Big Game by StateThe public record of western draws

Arizona · Elk · Hunt 3017

Arizona elk hunt 3017

6A. 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 825 hunt permit-tags on hunt 3017 in 2026, of which at most 82 could go to nonresidents. Across first and second choice, 12,778 applications named it, and 825 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 midwinter01,1197541,8734802.56%
2026 midwinter11,3991,0432,4426502.66%
2026 midwinter21,4221,0792,5019403.76%
2026 midwinter31,1599182,07714406.93%
2026 midwinter47746121,38610307.43%
2026 midwinter55634981,06110409.80%
2026 midwinter63543266804807.06%
2026 midwinter720722743446010.60%
2026 midwinter811192203797138.92%
2026 midwinter9283563484876.19%
2026 midwinter1092130232376.67%
2026 midwinter1128107770.00%
2026 midwinter122465583.33%
2026 midwinter1323555100.00%
2026 midwinter1411222100.00%
2026 midwinter1510111100.00%
2026 midwinter1611222100.00%
2026 midwinter1710111100.00%
2026 midwinter21011000.00%
2025 midwinter01,0748091,8832901.54%
2025 midwinter11,3461,0692,4155502.28%
2025 midwinter21,4051,0842,48910904.38%
2025 midwinter31,1219082,02913306.55%
2025 midwinter47776371,4149806.93%
2025 midwinter54804449248208.87%
2025 midwinter63293026316009.51%
2025 midwinter719617837448012.83%
2025 midwinter810183184979652.72%
2025 midwinter9322557474782.46%
2025 midwinter1049138861.54%
2025 midwinter113586675.00%
2025 midwinter121343375.00%
2025 midwinter1310111100.00%
2025 midwinter151121150.00%

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, 20266ABull elk82582825
2025 midwinterNov 28 - Dec 4, 20256ABull elk82582825

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