Big Game by StateThe public record of western draws

Arizona · Elk · Hunt 3021

Arizona elk hunt 3021

8. 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 500 hunt permit-tags on hunt 3021 in 2026, of which at most 50 could go to nonresidents. Across first and second choice, 4,596 applications named it, and 500 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 17.

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 midwinter03582856431201.87%
2026 midwinter14684579255906.38%
2026 midwinter24915491,0408808.46%
2026 midwinter335835971786011.99%
2026 midwinter424921546458012.50%
2026 midwinter515117332450015.43%
2026 midwinter610312522832014.04%
2026 midwinter73474108503946.30%
2026 midwinter8314980312938.75%
2026 midwinter91817355314.29%
2026 midwinter1041216141487.50%
2026 midwinter112576685.71%
2026 midwinter1212333100.00%
2026 midwinter1312333100.00%
2026 midwinter1401111100.00%
2026 midwinter1510111100.00%
2026 midwinter1710111100.00%
2025 midwinter02062614672204.71%
2025 midwinter13393066455007.75%
2025 midwinter23884828708009.20%
2025 midwinter322531253761011.36%
2025 midwinter420021841887020.81%
2025 midwinter59011120140019.90%
2025 midwinter65778135361126.67%
2025 midwinter73471105575354.29%
2025 midwinter8193150131126.00%
2025 midwinter912618141477.78%
2025 midwinter102243375.00%
2025 midwinter111232266.67%
2025 midwinter1231444100.00%

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, 20268Bull elk50050500
2025 midwinterNov 28 - Dec 4, 20258Bull elk50050500

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

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