Arizona Elk — Unit 5B
Arizona Unit 5B covers 518,083 acres and lies 27 miles south-east of Flagstaff. 84% of it is public land, mostly national forest (67%) and state trust land (15%). In 2025, 642 people hunted elk here and took 298 — 46% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 77 tags here for 466 first-choice applicants, and the last tag went to someone with 8 points.
Your chance of drawing here
Every elk license type on offer in Unit 5B, 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-
<1% Point builder <1% as 2nd choice
-
3% Point builder 3% as 2nd choice
-
85% No first-choice applicants
| Hunt | Your odds (0 pts) | As 2nd choice | Points needed | Tags / applicants | Season |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3003 ↗ GENERAL ELK | Bull elk | 5B | <1% Point builder | <1% | 30 +3 since 2024 | 2 / 536 | Sep 25 – Oct 1, 2026 |
| 3016 ↗ GENERAL ELK | Bull elk | 5B | 3% Point builder | 3% | 8 +1 since 2023 | 77 / 466 | Nov 27 – Dec 3, 2026 |
| 3803 ↗ General | Bull elk | 05B | 85% No first-choice applicants | — | — | 1 / 0 | Nov 28 – Dec 4, 2025 |
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 | $825 |
Application window: opens Jan 13, closes Feb 3, 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
- National Forest 347,821 ac · 67%
- State trust land 75,889 ac · 15%
- Private 47,383 ac · 9%
- Tribal 34,562 ac · 7%
- State land 9,434 ac · 2%
- National Park Service 2,952 ac · 1%
- BLM 40 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.
| Season | Hunters | Harvest | Success |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 642 | 298 | 46% |
| 2024 | 726 | 311 | 43% |
| 2023 | 649 | 249 | 38% |
| 2022 | 606 | 271 | 45% |
| 2021 | 592 | 246 | 42% |
| 2020 | 572 | 226 | 40% |
| 2019 | 542 | 216 | 40% |
| 2018 | 632 | 295 | 47% |
| 2017 | 611 | 229 | 37% |
What people carried (2025 harvest)
- Firearm 298 · 100% · 642 hunters, 46% success
What the agency says about the area
Unit 5B – Beginning at Lake Mary-Clint’s Well Rd. (FH3) and Walnut Canyon (mp 337.5 on FH3); southeasterly on FH3 to AZ Hwy 87; northeasterly on AZ Hwy 87 to FR 69; westerly and northerly on FR 69 to I-40 (Exit 233); west on I-40 to Walnut Canyon (mp 210.2); southwesterly along the bottom of Walnut Canyon to Walnut Canyon National Monument; southwesterly along the northern boundary of the Walnut Canyon National…
Boundary: AZ Game and Fish Hunt Units (AZGFD ArcGIS feature service, layer 0)
Harvest: 2025 AZ Elk Harvest Summary
Harvest: 2024 AZ Elk Harvest Summary
Harvest: 2023 AZ Elk Harvest Summary