Arizona Elk · Unit 27
Arizona Unit 27 covers 865,538 acres and lies 48 miles north-east of Safford and 73 miles south-east of Show Low. 95% of it is public land, mostly national forest (90%) and state trust land (3%). In 2025, 913 people hunted elk here and took 458, a 50% success rate (sum of published weapon rows). Its most applied-for hunt, 3010, put up 4 tags (all residencies) in the 2026 draw for 857 nonresident first-choice applicants, 3 of whom drew, and the last tag went to someone with 26 points.
7 licenses · NR capped at 10%
first choice, NR
2025, all licenses
90% Forest Service
865,538 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
- 50%
- Season
- Nov 27 – Dec 3
- Tags / Apps
- 25 / 718
- If Drawn
- $825
- Success
- 50%
- Season
- Dec 4–10
- Tags / Apps
- 25 / 466
- If Drawn
- $825
- Success
- 50%
- Season
- Oct 16–22
- Tags / Apps
- 150 / 28
- If Drawn
- $825
- Success
- 50%
- Season
- Sep 11–24
- Tags / Apps
- 25 / 13
- If Drawn
- $825
Every License in Unit 27
| What | Season | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3010 | General Elk | <1% (small sample) | 26 | |
| 3031 | General Elk | <1% | 17 ▲3 | |
| 3032 | General Elk | <1% | 15 ▼1 | |
| 3062 | General Elk · Antlerless elk | 4% | — | |
| 3150 | Archery-Only Elk | <1% | 18 | |
| 3167 | Archery-Only Elk | 2% (small sample) | 11 ▼1 | |
| 3188 | Archery-Only Elk · Antlerless elk | 38% | 8 ▲2 |
First-choice nonresident odds at your points, 2026 draw. Cut = points the last tag went at; ▲ = points added since the earliest draw on file. Not in the table, with no 2026 result: 3199, 3207.
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) | 913 | 458 | 50% |
| 2024 (summed) | 907 | 510 | 56% |
| 2023 (summed) | 961 | 460 | 48% |
| 2022 (summed) | 1,003 | 473 | 47% |
| 2021 (summed) | 1,053 | 439 | 42% |
| 2020 (summed) | 1,097 | 489 | 45% |
| 2019 (summed) | 1,270 | 640 | 50% |
| 2018 (summed) | — | 663 | — |
| 2017 (summed) | 1,314 | 712 | 54% |
A dash under Hunters: hunter counts not published for that year.
| 2025 by License | Hunters | Elk | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| Archery-only bull, early | 202 | 41 | 20% |
| Archery-only bull, late | 29 | 8 | 28% |
| Archery-only antlerless | 22 | 0 | 0% |
| Archery-only antlerless (alpine hunt area) · 24 licenses | 24 | 17 | 71% |
| Archery-only antlerless (alpine hunt area) · 25 licenses | 19 | 17 | 89% |
| General bull · 233 licenses | 191 | 139 | 73% |
| General bull · 234 licenses | 203 | 130 | 64% |
| General antlerless | 138 | 60 | 43% |
| Limited opportunity antlerless (black mountain hunt area) | 18 | 5 | 28% |
| Muzzleloader bull | 36 | 28 | 78% |
| Archery-only antlerless (alpine hunt area) (unit share) (hunt 1 of 2) | 20 | 7 | 35% |
| Archery-only antlerless (alpine hunt area) (unit share) (hunt 2 of 2) | 11 | 6 | 55% |
2025 split: archery 96 (21%) from 327 hunters, 29%, firearm 362 (79%) from 586 hunters, 62%
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. 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 | 779,728 ac | 90% |
| Private | 45,801 ac | 5% |
| State trust land | 28,886 ac | 3% |
| BLM | 10,985 ac | 1% |
| Tribal | 94 ac | <1% |
What the Agency Says About the Area
Unit 27 – Beginning at the New Mexico state line and AZ Hwy 78; southwest on AZ Hwy 78 to U.S. Hwy 191; north on U.S. Hwy 191 to Lower Eagle Creek Rd. (Pump Station Rd.); west on the Lower Eagle Creek Rd. (Pump Station Rd.) to Eagle Creek; north along Eagle Creek to the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation boundary; north along the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation boundary to Black River; northeast along Black…
▸ 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