Arizona Deer — Unit 3B
Arizona Unit 3B covers 370,547 acres and lies 11 miles north-east of Show Low and 42 miles south-east of Holbrook. 45% of it is public land, mostly national forest (28%) and state trust land (16%). In 2025, 396 people hunted deer here and took 36 — 9% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 10 tags here for 3 first-choice applicants.
Your chance of drawing here
Every deer license type on offer in Unit 3B, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.
Chances are from the 2026 draw (the most recent) for a first-choice nonresident. "Points needed" = the cut in the last draw.
Simple view Odds at every point level-
19% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
-
1% Point builder 0% as 2nd choice
| Hunt | Your odds (0 pts) | As 2nd choice | Points needed | Tags / applicants | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1182 ↗ MUZZLELOADER DEER | Any antlered deer | 3B | 19% Long shot | 0% | — | 10 / 3 | Oct 23 – Nov 1, 2026 |
| 1183 ↗ MUZZLELOADER DEER | Any antlered deer | 3B | 1% Point builder | 0% | — | 1 / 11 | Dec 11–31, 2026 |
What these columns mean
- Your odds —
- the share of applicants at your point level who drew this tag in the 2026 draw. Not a forecast: quotas and demand move every year.
- The badge —
- plain language for that number. Likely draw 75% or better · Real chance 40%+ · Long shot 15%+ · Point builder below that, so you are applying mainly to bank a point · Undersubscribed means fewer first-choice applicants than tags, so everyone who applied drew.
- As 2nd choice —
- Arizona lets you name more than one hunt on the application. Miss on your first choice and you go into the pot for whatever tags are left, alongside everyone else's second choices. Points never help a lower choice, so this number is the same whatever you have banked — it is usually worth naming a hunt that goes undersubscribed.
- Points needed —
- the lowest point total that still got a tag in the 2026 draw, and how that cut has moved since the earliest draw we hold.
- Tags / applicants —
- tags on offer and first-choice applicants for them, as the agency published them. Under five tags we print counts instead of a percentage, because one applicant either way swings it.
What it costs to apply (2026 nonresident fees)
| License | Up front | Gone if you miss | If you draw |
|---|---|---|---|
| Per application | $175 | $175 | $475 |
Application window: closes Jun 2, 2027 (expected). Full fee breakdown.
The country
Boundaries are drawn for orientation only — the written boundary description in the regulations governs.
Who owns the ground
- Private 205,551 ac · 55%
- National Forest 102,524 ac · 28%
- State trust land 58,609 ac · 16%
- BLM 2,570 ac · 1%
- State land 911 ac · 0%
- County or city land 335 ac · 0%
- Tribal 43 ac · 0%
How the hunting has gone
What Arizona Game & Fish Department publishes for this area after each season — harvest statistics for everyone who hunted it, not draw odds and not a forecast. Arizona Game & Fish Department publishes these per hunt rather than per unit; the rows below add its own figures together, since a hunter holds one tag for the species in a season. 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.
All deer
| Season | Hunters | Harvest | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 396 | 36 | 9% |
| 2024 | 253 | 45 | 18% |
| 2023 | 205 | 26 | 13% |
| 2022 | 309 | 43 | 14% |
| 2021 | 412 | 42 | 10% |
| 2020 | 380 | 51 | 13% |
| 2019 | 225 | 25 | 11% |
| 2018 | 374 | 54 | 14% |
Mule Deer
| Season | Hunters | Harvest | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | — | 36 | — |
| 2024 | — | 44 | — |
| 2023 | — | 26 | — |
| 2022 | — | 41 | — |
| 2021 | — | 42 | — |
| 2020 | — | 47 | — |
| 2019 | — | 25 | — |
| 2018 | — | 47 | — |
White-tailed Deer
| Season | Hunters | Harvest | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | — | 1 | — |
| 2020 | — | 4 | — |
| 2018 | — | 7 | — |
What people carried (2025 harvest)
- Firearm 52 · 72% · 104 hunters, 50% success
- Archery 20 · 28% · 292 hunters, 7% success
What the agency says about the area
Unit 3B – Beginning at Snowflake; southerly along AZ Hwy 77 to U.S. Hwy 60; southwesterly along U.S. Hwy 60 to the White Mountain Apache Indian Reservation boundary; easterly along the reservation boundary to the Vernon-McNary Rd. (FR 224); northerly along the Vernon-McNary Rd. to U.S. Hwy 60; west on U.S. Hwy 60 to AZ Hwy 61; northeasterly on AZ Hwy 61 to AZ Hwy 180A; northerly on AZ Hwy 180A to Concho-Snowflake…
Boundary: AZ Game and Fish Hunt Units (AZGFD ArcGIS feature service, layer 0)
Harvest: 2025 AZ Over-the-Counter Archery Deer Harvest Summary
Harvest: 2025 AZ Deer Harvest Summary (draw hunts only)