Arizona Elk · Unit 3C
Arizona Unit 3C covers 355,065 acres and lies 19 miles south-west of Snowflake and 39 miles south of Holbrook. 83% of it is public land, mostly national forest (81%) and state trust land (2%). In 2025, 525 people hunted elk here and took 220, a 42% success rate (sum of published weapon rows). Its most applied-for hunt, 3001, put up 2 tags (all residencies) in the 2026 draw for 1,067 nonresident first-choice applicants, 2 of whom drew, and the last tag went to someone with 30 points.
6 licenses · NR capped at 10%
first choice, NR
2025, all licenses
81% Forest Service
355,065 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
- 42%
- Season
- Nov 27 – Dec 3
- Tags / Apps
- 22 / 95
- If Drawn
- $825
- Success
- 42%
- Season
- Nov 6–12
- Tags / Apps
- 175 / 17
- If Drawn
- $825
- Success
- 42%
- Season
- Sep 11–24
- Tags / Apps
- 35 / 1
- If Drawn
- $825
Every License in Unit 3C
| What | Season | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3001 | General Elk | <1% (small sample) | 30 ▲1 | |
| 3012 | General Elk | 4% | 10 ▲1 | |
| 3036 | General Elk · Antlerless elk | 4% | — | |
| 3064 · youth | Youth-Only (General) Elk (Arizona Hunter Education course required for youth ages 10–13)… | 11% | 4 ▼1 | |
| 3127 | Archery-Only Elk | <1% | 24 ▲1 | |
| 3171 | Archery-Only Elk · Antlerless elk | 23% | 6 ▼10 |
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) | 525 | 220 | 42% |
| 2023 (summed) | 787 | 338 | 43% |
| 2022 (summed) | 800 | 345 | 43% |
| 2021 (summed) | 698 | 283 | 41% |
| 2020 (summed) | 753 | 344 | 46% |
| 2019 (summed) | 977 | 416 | 43% |
| 2018 (summed) | 50 | 25 | 50% |
| 2025 by License | Hunters | Elk | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| General bull (unit share) (hunt 2 of 2) | 12 | 11 | 92% |
| General bull (unit share) (hunt 1 of 2) | 142 | 48 | 34% |
| General antlerless (unit share) | 124 | 56 | 45% |
| Youth-only (general) (unit share) | 116 | 57 | 49% |
| Champ (unit share) | 10 | 7 | 70% |
| Limited opportunity (ham) antlerless (show low creek hunt area) (unit share) (hunt 5 of 6) | 3 | 1 | 33% |
| Limited opportunity (ham) antlerless (show low creek hunt area) (unit share) (hunt 4 of 6) | 7 | 0 | 0% |
| Limited opportunity (ham) antlerless (show low creek hunt area) (unit share) (hunt 1 of 6) | 10 | 0 | 0% |
| Limited opportunity (ham) antlerless (show low creek hunt area) (unit share) (hunt 6 of 6) | 3 | 3 | 100% |
| Limited opportunity (ham) antlerless (show low creek hunt area) (unit share) (hunt 3 of 6) | 8 | 3 | 38% |
| Limited opportunity (ham) antlerless (show low creek hunt area) (unit share) (hunt 2 of 6) | 9 | 4 | 44% |
| Archery-only bull, early (unit share) | 57 | 24 | 42% |
| Archery-only antlerless (unit share) | 24 | 6 | 25% |
2025 split: archery 220 (100%) from 525 hunters, 42%
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 2023 AZ Elk Harvest Summary; AZGFD 2022 AZ Elk Harvest Summary.
The Ground
| National Forest | 286,399 ac | 81% |
| Private | 61,776 ac | 17% |
| State trust land | 6,475 ac | 2% |
| BLM | 172 ac | <1% |
| State land | 141 ac | <1% |
| Tribal | 101 ac | <1% |
What the Agency Says About the Area
Unit 3C – Beginning at Snowflake; westerly on AZ Hwy 277 to AZ Hwy 260; westerly on AZ Hwy 260 to the Sitgreaves National Forest boundary with the Tonto National Forest; easterly along the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest boundary to U.S. Hwy 60 (AZ Hwy 77); northeasterly on U.S. Hwy 60 (AZ Hwy 77) to Showlow; northerly along AZ Hwy 77 to Snowflake.
▸ Sources 12
- 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 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 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