Unit 23/24A (Sierra Ancha and the Salt River canyons)
Arizona Hunting Guide — Bighorn Sheep
The combined 23/24A bighorn hunt covers the Tonto National Forest canyon country between Young, Roosevelt Lake and the Mogollon Rim — the Sierra Ancha and the drainages that fall off it toward the Salt River. AZGFD's unit guides for 23 and 24A carry no bighorn section, so there is no agency-named area list for this hunt and we won't invent one; what follows works from the unit's own terrain, access and land status. It is steep country: Promontory Butte at 7,915 feet, Aztec Peak at 7,734 and the Sierra Ancha at 7,621, with canyons dropping thousands of feet below them, and wilderness over much of the best ground.
Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit 23/24A
Answer a few questions about your tag, your season and your rig, and the Field Intelligence Report builds a print-ready Arizona Unit 23/24A 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.
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Bighorn Sheep Hunting in Unit 23/24A
The combined 23/24A bighorn hunt covers the Tonto National Forest canyon country between Young, Roosevelt Lake and the Mogollon Rim — the Sierra Ancha and the drainages that fall off it toward the Salt River. AZGFD's unit guides for 23 and 24A carry no bighorn section, so there is no agency-named area list for this hunt and we won't invent one; what follows works from the unit's own terrain, access and land status. It is steep country: Promontory Butte at 7,915 feet, Aztec Peak at 7,734 and the Sierra Ancha at 7,621, with canyons dropping thousands of feet below them, and wilderness over much of the best ground.
Where to look in 23/24A: the Sierra Ancha escarpment and the canyons below it
An honest note first. AZGFD's GMU 23 guide has no bighorn section, and neither does the 24A guide. So unlike most Arizona sheep hunts there is no agency list of named areas for this tag. What follows is built from the unit's terrain, its access and its land status — plus how desert bighorn use this kind of ground — not from a guide that doesn't exist. Read your tag's hunt-area description carefully and call the regional office for current survey information.
The escarpment, which is the obvious structure
The Sierra Ancha reaches 7,621 feet with Aztec Peak at 7,734 and Carr Mountain at 7,618, and Promontory Butte tops the hunt area at 7,915. Below that rim the country falls away into canyon systems. Bighorn in this part of Arizona live on the broken rock and cliff bands of that transition rather than on the forested top or the valley floor.
The canyons to glass into
Named drainages inside the hunt area include Valentine Canyon at 6,263 feet, Lost Salt Canyon at 6,027, Colcord Canyon at 5,802 and Naegelin Canyon at 5,775, with Board Tree Saddle at 6,010 and Juniper Flat at 6,085 above them. Those give you glassing positions and the folds to work.
Access
AZ 288 is the paved spine of this country, running north from Roosevelt Lake toward Young, with FR 1388 as the high-clearance route off it. Payson, Star Valley and the Roosevelt Lake communities are the nearest services. Expect long drives and rough spurs.
Water
Unusually well watered for sheep country — roughly 481 tanks and 231 springs across the unit — which means sheep here are not tied to a single source the way desert sheep are further west. Read sign rather than assuming.
Land status
About 60 percent National Forest, 8 percent State Trust and the rest private or other, with wilderness over much of the steep ground. Get a Tonto National Forest map to sort roads, boundaries and ownership, and check which wilderness areas your hunt area touches — none of them take vehicles, including for retrieval.
Unit 23/24A terrain and land status
Measured from the unit boundary, not from the agency write-up · figures are for GMU 23
The lay of it
- 2,723–7,283 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 5,074 ft ; peaks can run higher. That spread means you can hunt two seasons in one day — plan clothing for both ends.
- 1,184.9 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
- 481 tanks
- 231 springs
- 2,991 stream segments
- 1 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: Promontory Butte (7,915 ft), Pinal Mountains (7,844 ft), Aztec Peak (7,734 ft), Valentine Ridge (7,634 ft)
Holding ground: Valentine Canyon (6,263 ft), Pioneer Pass (6,158 ft), Juniper Flat (6,085 ft), Hale Spring, Tin House 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 it: call the biologist, glass the rim country, and plan a hard pack-out
Bighorn Sheep Success Rates
Bighorn Sheep Draw Odds
| Season | Tags | Applicants | Draw % | Pts (n/p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rifle — General Rifle bull/buck only (combined pool) | 2 | 523 | 0.4% | — |
| Rifle — Late Rifle Dec bull/buck only (combined pool) | 2 | 528 | 0.2% | — |
Data from 2023 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 EngineUnit 23/24A is one of Arizona's most sought-after bighorn draws given the trophy potential. With only ~4 tags over three years and 1,062 applicants, odds are around 0.4% per applicant. Arizona's weighted bonus-point system routes 20% to max-point holders first, 80% to a random weighted draw. Plan on 20–25+ bonus points for realistic competitiveness.
Unit Logistics & Expectations
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Unit 23/24A the best trophy bighorn unit in Arizona?
How long does a 23/24A hunt typically take?
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Upgrade to Pro — $49/yrSources & Verification
Every fact on this page is tied to a primary source below. Last fact-checked 2026-04-17.
- AZGFD Desert Bighorn Sheep Management — Arizona Game and Fish Department · supports: Combined 23/24A bighorn hunt, Sierra Ancha and Mazatzal herds, Reintroduction history, Once-in-a-lifetime tag · accessed 2026-04-17
- AZGFD Draw Portal — Arizona Game and Fish Department · supports: 23/24A bighorn historical odds, Tag allocation, Bonus point rules · accessed 2026-04-17
- Tonto National Forest — Sierra Ancha and Mazatzal Wildernesses — USDA Forest Service · supports: Wilderness regulations, Cherry Creek and Salome Creek access, Road network · accessed 2026-04-17