Arizona Mule Deer Elk Turkey Coues Whitetail Deer

Unit 24A (Payson – Sierra Ancha/Cherry Creek)

Arizona Hunting Guide — Mule Deer, Elk, Turkey, Coues Whitetail Deer

Unit 24A covers the Sierra Ancha country between Payson and Roosevelt Lake, including much of the Sierra Ancha Wilderness, Cherry Creek drainage, and Workman Creek. Elevations range from 2,500 feet along the Salt River to over 7,600 feet on Aztec Peak. Mule deer use the chaparral and pine-oak belts. The unit is a relatively quality-managed hunt with fewer tags than neighboring 24B but higher buck-quality potential.

View Draw Odds Arizona Hunting Guide

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75%

Public Land

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2,517–6,023 ft

Sampled elevation

Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit 24A

Answer a few questions about your tag, your season and your rig, and the Field Intelligence Report builds a print-ready Arizona Unit 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.

Mule Deer guide Elk guide Turkey guide Coues Whitetail Deer guide

Free accounts get one report a year with the top spot unlocked. ProHunt Pro includes unlimited reports, all three spots, the full camp plan, and GPX/KML downloads for onX and Google Earth. Prefer to see one first? Open the builder and pick any unit.

Logistics & Planning Guide →

Access roads, campgrounds, elevation, monthly weather, stock tanks, cell coverage, and nearest-town services for Unit 24A.

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Mule Deer Hunting in Unit 24A

Where the mule deer are in 24A: 7-Mile Wash, Copper Hills, Dripping Springs, Horseshoe Bend

Mule deer in 24A are scattered through the lower elevations, and they share that country with whitetail — so be sure of your target. The agency names four access areas, each with good glassing.

7-Mile Wash Road

Forest Road 303, at the north end of the Apache Mountains. Glass the lower-elevation rolling hills from the road system. The Apache Peaks reach 6,941 feet above it.

Copper Hills Road

A popular area off the Copper Hills road on the northeast side of Globe. The country here allows good glassing of hill and mountain sides. One caution the agency gives explicitly: be mindful of the quarter-mile law in parts of this area — you're close to town.

Dripping Springs wash

Turn west or northwest off State Route 77 about 15 miles south of Globe onto the Dripping Springs Road. Mule deer use the wash country through here.

Horseshoe Bend Road

Forest Road 219 on the west side of the Apache Mountains. Take the Wheatfields exit from Highway 188 north of Globe, cross Pinal Creek, pass the HE Ranch, and pick up the 219. It junctions with FR 220 to Richmond Basin and FR 223 to Shute Springs — both hold mule deer and both have good open slopes for glassing. Richmond Basin sits at 5,253 feet.

When to be there

Like most wildlife, the agency notes, mule deer are seen in early morning and late afternoon. Get to your glassing spot early and stay late. That's the single most repeated line in this unit's guide and it applies to both deer species.

The reservation line

Hunting the northeast corner of 24A puts you near the San Carlos Apache Reservation. Tribal land is not open on a state permit. Know the boundary.

Unit 24A terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

2,517–6,023 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 4,001 ft ; peaks can run higher.
813.7 sq mi inside the boundary. Big enough that picking one drainage beats driving three.

Who owns the ground

National Forest — 60%
BLM — 15%
State Trust — 8%
Private / Other — 17%

Roughly 83% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.

Water on the ground

224 tanks
107 springs
2,435 stream segments
2 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: Pinal Mountains (7,844 ft), Apache Peaks (6,941 ft), East Mountain (6,885 ft), Madera Peak (6,643 ft)

Holding ground: Pioneer Pass (6,158 ft), Hess Flat (5,727 ft), Richmond Basin (5,253 ft), Walnut Spring, Carol 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 24A mule deer: glass the open slopes from the ridge roads

Rifle success for mule deer in 24A is about 22 percent. This is a glassing unit and the agency's four named areas were chosen because they give you something to glass from.

The routine

Pick one of the four areas, get to a high point before light, and work the opposite slopes and the rolling hills with binoculars on a tripod. Stay until mid-morning rather than quitting at eight, and be back out two hours before dark. Mule deer in this low chaparral country are visible when they move and invisible when they don't.

Which area suits what

7-Mile Wash and Copper Hills are rolling-hill glassing with vehicle access — good first mornings and good for hunters who can't walk far. Horseshoe Bend, FR 220 to Richmond Basin and FR 223 to Shute Springs give you open slopes with more relief. Dripping Springs wash is the wash-country option, better still-hunted at first light than glassed.

Know the species before you shoot

Whitetail occur in the same lower country here and the guide flags it in both sections. Mule deer: bigger body, large ears, forked antlers, narrow black-tipped tail. Whitetail: smaller, greyer, branched antlers, broad tail flagged white. If you can't see the tail, wait.

The quarter-mile law near Globe

The Copper Hills country is on the edge of a town. Arizona prohibits discharging a firearm within a quarter mile of an occupied structure without permission, and in parts of that area you will be inside that distance without realising it. Check your backdrop and your distance before you set up.

Getting around

AZ 177, US 60, AZ 77 and AZ 188 are the paved frame. FR 2466, FR 473 and FR 349 are high-clearance. The unit carries about 224 tanks and 107 springs, so water is worth reading for sign but rarely the limiting factor.

Getting in and staying out: unit 24A

Named routes and what they need

AZ 177 — 15.1 mi · Paved (all rigs)
FR 2466 — 11.1 mi · High-clearance
US 60;AZ 77 — 7.3 mi · Paved (all rigs)
FR 473 — 6.8 mi · High-clearance
AZ 188 — 6 mi · Paved (all rigs)
FR 349 — 5.7 mi · High-clearance

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

Globe — 0.3 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Six Shooter Canyon — 1.7 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Icehouse Canyon — 1.7 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Central Heights-Midland City — 2.1 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Claypool — 3.1 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging

Developed camps

Cherry Flat Campground
Jones Water
Oak Flat
Pinal and Upper Pinal;Upper Pinal Campground
Pioneer Pass

Season weather and signal

Jan55° / 33° · 2.1" precip
Aug95° / 69° · 2.1" precip
Sep90° / 63° · 1" precip
Oct79° / 52° · 1.2" precip
Nov65° / 41° · 1.1" precip
Dec56° / 33° · 1.5" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 26% 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.

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 24A issues ~100 tags over three years against 977 applicants, making it more restrictive than neighboring 24B. Rifle success rates typically run 30–45%, with the late-season rut hunts posting higher numbers. Buck quality is above-average for central AZ mule deer.

Mule Deer Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts (n/p)
Rifle — Late Rifle Nov bull/buck only (combined pool)	75	605	10.7%	—
Rifle — Late Rifle Nov either sex (combined pool)	75	605	10.7%	—
Rifle — General Rifle Oct either sex (combined pool)	275	312	54.5%	—

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

Unit 24A is a mid-tier mule deer unit with stricter tag allocation than many AZ units. Arizona's weighted bonus-point system applies — 20% of tags to max-point holders first; 80% via random weighted draw. Residents typically need 4–7 bonus points for early hunts and 7–10+ for late-season rut hunts. Nonresidents face a 10% cap.

Elk Hunting in Unit 24A

Unit 24A covers the Sierra Ancha country between Payson and Roosevelt Lake, including the Sierra Ancha Wilderness, Cherry Creek drainage, and Workman Creek. Elevations range from 2,500 feet along the Salt River to over 7,600 feet on Aztec Peak. Elk use the upper ponderosa and mixed conifer belts of the Sierra Ancha crest. With 20 tags against 103 three-year applicants, 24A elk is a competitive draw for a rugged, wilderness-heavy unit that produces quality bulls.

Where the elk are in 24A: Timber Camp Mountain, Carol Spring Mountain and the Apaches

Be clear about what this is. The 24A elk hunt is a Limited Opportunity hunt, managed entirely as a Limited Population Management Zone, and a large part of the elk in the unit are animals moving in and out of the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation. Populations are very low.

The three places to consider

Because of those low numbers, the agency narrows it to three: Timber Camp Mountain, Carol Spring Mountain and the Apache Mountains. All of them sit north or northeast of Globe. Carol Spring Mountain shows at 6,619 feet on our terrain layer and the Apache Peaks at 6,941.

Getting to Timber Camp and Carol Spring

From Highway 60, head north on the N77/E60 — the Show Low Highway — for about 25 miles. Once you top out, Carol Spring Mountain is on the east side of the road and Timber Camp is on the west.

Getting to the Apache Mountains

Head north on the same Show Low Highway for about 10 miles; most of the access roads on the west side over the next few miles lead to the base of the Apaches.

The reservation boundary, which is also the elk source

These elk come and go from San Carlos ground. That's useful to understand — it means the animals aren't resident and your scouting has a short shelf life — and it's a legal line you must not cross. Hunting tribal land is not permitted on an Arizona Game and Fish permit.

What to expect

The agency recommends scouting strongly, specifically because of the very low elk numbers. Treat finding a single group of elk as the achievement that makes the hunt, and build the rest of the plan around whatever you find.

Unit 24A terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

2,517–6,023 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 4,001 ft ; peaks can run higher.
813.7 sq mi inside the boundary. Big enough that picking one drainage beats driving three.

Who owns the ground

National Forest — 60%
BLM — 15%
State Trust — 8%
Private / Other — 17%

Roughly 83% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.

Water on the ground

224 tanks
107 springs
2,435 stream segments
2 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: Pinal Mountains (7,844 ft), Apache Peaks (6,941 ft), East Mountain (6,885 ft), Madera Peak (6,643 ft)

Holding ground: Pioneer Pass (6,158 ft), Hess Flat (5,727 ft), Richmond Basin (5,253 ft), Walnut Spring, Carol 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 24A elk: scout hard, hunt sign, and accept the odds

A Limited Opportunity hunt on a Limited Population Management Zone with very low numbers. That phrasing is the agency telling you the truth, and the right response is to plan a hunt you'll enjoy regardless of the outcome.

Scouting is the hunt

With elk this scarce and this mobile, there's no spot to learn. So spend your first days cutting for fresh sign on and around Timber Camp Mountain, Carol Spring Mountain and the Apache Mountains — tracks in road dust, rubs, droppings, water with elk prints in it. Only commit to a morning once you've found something current.

Work the reservation edge

Since a large part of the population is immigrating and emigrating across the San Carlos boundary, the country near that line is where animals appear. Hunt it from the Arizona side, know exactly where the boundary runs, and don't be tempted across it.

Glass the mountain tops and still-hunt the brush

Timber Camp and Carol Spring are high enough to carry timber, so glass their open faces and parks at first light. Where the brush closes in, still-hunt into the wind and let your ears do work — a cow call carries further than your eyes see in that cover.

Early archery versus later hunts

If your tag falls in the early archery season, a bugle gives you a locating tool and the chance to call a bull. Later, with no rut and few animals, you're tracking rather than calling. That changes how much ground you cover: slower, with more stops.

Be honest with yourself about success

There's a real chance you won't find elk. Carry a deer or javelina tag if the seasons allow, take the camp you'd enjoy anyway, and treat any elk you find as a bonus rather than the measure of the week.

Getting in and staying out: unit 24A

Named routes and what they need

AZ 177 — 15.1 mi · Paved (all rigs)
FR 2466 — 11.1 mi · High-clearance
US 60;AZ 77 — 7.3 mi · Paved (all rigs)
FR 473 — 6.8 mi · High-clearance
AZ 188 — 6 mi · Paved (all rigs)
FR 349 — 5.7 mi · High-clearance

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

Globe — 0.3 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Six Shooter Canyon — 1.7 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Icehouse Canyon — 1.7 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Central Heights-Midland City — 2.1 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Claypool — 3.1 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging

Developed camps

Cherry Flat Campground
Jones Water
Oak Flat
Pinal and Upper Pinal;Upper Pinal Campground
Pioneer Pass

Season weather and signal

Jan55° / 33° · 2.1" precip
Aug95° / 69° · 2.1" precip
Sep90° / 63° · 1" precip
Oct79° / 52° · 1.2" precip
Nov65° / 41° · 1.1" precip
Dec56° / 33° · 1.5" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 26% 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.

Elk: 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. That is lungs, and on a quartering-away angle it picks up the far shoulder.

Shots to refuse

No straight-on and no straight-away shots. An elk's chest is deep and the margin is small.
Nothing standing behind or overlapping the animal you picked. A pass-through kills the elk behind it too.
Your maximum range is the farthest you have put three shots in a paper plate off the sticks you are actually carrying. Not the farthest you have ever hit anything.
Scope on 3–4x. A herd fills a 12x field of view and you lose the animal you picked.

Identification:On an antlerless tag, legal means no antler of any kind through the skin. A spike looks exactly like a cow until it turns its head. If you can't see the head, don't shoot.

Plan the carry: roughly 150– 220 lb of boned-out meat, before head and hide — two to four large coolers, plus bagged ice from town. ProHunt planning estimate, not an agency figure.

Pro Members Only

Unlock elk tactics for Unit 24A

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

Elk Success Rates

Rifle25%

Unit 24A elk success rates run 25 to 40 percent for rifle hunters with archery in the 15 to 20 percent range. Bull quality is quality-managed — regular 280 to 320 bulls with occasional 340+ bulls from the wilderness interior.

Elk Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts (n/p)
Rifle — Early Rifle either sex (combined pool)	5	45	2.2%	—
Rifle — General Rifle Oct either sex (combined pool)	5	13	7.7%	—
Rifle — Early Rifle either sex (combined pool)	5	34	5.9%	—
Rifle — General Rifle Oct either sex (combined pool)	5	19	15.8%	—

Open in Draw Odds Engine

Arizona uses a weighted bonus-point draw with 20 percent of tags to max-point applicants and 80 percent drawn under the weighted random bonus point system. A Hunter Education bonus point is available for hunters who complete the accredited course. Unit 24A elk with 20 tags against 103 three-year applicants typically draws with 6 to 12 bonus points for rifle — a committed multi-year target for hunters building point banks.

Turkey Hunting in Unit 24A

Unit 24A covers the Pinal Mountains north and east of Globe in Gila County, within the Tonto National Forest. The unit's ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests above 6,500 feet support a well-established Merriam's turkey population. Spring turkey tags are issued through AZGFD's weighted bonus-point draw. The Pinal Mountains are a classic mid-elevation Sky Island range that is less known than other Arizona turkey country, providing a quality hunt with moderate draw competition.

Where the turkeys are in 24A: the Pinal Mountains pine, with a note about the guide

Honest note first. AZGFD's GMU 24A unit guide covers mule deer, whitetail, elk, bear, lion, javelina, squirrel and rabbit — it has no turkey section. There's no agency-named turkey area for this unit, and we won't invent one. What follows works from the unit's own terrain and habitat plus how Merriam's use this kind of Arizona mountain, and you should check the current regulations for whether a turkey hunt is offered here in your season.

The habitat band that matters

Merriam's need large pines to roost in and oak for mast. In 24A that's the ponderosa belt on the Pinal Mountains — the one place in the unit the agency's own deer section describes as carrying ponderosa pine forest. Pinal Peak at 7,844 feet and Signal Peak at 7,806 anchor it, with Bobtail Ridge at 7,573 below them.

The drainages below the summit

Turkeys favour canyons with big pines to roost in. The Pinal drainages below the summit — the same country the whitetail section sends hunters to — are where to listen at dawn. Pioneer Pass at 6,158 feet and Pioneer Basin at 5,061 mark the lower end of that country.

Water, in a dry range

The unit holds roughly 107 springs and 224 tanks. Turkeys water daily, so in a dry spring the canyon with reliable water is the canyon with birds. Scout that before the season rather than guessing from a map.

Access and the thick north side

FR 2466, FR 473 and FR 349 are the high-clearance forest roads into the Pinals. The north side of the range is thick conifer and chaparral, which is poor for glassing and reasonable for turkeys — birds like cover that hunters don't enjoy.

Boundaries to respect

The San Carlos Apache Reservation forms the northeast edge of 24A and is not open on a state permit. Near Globe, keep the quarter-mile rule on occupied structures in mind.

Unit 24A terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

2,517–6,023 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 4,001 ft ; peaks can run higher.
813.7 sq mi inside the boundary. Big enough that picking one drainage beats driving three.

Who owns the ground

National Forest — 60%
BLM — 15%
State Trust — 8%
Private / Other — 17%

Roughly 83% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.

Water on the ground

224 tanks
107 springs
2,435 stream segments
2 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: Pinal Mountains (7,844 ft), Apache Peaks (6,941 ft), East Mountain (6,885 ft), Madera Peak (6,643 ft)

Holding ground: Pioneer Pass (6,158 ft), Hess Flat (5,727 ft), Richmond Basin (5,253 ft), Walnut Spring, Carol 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 24A turkeys: roost them the evening before, then own the morning walk

With no agency area list for turkey here, method is what you have. Merriam's are predictable enough that working the pattern properly finds birds.

Check the weapon rule first

Arizona's turkey seasons include limited-weapon shotgun-shooting-shot hunts and over-the-counter archery-only hunts, and the restriction varies by season. Read your tag before you pack a gun. Published shotgun success in this part of the state runs around 35 percent.

Spend an evening finding the roost

Birds fly up about an hour before dark and come off at sunrise. Sit above a pine-bottomed Pinal drainage at last light and listen. Big pines with droppings and feathers underneath confirm it. That evening is worth more than two mornings of guessing.

Set up between roost and water

Off the roost, turkeys head for a drink and a feed. Be in position on that short, predictable walk before first light. Park at a closed road and walk in rather than driving to the canyon mouth.

Calling and cover

In spring you're imitating a hen. Full camouflage including hands and face, sit still, call sparingly. Toms strut in small openings but prefer heavy cover, so set up where cover meets a park rather than in the open. In autumn, change plan entirely: scout tanks and springs for tracks and find the oak stands with acorns down.

Shot discipline

Forty yards and under, head and neck, with a pattern you've shot on paper at that range before the trip. Never shoot at sound or movement in cover — the Pinals sit right above Globe, they carry hikers and campers year-round, and in spring they carry other turkey hunters working the same gobble you are. If you can't see the whole bird and what's behind it, there's no shot.

Getting in and staying out: unit 24A

Named routes and what they need

AZ 177 — 15.1 mi · Paved (all rigs)
FR 2466 — 11.1 mi · High-clearance
US 60;AZ 77 — 7.3 mi · Paved (all rigs)
FR 473 — 6.8 mi · High-clearance
AZ 188 — 6 mi · Paved (all rigs)
FR 349 — 5.7 mi · High-clearance

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

Globe — 0.3 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Six Shooter Canyon — 1.7 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Icehouse Canyon — 1.7 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Central Heights-Midland City — 2.1 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Claypool — 3.1 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging

Developed camps

Cherry Flat Campground
Jones Water
Oak Flat
Pinal and Upper Pinal;Upper Pinal Campground
Pioneer Pass

Season weather and signal

Jan55° / 33° · 2.1" precip
Aug95° / 69° · 2.1" precip
Sep90° / 63° · 1" precip
Oct79° / 52° · 1.2" precip
Nov65° / 41° · 1.1" precip
Dec56° / 33° · 1.5" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 26% 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.

Turkey: where to put the shot

Head and neck with shot, at 40 yards or less. On an archery bird, the wing butt broadside or the base of the neck.

Shots to refuse

Know the limit of your pattern. Pattern the gun on paper at 40 yards with the load you are carrying.
Never shoot at movement or sound in cover. Spring woods are full of other hunters stalking the same gobble.
In spring, legal is a bearded bird. Look for the beard, not the gobble.

Plan the carry: roughly 5– 9 lb of boned-out meat, before head and hide — a small cooler is enough. ProHunt planning estimate, not an agency figure.

Pro Members Only

Unlock turkey tactics for Unit 24A

Upgrade to Pro — $49/yr

Turkey Success Rates

Shotgun35%

Unit 24A spring turkey success typically runs 40–55%. The Pinal Mountain population is healthy, the terrain is less demanding than steeper Sky Island ranges, and the road network provides efficient access to multiple drainages. Hunters who scout in advance and arrive with multiple roost locations mapped consistently produce harvests.

Turkey Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts (n/p)
Shotgun — Spring bearded turkey (combined pool)	5	9	11.1%	—
Rifle — Spring either sex (combined pool)	5	61	8.2%	—

Open in Draw Odds Engine

Unit 24A is a moderately competitive turkey draw. The Pinal Mountains are not as well known as Flagstaff or White Mountain turkey country, which means applicant pressure is somewhat lower. Most Arizona residents draw with 0–2 bonus points. First-time applicants with a hunter-education bonus have a realistic first-year draw chance. Nonresidents compete within the 10% cap.

Coues Whitetail Deer Hunting in Unit 24A

GMU 24A is the country around Globe in Pinal and Gila Counties — the Pinal Mountains rising to Pinal Peak at 7,844 feet, the Apache Mountains to their north, and the Dripping Springs and Troy Mountain country to the south, with the San Carlos Apache Reservation forming the northeastern boundary. Coues whitetail are in every habitat type here with most of the population above 3,500 feet; mule deer are scattered through the lower elevations and overlap with whitetail, so identification matters. Elk exist only as a limited-opportunity hunt on animals moving in from the reservation. Glassing from a high point is the method the agency recommends for both deer species.

Where the Coues deer are in 24A: the Pinal Mountains and the Dripping Springs ridges

Whitetail are found in all habitat types in 24A, from semi-desert grassland up through the ponderosa pine on the Pinal Mountains. Most of the population, though, sits above 3,500 feet. The agency's method note is refreshingly plain: much of this country can be easily observed from a high point with a good set of binoculars. Find a spot, sit down, and start looking.

The Pinal Mountains

A popular place to look. Pinal Peak tops out at 7,844 feet with Signal Peak at 7,806 and Bobtail Ridge at 7,573. The country is rugged and steep, and deer are seen mainly in the drainages below the summit and on most slopes of the range. One caveat worth planning around: glassing is difficult on the north side because of thick conifer and chaparral, and that side also carries high hunter concentrations.

Dripping Springs, and the ridge roads

The high country off the Dripping Springs road gives hunters cuts and bowls to glass. South of that road, the Troy Mountain and Dripping Springs Mountain range has limited vehicle access — which makes it worth the walk. North of the road, many roads run north and south along the ridges and give good glassing. The agency says any of these roads is likely to lead you to whitetail.

The lower drainages

Inside the unit, Pioneer Pass sits at 6,158 feet, Hess Flat at 5,727, Richmond Basin at 5,253, Pioneer Basin at 5,061, Bobtail Basin at 4,975, Crow Canyon at 4,507 and Mead Canyon at 4,209. Those are the folds to work with the glass from the ridges above.

The reservation boundary

If you hunt the northeastern part of 24A, know exactly where the San Carlos Apache Reservation line runs. Hunting tribal land is not permitted on an Arizona Game and Fish permit. Load that boundary into your GPS.

Mule deer overlap

Mule deer also occur through this country, so be sure of your target before you shoot. The agency repeats that warning in both deer sections of the 24A guide.

Unit 24A terrain and land status

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

The lay of it

2,517–6,023 ft on a terrain sample , averaging 4,001 ft ; peaks can run higher.
813.7 sq mi inside the boundary. Big enough that picking one drainage beats driving three.

Who owns the ground

National Forest — 60%
BLM — 15%
State Trust — 8%
Private / Other — 17%

Roughly 83% is public. Carry a land-status layer anyway — these are area percentages, not a map of where the boundaries fall.

Water on the ground

224 tanks
107 springs
2,435 stream segments
2 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: Pinal Mountains (7,844 ft), Apache Peaks (6,941 ft), East Mountain (6,885 ft), Madera Peak (6,643 ft)

Holding ground: Pioneer Pass (6,158 ft), Hess Flat (5,727 ft), Richmond Basin (5,253 ft), Walnut Spring, Carol Spring

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

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How to hunt 24A Coues deer: get to the high point early and stay late

Rifle success for whitetail in 24A is about 18 percent. The agency's instruction is simple and the discipline is in following it literally.

Find a spot, sit down, and look

That's the whole method here. Much of this unit is glassable from a high point, so the work is choosing one with a view into the drainages and then staying on it. Binoculars on a tripod, worked in sections rather than swept. Get to your spot early and stay late — whitetail move at first and last light.

Pick the right side of the Pinals

The north side is thick conifer and chaparral, hard to glass, and crowded. The other slopes and the drainages below the summit are the better bet for a glassing hunt. If you want to hunt the north side, treat it as a still-hunting problem rather than a glassing one.

Use the ridge roads as access, not as the hunt

North of the Dripping Springs road, the roads running along the ridges are there to get you to a glassing position before light. Park, walk out along the ridge, and settle in. Driving them during legal hours moves deer off the slopes you want to watch.

Walk into the limited-access country

The Troy Mountain and Dripping Springs Mountain range south of Dripping Springs Road has limited vehicle access. In a unit with high hunter concentrations in the obvious spots, that's where to invest a day on foot.

Identify, and mind the quarter-mile rule

Mule deer share this ground — check ears, tail and antler branching. And in the Copper Hills country near Globe, be mindful of the quarter-mile restriction on discharging a firearm near occupied structures. Suburban edges here are closer than the map suggests.

Getting in and staying out: unit 24A

Named routes and what they need

AZ 177 — 15.1 mi · Paved (all rigs)
FR 2466 — 11.1 mi · High-clearance
US 60;AZ 77 — 7.3 mi · Paved (all rigs)
FR 473 — 6.8 mi · High-clearance
AZ 188 — 6 mi · Paved (all rigs)
FR 349 — 5.7 mi · High-clearance

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

Globe — 0.3 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Six Shooter Canyon — 1.7 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Icehouse Canyon — 1.7 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Central Heights-Midland City — 2.1 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging
Claypool — 3.1 mi · fuel, groceries, lodging

Developed camps

Cherry Flat Campground
Jones Water
Oak Flat
Pinal and Upper Pinal;Upper Pinal Campground
Pioneer Pass

Season weather and signal

Jan55° / 33° · 2.1" precip
Aug95° / 69° · 2.1" precip
Sep90° / 63° · 1" precip
Oct79° / 52° · 1.2" precip
Nov65° / 41° · 1.1" precip
Dec56° / 33° · 1.5" precip

Best signal is Verizon at about 26% 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.

Coues Whitetail 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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Coues Whitetail Deer Success Rates

Success rate data not yet available for this species in this unit.

Unit 24A rifle Coues success typically runs 38–58%. Accessible terrain and adequate deer numbers give hunters consistent opportunity. Not a trophy unit by reputation, but capable of quality bucks in the rocky interior terrain.

Coues Whitetail Deer Draw Odds

Season	Tags	Applicants	Draw %	Pts (n/p)
Rifle — General Rifle Oct bull/buck only (combined pool)	275	312	54.5%	—
Rifle — Late Rifle Nov bull/buck only (combined pool)	275	187	70.1%	—
Rifle — Late Rifle Dec bull/buck only (combined pool)	50	296	8.1%	—

Open in Draw Odds Engine

Over 2,180 cumulative applicants. Expect 5–10 bonus points for Unit 24A Coues rifle tags — somewhat less competitive than the premium sky island units.

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Planning Notes

🛻

Trailer Access

SR 87 (Beeline), SR 188, and SR 288 paved or maintained gravel. FR 487 and Cherry Creek Road are rough 4WD.

💧

Water

Payson (full). Roosevelt Lake (shoreline). Cherry Creek and Workman Creek seasonal.

🛣️

Road Conditions

Main highways paved. FR 487 (Young-Globe) is rough gravel. Workman Creek Road high-clearance. Wilderness foot-only.

🥾

Terrain Difficulty

Strenuous. Steep canyons, 5,000 ft vertical relief in a compact area, dense chaparral.

👥

Hunting Pressure

Moderate. Phoenix and Payson hunters use the unit; backcountry pockets see lighter pressure.

🌦️

Weather

October 60–80°F days (varied by elevation), 35–50°F nights. November–December 40–70°F days, 25–40°F nights. Snow possible on Aztec Peak late.

📱

Cell Service

Coverage near SR 87 corridor and Payson. Patchy in the Sierra Ancha.

🏘️

Nearest Town

Payson (full services, hospital, outfitters). Globe (full services). Young (basic). Punkin Center (basic, at Roosevelt Lake).

📋

Permit Notes

AZGFD tag required. Sierra Ancha Wilderness regulations apply — foot/horseback only.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Is Unit 24A better than 24B for mule deer?

24A has fewer tags (~100 vs ~400), higher success rates, and higher buck quality on average. 24B has better draw odds. Pick based on your priorities.

Can I use an outfitter in Unit 24A?

Yes. Several Payson and Globe outfitters run 24A mule deer hunts. Wilderness-experienced guides help navigate the Sierra Ancha effectively.

What's the best base town for Unit 24A?

Payson for the northern and central portions; Globe for the southern Cherry Creek area. Both have full services and are within 30–45 minutes of key access points.

Is Unit 24A a true wilderness hunt?

Parts of it are. The Sierra Ancha Wilderness covers a significant portion of the unit and requires foot-only access. Much of the rest of 24A is roaded but rugged — a mix of wilderness backcountry and rough forest-road country.

How many bonus points for Unit 24A elk?

Plan on 6 to 12 bonus points for rifle. With 20 tags against 103 three-year applicants, 24A elk is a competitive mid-to-upper-tier draw that rewards patient point building.

How accessible is the Unit 24A turkey hunting area?

Very accessible compared to most Arizona mountain turkey units. Pinal Mountain Road is paved to the upper summit area and can be driven in a standard passenger vehicle in good conditions. This makes Unit 24A a great option for hunters without high-clearance trucks.

Is the Pinal Mountains area a good Arizona turkey hunt for non-resident hunters?

Yes — Unit 24A is a solid option for nonresidents. The accessible terrain, healthy bird population, and moderate draw competition (within the 10% nonresident cap) make it a more attainable target than the most-coveted White Mountain units.

When do turkeys gobble best in the Pinal Mountains?

Peak gobbling activity in Unit 24A typically runs late April through the first two weeks of May. Being at elevation (6,500–7,800 ft), Pinal Mountain birds tend to run a few days later than valley-elevation populations. Plan your hunt for the first week of May for maximum gobbling activity.

Is the Redington Road accessible year-round for the December deer season?

The Redington Road is generally accessible year-round in dry conditions. Rain can make sections impassable — 4WD with high clearance is strongly recommended. Check with the Santa Catalina Ranger District for current road conditions 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 2026-04-18.

AZGFD Game Management Units — Arizona Game and Fish Department · supports: Unit 24A boundaries, Sierra Ancha Wilderness, Elevation 2,500–7,600 ft, Quality-managed mule deer · accessed 2026-04-17
AZGFD Draw Portal — Arizona Game and Fish Department · supports: Unit 24A mule deer draw, Tag allocation, Bonus points · accessed 2026-04-17
Tonto National Forest — Sierra Ancha and Pleasant Valley Ranger Districts — USDA Forest Service · supports: Sierra Ancha Wilderness, Cherry Creek Road, Dispersed camping · accessed 2026-04-17
GMU 24A — Unit Landing Page — Arizona Game and Fish Department · supports: Unit 24A boundary and habitat, Sierra Ancha Wilderness coverage, Tonto NF jurisdiction · accessed 2026-04-17
2026 Arizona Pronghorn and Elk Regulations — Arizona Game and Fish Department · supports: 24A elk season structure, Tag quotas, Archery and rifle opportunities · accessed 2026-04-17
AZGFD Turkey Hunting — Arizona Game and Fish Department · supports: Merriam's turkey range in Pinal Mountains, Unit 24A habitat, Spring season tags · accessed 2026-04-18
AZGFD Big Game Draw — Arizona Game and Fish Department · supports: Applicant counts, Draw odds · accessed 2026-04-18

Unit 24A (Payson – Sierra Ancha/Cherry Creek)

Build your own PDF hunt guide for Unit 24A

Mule Deer Hunting in Unit 24A

Where the mule deer are in 24A: 7-Mile Wash, Copper Hills, Dripping Springs, Horseshoe Bend

7-Mile Wash Road

Copper Hills Road

Dripping Springs wash

Horseshoe Bend Road

When to be there

The reservation line

Unit 24A terrain and land status

The lay of it

Who owns the ground

Water on the ground

Named features inside the unit

How to hunt 24A mule deer: glass the open slopes from the ridge roads

Mule Deer Success Rates

Mule Deer Draw Odds

Elk Hunting in Unit 24A

Where the elk are in 24A: Timber Camp Mountain, Carol Spring Mountain and the Apaches

The three places to consider

Getting to Timber Camp and Carol Spring

Getting to the Apache Mountains

The reservation boundary, which is also the elk source

What to expect

Unit 24A terrain and land status

The lay of it

Who owns the ground

Water on the ground

Named features inside the unit

How to hunt 24A elk: scout hard, hunt sign, and accept the odds

Elk Success Rates

Elk Draw Odds

Turkey Hunting in Unit 24A

Where the turkeys are in 24A: the Pinal Mountains pine, with a note about the guide

The habitat band that matters

The drainages below the summit

Water, in a dry range

Access and the thick north side

Boundaries to respect

Unit 24A terrain and land status

The lay of it

Who owns the ground

Water on the ground

Named features inside the unit

How to hunt 24A turkeys: roost them the evening before, then own the morning walk

Turkey Success Rates

Turkey Draw Odds

Coues Whitetail Deer Hunting in Unit 24A

Where the Coues deer are in 24A: the Pinal Mountains and the Dripping Springs ridges

How to hunt 24A Coues deer: get to the high point early and stay late

Coues Whitetail Deer Success Rates

Coues Whitetail Deer Draw Odds

Unit Logistics & Expectations

Explore Related Units

Unit 24A — Mule Deer

Unit 24B — Elk

Frequently Asked Questions