary to…
▸ Sources 21
- AZGFD 2026 F Draw Report draw results, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- AZGFD 2026 Pronghorn and Elk Hunt Draw Information fees, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- AZGFD 2026 Game and Fish Laws and Rules Book fees, area description, retrieved Aug 31, 2026
- AZGFD 2025 AZ Deer Harvest Summary harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- AZGFD 2025 AZ Over-the-Counter Archery Deer… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- AZGFD 2024 AZ Deer Harvest Summary harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- AZGFD 2024 AZ Over-the-Counter Archery Deer… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- AZGFD 2023 AZ Deer Harvest Summary harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- AZGFD 2023 AZ Over-the-Counter Archery Deer… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- AZGFD 2022 AZ Deer Harvest Summary harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- AZGFD 2022 AZ Over-the-Counter Archery Deer… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- AZGFD 2021 AZ Deer Harvest Summary harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- AZGFD 2021 AZ Over-the-Counter Archery Deer… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- AZGFD 2020 AZ Deer Harvest Summary harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- AZGFD 2020 AZ Over-the-Counter Archery Deer… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- AZGFD 2019 AZ Deer Harvest Summary harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- AZGFD 2019 AZ Over-the-Counter Archery Deer… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- AZGFD 2018 AZ Deer Harvest Summary harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- AZGFD 2018 AZ Over-the-Counter Archery Deer… harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- AZGFD 2026 AZ Game and Fish Hunt Units boundary, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- Bureau of Land Management Arizona State Office with the Arizona State Land Department (Arizona Land Resources Information System, ALRIS) and Premier Data Services 2026 BLM AZ Surface Management Agency land ownership, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
About These Numbers
Odds are from the 2026 draw, the latest on file, computed from Arizona Game & Fish Department's published results. They are what happened in that draw, not a forecast. Under five tags a percentage carries a *, because one applicant either way swings it. A dash means the agency did not publish the number, and a date marked expected is last cycle's schedule rolled forward. How we compute these.
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We don't take applications: check Arizona Game & Fish Department's site and apply there.
Prior-draw odds from Arizona Game & Fish Department's results, not a forecast · Methodology · All Arizona deer hunts