Big Game by StateThe public record of western draws

Arizona · Elk · Hunt 3129

Arizona elk hunt 3129

4A. 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 97 hunt permit-tags on hunt 3129 in 2026, of which at most 9 could go to nonresidents. Across first and second choice, 1,988 applications named it, and 97 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 22.

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 midwinter0583896101.04%
2026 midwinter110154155603.87%
2026 midwinter21921002921103.77%
2026 midwinter3142120262602.29%
2026 midwinter4121110231803.46%
2026 midwinter599941931005.18%
2026 midwinter68574159402.52%
2026 midwinter76165126302.38%
2026 midwinter85958117907.69%
2026 midwinter97965144704.86%
2026 midwinter10382664203.13%
2026 midwinter112120415012.20%
2026 midwinter12172643111025.58%
2026 midwinter1395145435.71%
2026 midwinter1451116106.25%
2026 midwinter15336000.00%
2026 midwinter163692022.22%
2026 midwinter173471014.29%
2026 midwinter181231133.33%
2026 midwinter19325000.00%
2026 midwinter20011000.00%
2026 midwinter2102222100.00%
2026 midwinter2220222100.00%
2025 midwinter08759146000.00%
2025 midwinter114081221401.81%
2025 midwinter2200135335501.49%
2025 midwinter3144112256803.13%
2025 midwinter41561182741003.65%
2025 midwinter5117832001005.00%
2025 midwinter69893191904.71%
2025 midwinter7756514014010.00%
2025 midwinter88956145100.69%
2025 midwinter953491021009.80%
2025 midwinter10283563304.76%
2025 midwinter111823417517.07%
2025 midwinter12912214419.05%
2025 midwinter13117185527.78%
2025 midwinter14178000.00%
2025 midwinter154481112.50%
2025 midwinter16437000.00%
2025 midwinter17011000.00%
2025 midwinter18145000.00%
2025 midwinter191782225.00%
2025 midwinter2010111100.00%
2025 midwinter2101111100.00%

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 midwinterSep 11 - Sep 24, 20264ABull elk97997
2025 midwinterSep 12 - Sep 25, 20254ABull elk97997

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