Arizona Pronghorn Mule Deer

Unit 18A (Truxton Flats and Aubrey Valley)

Arizona Hunting Guide — Pronghorn, Mule Deer

GMU 18A is the big open country west and north of Prescott, running out past Seligman and Hackberry — Truxton Flats, the Seventyfour Plains, Aubrey Valley and Red Lake Flat, with the Cottonwood Cliffs, Cross Mountain and the Juniper Mountains breaking up the grass. Pronghorn and mule deer share it, and the two hunts could not be less alike: pronghorn live on the flats and deer live everywhere except the flats, in dense pinyon and juniper. AZGFD draws both as limited tags. The thing to understand before you apply is access — remote residential subdivisions have spread across much of 18A, several ranches are closed outright, and knowing exactly where you are standing is part of hunting it.

View Draw Odds Arizona Hunting Guide

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11%

Public Land

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3,951–5,955 ft

Sampled elevation

Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit 18A

Answer a few questions about your tag, your season and your rig, and the Field Intelligence Report builds a print-ready Arizona Unit 18A guide around your hunt: three ranked spots with morning, afternoon and evening plays, a day-by-day plan, topo maps with every pin numbered, a camp and access plan, the legal and retrieval rules for this unit, shot discipline, a meat-care and pack-out plan, and a pre-trip checklist. Every coordinate sits on land recorded as public.

Pronghorn guide Mule Deer guide

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Logistics & Planning Guide →

Access roads, campgrounds, elevation, monthly weather, stock tanks, cell coverage, and nearest-town services for Unit 18A.

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Pronghorn Hunting in Unit 18A

Where the pronghorn are in 18A: Truxton Flats, the Seventyfour Plains and Aubrey Valley

18A's pronghorn herd rises and falls with the rain, and AZGFD says so plainly — population follows precipitation and range condition. What's changed is not the grass but the deeds. Remote real-estate subdivision is taking a significant bite out of the huntable area, and the agency names the places it's hitting hardest.

The flats the agency names, and what's happening to them

Mormon Peaks, Chino Wash, Markham Well Flat, Echeverrias Flat, Aubrey Valley and the Antelope Valley subdivision area are all being affected by development. Most of that country is still huntable. The guide's wording is worth taking literally though: extreme caution and knowledge of your location are mandatory. Know your position to the parcel, not to the quarter-section.

Where to start instead

Truxton Flats, the Seventyfour Plains and Hackberry are the other three the agency lists, and the Truxton Flat country in the northwest corner is mostly BLM — public, accessible, and the most straightforward place in 18A to put a plan together. On our terrain layer the Seventyfour Plains sit at 5,338 feet and Red Lake Flat at 5,678, with Aubrey Valley at 5,239 and the Yampai Divide at 5,588. That's the elevation band this unit's pronghorn live in.

The high ground that makes it glassable

Pronghorn country is flat, but 18A gives you edges to work from. The Cottonwood Mountains reach 6,625 feet, Cross Mountain 6,419, Slate Mountain 5,933, Tin Mountain 5,884, Sugarloaf Peak 5,798, Twin Buttes 5,787 and Cherokee Point 5,722. The Cottonwood Cliffs at 4,746 give you a rim over the southwestern flats. Get on one of those before light and let the glass cover the ground your boots can't.

Water, and the private-land question

The unit holds roughly 275 stock tanks and 57 springs, with Truxton Spring and Crozier Canyon Spring inside the boundary. There's private land throughout. AZGFD's ask is simple and worth honouring: do your best to get permission, because that's what preserves the opportunity for the next hunter. Where ranch access boxes exist, sign in and put the green permit tag in your windscreen.

Unit 18A terrain and land status

Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up

The lay of it

3,951–5,955 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 5,176 ft ; peaks can run higher.
1,226.6 sq mi inside the boundary. Big enough that picking one drainage beats driving three.

Who owns the ground

National Forest — 60%
State Trust — 8%
Private / Other — 32%

Roughly 68% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.

Water on the ground

275 tanks
57 springs
3,931 stream segments
5 lakes

Counts from mapping data, so this is how many exist, not how many hold water in a dry year. Sitting water only pays where you find fresh tracks.

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Cottonwood Mountains (6,625 ft), Cross Mountain (6,419 ft), Slate Mountain (5,933 ft), Tin Mountain (5,884 ft)

Holding ground: Red Lake Flat (5,678 ft), Yampai Divide (5,588 ft), Seventyfour Plains (5,338 ft), Truxton Spring

Every one of these was tested against the unit polygon before it went on the map. They are starting points, not agency recommendations.

How to hunt 18A pronghorn: glass, stalk, and scout the land status before the animals

Rifle success in 18A runs about 82 percent, muzzleloader 60 and archery 48. Those are high numbers, and they're the reason the tag is hard to draw. They also hide how much of the work happens before opening morning.

Glass and stalk, which is the whole method

The agency names the productive strategies in four words: glassing and stalking. Nothing clever is required. Find a rise or a cliff edge with a long view, get there in the dark, and spend the first two hours behind a tripod rather than walking. Pronghorn country rewards the hunter who finds the buck from a mile out and then spends three hours closing the last 400 yards using the swales. Pick your route on the way in, because once you drop off the high ground you lose the view.

Scouting is the tag

Preseason scouting matters to serious pronghorn hunters here, and in 18A it does double duty. You're learning which bucks are where, and you're learning which sections you can legally stand on. Do both in the same trip. Drive Williamson Valley Road, CR 141, FSR 664, Dicks Camp Road and Knight Creek Road — all graded gravel and all fine for a small trailer — and mark the subdivision edges on your map as hard as you mark the water.

Mind the muzzleloader and archery gap

The 22-point spread between rifle and archery success is about range, not animals. Archery pronghorn here is a water-hole hunt or a decoy hunt during the rut, and either way it means sitting still through a hot day. Muzzleloader sits in between: treat 150 yards as the ceiling and plan a stalk that gets you inside it, which in open grass usually means using a wash.

One thing that will cost you the hunt

Shooting across a property line you didn't know was there. 18A's subdivisions are unfenced in places and the houses are far apart, which makes them easy to miss and no less legally real. Arizona prohibits shooting within a quarter mile of an occupied structure without permission. On this unit, that rule will come up.

Getting in and staying out: unit 18A

Named routes and what they need

CR 141 — 10.4 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Williamson Valley Road — 9.4 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
FSR 664 — 8.8 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Dicks Camp Road — 7.4 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Frontage Road — 4.3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Knight Creek Road — 4.1 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)

Ratings come from road data, not from a drive this season. Check current conditions with the managing office before you commit a trailer.

Nearest services

Hàkđugwi:v — 19.5 mi · fuel, groceries
Seligman — 25.9 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Valle Vista — 31.7 mi · no services listed
Pine Lake — 33 mi · no services listed
New Kingman-Butler — 38.6 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear

Developed camps

Grand Canyon Caverns Campground
Grand Canyon Caverns Campground

Season weather and signal

Jan52° / 23° · 1.4" precip
Aug89° / 54° · 2.4" precip
Sep84° / 47° · 1.3" precip
Oct73° / 36° · 1.5" precip
Nov62° / 27° · 0.9" precip
Dec52° / 22° · 1.2" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 21% of the unit. Plan on being out of contact and tell someone your route.

Arizona rules that decide your day

Summarised from AZGFD regulations. They change — read the current regulations and your permit-tag before you hunt.

Legal shooting hours

Big game may be taken only during daylight hours — from sunrise to sunset. Check the sunrise and sunset times for your unit, not for Phoenix.

Motorized retrieval

Arizona permits motorized big-game retrieval only where the unit's travel-management decision allows it, and in several units only for elk. Where it is allowed it means one vehicle, one trip, within one mile of a road shown open on the Motor Vehicle Use Map — never inside a quiet area, a wilderness or a closed area. Pull the MVUM for your ranger district and confirm before you shoot somewhere you cannot carry an animal out of.

Tagging

Sign your tag before you go afield and attach it to the animal immediately after the kill. Hunters aged 10–13 must carry their Hunter Education card with the licence and tag.

Leaving meat

Leaving edible meat in the field is illegal. Edible meat means the four quarters and the loins at a minimum.

Where you may not shoot

Occupied structures — No shooting within a quarter mile of an occupied farmhouse, cabin, lodge or building without the owner's permission. That rules out shooting toward most lakeside cabin tracts.
Campsites and developed areas — Forest Service rules prohibit discharging a firearm within 150 yards of a residence, building, campsite, developed recreation site or occupied area.
Roads and water — No shooting from a vehicle, and no shooting on, across or into a road. No shooting across a body of water adjacent to a Forest road.

Pronghorn: where to put the shot

Broadside, straight up the front leg, a third of the way into the body. Pronghorn are shallow-chested and the lungs sit forward.

Shots to refuse

Range it, then range it again. Open country makes 400 yards look like 250.
Wait for the buck to stop. Nobody kills a running pronghorn cleanly on purpose.
Mind the backdrop. A miss carries a long way across a flat.

Plan the carry: roughly 30– 45 lb of boned-out meat, before head and hide — one large cooler with ice already in it. ProHunt planning estimate, not an agency figure.

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Pronghorn Success Rates

Rifle82%

Muzzleloader60%

Archery48%

Pronghorn harvest success in the Chino Valley units typically runs strong for rifle hunters drawing tags — flat open terrain with good road access supports effective hunting. Archery success is lower due to the open country challenges. Check AZGFD harvest reports for current data.

Pronghorn Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts (n/p)
Rifle — Early Rifle bull/buck only (combined pool)	4	553	0.5%	—
Muzzleloader — Early Muzzleloader bull/buck only (combined pool)	4	165	1.2%	—
Early Archery — bull/buck only (combined pool)	4	82	4.9%	—

Data from 2025 draw results. Each row is one residency pool — read the label before the number. This agency publishes no point thresholds, so the Pts column stays blank and these are pool odds, not what a point total draws.

Open in Draw Odds Engine

GMU 18A pronghorn draws competitive interest due to the unit's accessibility and proximity to the Prescott area. Tag allocation is limited through AZGFD's bonus point draw system. Apply consistently each year and check draw.azgfd.com for current applicant-to-tag ratios.

Mule Deer Hunting in Unit 18A

Unit 18A covers the Date Creek Mountains, Bagdad mining country, and the rolling chaparral-grassland between Kingman and Wickenburg in west-central Arizona. The unit is a productive mid-tier mule deer spot — less heralded than the Kaibab units but issuing 700 tags against 930+ applicants in recent 3-year AZGFD draw reports, making it one of the more accessible AZ muley hunts for lower-point holders. Habitat is classic central Arizona chaparral: manzanita, scrub oak, catclaw, and juniper on broken mid-elevation ridges.

Where the deer are in 18A: the Juniper Mountains, Cross Mountain and the Cottonwood Cliffs

Mule deer are found across all of 18A with one exception, and it's the obvious one — they're not out in the wide-open grassland. Densities are relatively low, so the guide ties success directly to time spent scouting before the season. There's an upside buried in that: bucks rivalling the Kaibab or the Strip occasionally come out of 18A. Few and far between, in the agency's words, but they're here.

The eastern mountains

The Juniper Mountains, Mormon Peaks, Black Mountain and Cross Mountain on the east side of the unit have good deer populations. Black Mountain is the high point we hold at 6,747 feet, with Cross Mountain at 6,419. That's the pinyon-juniper and chaparral band, and it's where a buck can live a long life without being seen.

The southwestern side

The Cottonwood Cliffs and the northern Aquarius range have been good mule deer country in the past. The cliffs sit at 4,746 feet and give you something almost no other part of this unit offers — a vantage with real relief below it. North of the unit, the Nelson area has also produced good bucks.

Truxton Flat and the Walkover Mine

For public ground that's simply open, the Truxton Flat and Walkover Mine area in the northwest corner is mostly BLM and accessible. State Land sections and undeveloped private parcels across the unit are generally open to hunters who are careful and who respect the developments and the ranching operations around them. Fort Rock Ranch, the CEMEX property and the private portion of the X Bar One Ranch are closed to public access — those three are not a judgement call.

The cedars, and how deer use them

Much of 18A is dense pinyon and juniper. Glassing works in some of the country and not in most of it. Named drainages inside the boundary give you a starting list: Cedar Basin at 5,321 feet, Red Horn Canyon at 5,246, Munds Canyon at 5,220, East Fork Wright Canyon at 5,337, Grapevine Canyon at 5,349 and Little Purcell Canyon at 5,491. Work the heads of those, and the benches between them.

Unit 18A terrain and land status

Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up

The lay of it

3,951–5,955 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 5,176 ft ; peaks can run higher.
1,226.6 sq mi inside the boundary. Big enough that picking one drainage beats driving three.

Who owns the ground

National Forest — 60%
State Trust — 8%
Private / Other — 32%

Roughly 68% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.

Water on the ground

275 tanks
57 springs
3,931 stream segments
5 lakes

Counts from mapping data, so this is how many exist, not how many hold water in a dry year. Sitting water only pays where you find fresh tracks.

Named features inside the unit

Glass from: Cottonwood Mountains (6,625 ft), Cross Mountain (6,419 ft), Slate Mountain (5,933 ft), Tin Mountain (5,884 ft)

Holding ground: Red Lake Flat (5,678 ft), Yampai Divide (5,588 ft), Seventyfour Plains (5,338 ft), Truxton Spring

Every one of these was tested against the unit polygon before it went on the map. They are starting points, not agency recommendations.

How to hunt 18A deer: still-hunt the cedars, sit the tanks, and sort the parcels first

Rifle success for mule deer in 18A is about 22 percent — a quarter of the pronghorn rate on the same ground. That gap tells you this is a hunt you earn.

Three methods, and when each one works

AZGFD lists them in order of usefulness for this unit. Glassing, where the country opens up enough to see — the Cottonwood Cliffs, the edges of the eastern mountains, any rim with relief below it. Still-hunting, which the guide calls creeping through the cedars, for the dense pinyon-juniper that covers most of 18A. And sitting water, which with 275 tanks in the unit means choosing one with fresh tracks rather than one that's convenient.

Still-hunting the cedars properly

Creeping is the right word. In thick pinyon-juniper you're moving slower than feels productive, stopping more than you walk, and letting your eyes work the gaps at 40 yards rather than scanning for a whole deer. Wind first, every time — you'll smell a cow elk before a deer smells you, and deer in this cover usually leave before you know they were there. Mid-morning, when bedded deer shift to stay in shade, is better than most people think.

Scouting counts twice here

The guide says scouting for areas to hunt is almost as important as looking for deer in 18A, and that's a specific claim about access, not animals. Spend a scouting day mapping which sections you can hunt before you spend one looking for bucks. Mark Fort Rock Ranch, the CEMEX property and the X Bar One private ground as closed. Note every ranch access box, sign in at each one, and keep the green permit tag visible in your vehicle.

Getting around

Williamson Valley Road, CR 141, FSR 664, Dicks Camp Road and Knight Creek Road are graded gravel and will take a small trailer. Elevation across the unit runs roughly 3,950 to 5,955 feet, so the weather is mild compared with the Rim country and the roads stay usable most of the season. Mud is the exception — graded gravel on clay soil goes slick fast.

Getting in and staying out: unit 18A

Named routes and what they need

CR 141 — 10.4 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Williamson Valley Road — 9.4 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
FSR 664 — 8.8 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Dicks Camp Road — 7.4 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Frontage Road — 4.3 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)
Knight Creek Road — 4.1 mi · Graded gravel (2WD / small trailer)

Ratings come from road data, not from a drive this season. Check current conditions with the managing office before you commit a trailer.

Nearest services

Hàkđugwi:v — 19.5 mi · fuel, groceries
Seligman — 25.9 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Valle Vista — 31.7 mi · no services listed
Pine Lake — 33 mi · no services listed
New Kingman-Butler — 38.6 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging, gear

Developed camps

Grand Canyon Caverns Campground
Grand Canyon Caverns Campground

Season weather and signal

Jan52° / 23° · 1.4" precip
Aug89° / 54° · 2.4" precip
Sep84° / 47° · 1.3" precip
Oct73° / 36° · 1.5" precip
Nov62° / 27° · 0.9" precip
Dec52° / 22° · 1.2" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 21% of the unit. Plan on being out of contact and tell someone your route.

Arizona rules that decide your day

Summarised from AZGFD regulations. They change — read the current regulations and your permit-tag before you hunt.

Legal shooting hours

Big game may be taken only during daylight hours — from sunrise to sunset. Check the sunrise and sunset times for your unit, not for Phoenix.

Motorized retrieval

Tagging

Sign your tag before you go afield and attach it to the animal immediately after the kill. Hunters aged 10–13 must carry their Hunter Education card with the licence and tag.

Leaving meat

Leaving edible meat in the field is illegal. Edible meat means the four quarters and the loins at a minimum.

Where you may not shoot

Occupied structures — No shooting within a quarter mile of an occupied farmhouse, cabin, lodge or building without the owner's permission. That rules out shooting toward most lakeside cabin tracts.
Campsites and developed areas — Forest Service rules prohibit discharging a firearm within 150 yards of a residence, building, campsite, developed recreation site or occupied area.
Roads and water — No shooting from a vehicle, and no shooting on, across or into a road. No shooting across a body of water adjacent to a Forest road.

Mule Deer: where to put the shot

Broadside or quartering away, on the back edge of the front leg about a third of the way up the body.

Shots to refuse

Nothing behind or overlapping the animal you picked.
Your maximum range is the farthest you have shot a three-shot group into a paper plate from the rest you are carrying.
Pass the shot you are talking yourself into.

Plan the carry: roughly 40– 120 lb of boned-out meat, before head and hide — two large coolers. ProHunt planning estimate, not an agency figure.

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Mule Deer Success Rates

Rifle22%

Unit 18A mule deer success rates run 30-45% across recent AZGFD harvest reports, with December rut hunts on the upper end. Buck size is moderate — 20-24 inch outside spread is typical, with occasional exceptional bucks pushing 26+ inches in the rough Date Creek country. With roughly 700 tags and moderate applicant numbers, this is a solid low-point hunt.

Mule Deer Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts (n/p)
Rifle — General Rifle Oct bull/buck only (combined pool)	350	575	45.4%	—
Rifle — General Rifle Oct either sex (combined pool)	350	575	45.4%	—

Open in Draw Odds Engine

Unit 18A is one of Arizona's most drawable mule deer units. October general rifle often pulls with 0-2 bonus points, while December rut hunts typically require 3-6 points. Arizona uses a weighted-random bonus point draw — each point adds an additional random draw pass rather than guaranteeing preference. Combine your annual applications with the hunter-education bonus point and the loyalty bonus for consecutive years to compound your odds over time.

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Planning Notes

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Terrain Difficulty

Easy — flat to gently rolling grassland; accessible by standard truck on paved and gravel roads

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Hunting Pressure

Moderate — accessible location draws more interest than remote southern units

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Nearest Town

Prescott/Chino Valley (approx. 5–20 mi; full services — fuel, groceries, lodging, medical)

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Permit Notes

Limited-draw tag; apply through AZGFD bonus point draw each spring; verify land ownership carefully in agricultural areas

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Frequently Asked Questions

How do I apply for a pronghorn tag in GMU 18A?

Apply through the Arizona Game and Fish Department draw portal at draw.azgfd.com during the application period (typically January–February). Tags are limited-draw with bonus point weighting. The Chino Valley area has both public BLM land and private agricultural land — always verify land ownership before hunting.

Is Unit 18A a good low-point mule deer hunt?

Yes. October general rifle typically draws with 0-2 bonus points, making it one of Arizona's most accessible mule deer hunts for lower-point applicants. December rut hunts require more points but produce better trophy quality.

What kind of bucks does Unit 18A produce?

Average bucks run 20-24 inches outside spread with modest points. Exceptional bucks pushing 26+ inches come out each year, typically from the rough Date Creek country during the late rut hunt.

Do I need a State Trust Land permit for Unit 18A?

Yes, if your hunt or camp crosses State Trust land — and most 18A hunters will cross some at minimum. Purchase the State Land Recreational Permit through the Arizona State Land Department before your hunt.

Free Hunt Planning Tools

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Sources & Verification

Every fact on this page is tied to a primary source below. Last fact-checked 2026-04-17.

AZGFD 2026 Pronghorn Hunt Regulations — Arizona Game and Fish Department · supports: Unit 18A season dates, Tag quotas, Legal weapon types · accessed 2026-04-17
AZGFD Draw Portal — Hunt Drawing Information — Arizona Game and Fish Department · supports: Bonus point draw, Historical draw data for 18A pronghorn · accessed 2026-04-17
GMU 18A — Unit Landing Page — Arizona Game and Fish Department · supports: Unit boundary, Land ownership, Species overview · accessed 2026-04-17
2025-26 Arizona Hunting Regulations — Arizona Game and Fish Department · supports: Mule deer hunt codes, Season structure, Legal methods · accessed 2026-04-17
BLM Kingman Field Office — Bureau of Land Management · supports: Public land access, Road status, Camping regulations · accessed 2026-04-17