Arizona bison mainly roam in two separate locations within the state. You could make an argument that there are three areas because of the House Rock Wildlife Area that is a large enclosure area similar to the Raymond Wildlife Area. The House Rock Wildlife Area is where the original House Rock herd came from, which now resides primarily within the Grand Canyon National Park. Both the Raymond and House Rock enclosure areas have hunts for designated cow and yearling bison, with House Rock Wildlife Area adding two designated yearling bison hunts. These hunts are as guaranteed as they can get as they are very controlled and are typically one-day hunts.
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The Kaibab Plateau herd located within the North Rim of the Grand Canyon is night and day different from the other two herds. This herd is primarily located within the Grand Canyon National Park and will come out of the park on occasion. With proper preparation and knowledge of the bison’s movement patterns, these can be decent hunts. These hunts are far from a guarantee, and this late in the fall, moisture levels can impact them drastically. When water is abundant, bison do not have to leave the park and often don’t. Contrary, when water is scarce, bison will tiptoe over the line to take advantage of some of the salt licks and waterholes located on the Kaibab National Forest, which you can see from 2024 harvest overall was up substantially from previous years. With the herd coming within its population objective, so do tags. This year, hunts remain the same as last year with the addition of the August cow season that increased tags to 12 from 8, making it a total of 4 cow bison hunts available.
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Arizona has two separate bison application periods. There are not any mature bull hunts in this application timeframe. If you are looking for a chance at a mature cow bison, remember that you can pick up a bonus point during this application period and look toward applying for the spring draw in the September/October application period. Since 20% of the overall number of bison tags in this draw will go to max point applicants, some of these hunts will not have a random tag. It will be hard to say which hunts will go to non-point applicants, but they will most likely not be the Raymond tags and the House Rock Wildlife controlled hunt areas.
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The Arizona big game online application deadline for sheep, fall bison, and deer is 11:59 p.m. Arizona time on June 3, 2025.
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| Up-Front Fees | |
| 365-Day Hunting & Fishing License (adult) | $160 |
| 365-Day Hunting & Fishing License (youth ages 10-17) | $5 |
| Application Fee or Bonus Point Only (per species) | $15 |
| PointGuard Plus (365-day membership, all species) | $25 |
| PointGuard Option (per species) | $10 |
| Post Draw License Fees (if successful) | |
| Any Bison Permit | $5,400 |
| Cow/Yearling Bison Permit | $3,250 |
| Yearling-Only Bison Permit | $1,750 |
AZ Bison Hunting Articles from Huntin' Fool Magazine
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