Arizona Elk · Unit 1
Arizona Unit 1 covers 540,348 acres and lies 42 miles south-east of Show Low and 54 miles south-east of Snowflake. 91% of it is public land, mostly national forest (76%) and state trust land (14%). In 2025, 139 people hunted elk here and took 74, a 53% success rate (sum of published hunt rows). Its most applied-for hunt, 3126, put up 22 tags (all residencies) in the 2026 draw for 1,902 nonresident first-choice applicants, 12 of whom drew, and the last tag went to someone with 22 points.
8 licenses · NR capped at 10%
first choice, NR
2025, all licenses
76% Forest Service
540,348 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.
- Success
- 53%
- Season
- Nov 27 – Dec 3
- Tags / Apps
- 22 / 1,372
- If Drawn
- $825
- Success
- 53%
- Season
- Dec 11–31
- Tags / Apps
- 400 / 60
- If Drawn
- $825
- Success
- 53%
- Season
- Sep 11–24
- Tags / Apps
- 22 / 1,902
- If Drawn
- $825
- Success
- 53%
- Season
- Sep 11–24
- Tags / Apps
- 75 / 15
- If Drawn
- $825
Every License in Unit 1
| What | Season | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3011 | General Elk | <1% | 18 ▲2 | |
| 3034 | General Elk · Antlerless elk | 5% | 7 | |
| 3035 | General Elk · Antlerless elk | 9% | 7 ▲1 | |
| 3063 · youth | Youth-Only (General) Elk (Arizona Hunter Education course required for youth ages 10–13)… | 5% | 6 ▲1 | |
| 3100 | Muzzleloader Elk | <1% (small sample) | 28 | |
| 3126 | Archery-Only Elk | <1% | 22 | |
| 3151 | Archery-Only Elk | 1% (small sample) | 21 ▲7 | |
| 3168 | Archery-Only Elk · Antlerless elk | 27% | 8 ▼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 M Draw Report, retrieved Aug 31, 2026.
If you draw (2026 nonresident fees): $825 ($175 to apply). Open Jan 13 – Feb 3, 2027 (expected). Full fee breakdown.
Harvest
| Year | Hunters | Elk | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 (summed) | 139 | 74 | 53% |
| 2024 (summed) | 138 | 84 | 61% |
| 2023 (summed) | 1,437 | 1,012 | 70% |
| 2022 (summed) | 1,349 | 883 | 65% |
| 2021 (summed) | 1,269 | 803 | 63% |
| 2020 (summed) | 1,336 | 918 | 69% |
| 2019 (summed) | — | 976 | — |
| 2018 (summed) | — | 30 | — |
| 2017 (summed) | — | 66 | — |
A dash under Hunters: hunter counts not published for that year.
| 2025 by License | Hunters | Elk | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| General antlerless (escudilla-auger canyon hunt area) | 61 | 45 | 74% |
| Limited opportunity antlerless (antelope mountain hunt area) · 5 licenses | 5 | 3 | 60% |
| Limited opportunity antlerless (antelope mountain hunt area) · 10 licenses | 6 | 3 | 50% |
| Limited opportunity antlerless (antelope mountain hunt area) · 15 licenses | 11 | 4 | 36% |
| Limited opportunity (ham) antlerless (coon canyon and flat top hunt areas) · 5 licenses (hunt 2 of 2) | 4 | 1 | 25% |
| Limited opportunity (ham) antlerless (coon canyon and flat top hunt areas) · 5 licenses (hunt 1 of 2) | 5 | 5 | 100% |
| Limited opportunity (ham) antlerless (coon canyon and flat top hunt areas) · 10 licenses | 10 | 0 | 0% |
| Limited opportunity (ham) antlerless (coon canyon and flat top hunt areas) · 15 licenses (hunt 1 of 2) | 15 | 5 | 33% |
| Limited opportunity (ham) antlerless (coon canyon and flat top hunt areas) · 17 licenses | 10 | 5 | 50% |
| Limited opportunity (ham) antlerless (coon canyon and flat top hunt areas) · 15 licenses (hunt 2 of 2) | 12 | 3 | 25% |
| General bull (unit share) | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| General antlerless (unit share) | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| Youth-only (general) (unit share) | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| Archery-only bull, early (unit share) | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| Archery-only bull, late (unit share) | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| Archery-only antlerless (unit share) | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| Archery-only antlerless (alpine hunt area) (unit share) | 0 | 0 | 0% |
2025 split: firearm 55 (100%) from 83 hunters, 66%, archery 0 (0%)
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 hunt rows, added only where the lines do not overlap. 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 Elk Harvest Summary; AZGFD 2024 AZ Elk Harvest Summary; AZGFD 2023 AZ Elk Harvest Summary.
The Ground
| National Forest | 411,133 ac | 76% |
| State trust land | 75,768 ac | 14% |
| Private | 47,916 ac | 9% |
| State land | 5,171 ac | <1% |
| Tribal | 291 ac | <1% |
What the Agency Says About the Area
Unit 1 – Beginning at the New Mexico state line and U.S. Hwy 60; west on U.S. Hwy 60 to Vernon Junction; southerly on the Vernon-McNary RD (FR 224) to the White Mountain Apache Indian Reservation boundary; east and south along the reservation boundary to Black River; east and north along Black River to the east fork of Black River; north along the east fork to Three Forks; and continuing north and east on the Three…
▸ Sources 14
- AZGFD 2026 M 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 Elk Harvest Summary harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- AZGFD 2024 AZ Elk Harvest Summary harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- AZGFD 2023 AZ Elk Harvest Summary harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- AZGFD 2022 AZ Elk Harvest Summary harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- AZGFD 2021 AZ Elk Harvest Summary harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- AZGFD 2020 AZ Elk Harvest Summary harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- AZGFD 2019 AZ Elk Harvest Summary harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- AZGFD 2018 AZ Elk Harvest Summary harvest, retrieved Sep 1, 2026
- AZGFD 2017 AZ Elk Harvest Summary 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 elk hunts