Big Game by StateThe public record of western draws

Arizona · Elk · Hunt 3016

Arizona elk hunt 3016

5B. What each bonus point level actually did in Arizona's midwinter draw — how many applications sat at that level, and how many of them drew a tag. Every figure comes from an Arizona Game and Fish report linked at the foot of this page.

What the 2026 draw did

Arizona authorized 772 hunt permit-tags on hunt 3016 in 2026, of which at most 77 could go to nonresidents. Across first and second choice, 7,866 applications named it, and 772 drew it through the first two passes. The hunt filled.

Arizona grants no guarantee for holding points. Before each pass the department generates one random number for your application plus one more for every bonus point on it, and uses the lowest. Only the bonus pass — 20 per cent of the permits above, and closed to anyone holding no points — goes out in point order. So the table below is a record of what happened at each level, not a ladder you climb.

The highest bonus point level with an application on this hunt in 2026 was 21.

Arizona's own two reports disagree about this hunt. Summing the permits the Bonus Point Report gives at each level does not reproduce the total its own Draw Report states for the same hunt in 2025 midwinter. Both published figures are shown — the level rows below come from the Bonus Point Report, the authorized and issued totals above from the Draw Report. We have not resolved the difference in either direction, because the department has not.

By bonus point level

Cycle
Residency
The draw rate is permits drawn divided by applications at that level — a share of the people there, not a share of a quota. Arizona publishes no permits-available figure per point level. "Bonus pass" is the subset of the drawn column issued in the 20 per cent first pass; it is already included, and adding the two together counts those permits twice. Applications are first and second choice only.
CyclePoints1st choice2nd choiceApplicationsDrawnof which bonus passDraw rate
2026 midwinter03534788311101.32%
2026 midwinter15827191,3016505.00%
2026 midwinter27148351,54910306.65%
2026 midwinter36377491,38613309.60%
2026 midwinter44035559588608.98%
2026 midwinter534339974294012.67%
2026 midwinter620728148879016.19%
2026 midwinter7158215373591515.82%
2026 midwinter856101157827952.23%
2026 midwinter9183149373775.51%
2026 midwinter109615111173.33%
2026 midwinter1137107770.00%
2026 midwinter1210111100.00%
2026 midwinter130442250.00%
2026 midwinter1401111100.00%
2026 midwinter2110111100.00%
2025 midwinter04605431,0033303.29%
2025 midwinter16418231,4645403.69%
2025 midwinter27989721,77010906.16%
2025 midwinter36457991,4449806.79%
2025 midwinter44835891,072112010.45%
2025 midwinter532838571384011.78%
2025 midwinter622528651166012.92%
2025 midwinter712819131934010.66%
2025 midwinter87592167878652.10%
2025 midwinter9154055313156.36%
2025 midwinter1061319141473.68%
2025 midwinter110442250.00%
2025 midwinter1201111100.00%
2025 midwinter1402222100.00%
2025 midwinter1520222100.00%
2025 midwinter161121150.00%

A dash in the rate column means nobody applied at that level in that pool, which is absent rather than nought — the draw answered nothing there.

The hunt, cycle by cycle

Season, unit and permit count as the regulations booklet for that cycle prints them. The nonresident figure is a cap, not a share — it is the most that may go to nonresidents, and it does not add to a resident number.
CycleSeasonOpen areasLegal wildlifeAuthorizedNR capIssued
2026 midwinterNov 27 - Dec 3, 20265BBull elk77277772
2025 midwinterNov 28 - Dec 4, 20255BBull elk77277772

How to read these numbers

The applications column is not the whole field. Arizona draws in three passes and the bonus point report covers the first two — the bonus pass and the first-and-second-choice pass. Hunters who named this hunt as a third, fourth or fifth choice are drawn in a pass the department publishes no point-level breakdown for, so they are not counted above and no total here should be read as everyone who wanted the tag.

A bonus point level is a property of the application, not of a person.Two to four hunters may apply on one application, and Arizona averages their points and rounds to the nearest whole number. So a row at level 6 can hold a group whose members individually hold anything from 4 to 8.

Comparing a rate here with one from another state will mislead you.Utah's and Idaho's rates are permits against a published quota. Arizona's are permits against the applicants at one point level, because that is the only denominator the department gives.

Every source read for this page

  • 2026 M Bonus Point Report — 2026-M-Bonus-Point-Report.pdf, fetched 2026-09-04
  • 2025 M Bonus Point Report — 2025-Bonus-Point-Report.pdf, fetched 2026-09-04
  • 2026-Pronghorn-and-Elk-Regulations_251223.pdf — the regulations booklet this cycle's species, unit and permit count were read from
  • 2025-Pronghorn-and-Elk-Regulations_250106.pdf — the regulations booklet this cycle's species, unit and permit count were read from

Nearby hunt numbers