Arizona Elk 3097 — Unit 6A

CHAMP | Any elk | 6A

What you may take
CHAMP | Any elk | 6A
Weapon
Handgun
Where
Unit 6A
94% public of 729,048 acres
Season (2026)
Oct 23–29, 2026
Tags (2026)
50
for 28 first-choice applicants · nonresidents capped at 10%
Hunter success here (2025)
42%
of everyone who hunted the area

Showing nonresident results. Switch to resident

Odds by point level — 2026 draw

Prior-draw probability for a first-choice nonresident applicant. 50 tags, 28 first-choice applicants, drew out at 10 points. Source: 2026 M Draw Report · p. 38.

Points Your chance Applicants Drawn
0 3% 3 0
1 5% 4 1
2 8% 3 0
3 10% 10 0
4 12% 3 0
5 15% 0 0
6 17% 1 0
7 19% 2 0
8 21% 0 0
9 24% 0 1
10 100% 1 1
11 100% 1 2
12 100% 0 0
13 100% 0 0

Expected weighted draw over published bonus-point pools. A dash means Arizona Game & Fish Department did not publish a count for that level. How we compute these.

What it costs (2026 nonresident fees)

Cash to apply
$175
Out of pocket if unsuccessful
$175
Total if drawn
$825
Refunded if unsuccessful
$0

At the 2026 odds, expected cost per hunt-year ranges from $825 (enough points to draw) to $7,411.98 (lowest published odds).

Nonresident hunt permit-tag application fee (per applicant, per species) · paid at application $15 source
Nonresident Combination Hunt and Fish license (only NR license valid for the draw; valid 1 year from purchase) · paid at application $160 source
Bonus point only (application fee; no tag fee) · only for a point bought without applying — an unsuccessful applicant gets the point free $15 source
Nonresident elk hunt permit-tag (charged only if drawn; booklet price $665 includes the $15 application fee) · paid if drawn $650 source

Optional, not counted above: PointGuard (optional tag-surrender insurance, per species per applicant) $10 and PointGuard Plus (optional; all eligible species for three consecutive draw cycles) $25.

Not applying this year? A point-only purchase costs $15 (Jan 13 – Feb 3, expected) and keeps you moving toward the 10-point cut.

Next application window: opens Jan 13, closes Feb 3, 2027 (expected) · results ~February 23. Last cycle's schedule rolled forward — confirm when the agency publishes.

Point creep & years to draw

Insufficient history (2 of 3 draws) — a creep trend needs at least three draw years.

Seasons (2026)

Split 1: Oct 23–29, 2026 p. 17

How this tag has hunted

Across every license type in Unit 6A, Arizona Game & Fish Department counted 2,476 hunters and 1,036 elk taken in 2025 — 42% of them killed something. Full Unit 6A profile: maps, public land, five years of harvest →

Hunters holding this license type (2025) — the rest of the area's hunters held something else:

What they hunted Hunters Harvest Success Days per animal
Type Archery-Only Bull, Early 639 167 26%
Type Archery-Only Bull, Late 78 6 8%
Type Archery-Only Antlerless 22 5 23%
Type General Bull 631 290 46%
Type General Antlerless 464 253 55%
Type CHAMP 47 32 68%
Type Muzzleloader Bull 291 103 35%
Type Muzzleloader Antlerless 45 17 38%
Type Youth-Only (General) (unit share) 259 163 63%

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: 2025 AZ Elk Harvest Summary 2024 AZ Elk Harvest Summary

As a lower choice

2nd choice
6%

Tags issued to lower choices ÷ lower-choice applicants, as published. Points do not help a lower choice.

Year by year

The standard draw for nonresidents, one row per year.

Year Tags Applicants Applicants per tag Points needed Published odds Source
2026 50 28 0.6 10 4% 2026 M Draw Report · p. 38
2024 35 14 0.4 10 25% 2024 M Draw Report · p. 30

Earlier years, when this number was a different hunt

Arizona reassigns hunt numbers between years. In these years 3097 stood for another unit or weapon, so they are listed here rather than counted as this hunt's history or in its point-creep trend.

Year · what it was Tags Applicants Applicants per tag Points needed Source
2025 · Unit 4B 15 8 0.5 11 2025 M Draw Report · p. 38
2023 · Unit 3A, rifle 20 3 0.2 2023 M Draw Report · p. 22

Other licenses valid in Unit 6A

Legal cartridges for elk in Arizona

From the Arizona hunting laws rules on file for a handgun. "Depends" means the rule turns on your specific load — check the state page.

9mm Luger
.357 Magnum
10mm Auto
.40 S&W
.44 Magnum from $0.68/rd
.454 Casull
.45 ACP from $0.36/rd
.45 Colt from $1.05/rd
.460 S&W Magnum
.500 S&W Magnum
Spot a data error on this page? Tell us.

Every report is checked against the agency source before we change anything.

How to read these numbers

Every percentage on this page is a prior-draw probability: the chance an applicant with that many points would have drawn in the draw year shown, computed from the agency's published results. It is not a forecast — quotas, applicant numbers, and point creep change every year. Every figure links to the agency document it came from. Where a state does not publish a number, we show a dash, never a zero. Hunts with fewer than five tags show counts instead of percentages. Fees show the fee year used. Read the methodology for the engine details.

Not an application service

This page is informational only. Draw rules, quotas, fees, and deadlines are set by the state agency and change by commission action — confirm everything on the agency's own site before you apply, and apply through the agency, not here. We disclaim all liability for reliance on this page.