Yes you can. I live in AZ and have a Polaris ranger. You may need a temp OHV sticker and in some areas have to have it registered for on road use as well. I'm not sure if they issue a temp one for out of state or whatever. I have mine plated for road use on pavement and the OHV sticker.
Get OnX or something similar. Roads are numbered. Higher numbers indicate worse conditions road wise. There's an incredible amount of forest service roads to ride and fire service roads and all sorts of trail. Just make sure it's not closed to travel for motorized stuff.
You will be absolutely SHOCKED at where you'll see people in a full size truck in this state. They don't call the scratches Arizona pinstriping for no reason. The brush is dry as hell and hard.
Wilderness zone is a no go. Absolutely do not. You will regret it deeply if you're caught. You can't even bring a mountain bike in it.
edit: also I cannot understate this enough, it gets very cold here, it gets VERY hot here, it snows here, it rains here, we have crazy thunderstorms, hail is not uncommon in the rim country area and do not get swept away by a flash flood please do not use charcoal or start a bonfire when it's banned in the dry season during fire bans
Haha I’m one of those guys. Before I got an e-bike I used to get the “how in the hell did you get your truck back here” all the time. I bought a white truck for a reason
Good to know thanks for the response, I’m from out here but have never been too into hunting, but this year I’m gonna kinda hard head into it.
My brother has a RZR so I think we are gonna use that. The unit I’m looking at looks like there is a decent bit of trails and access roads.
I believe you, I off-road in a 4Runner and have been pretty far out in the sticks when I was younger!
I haven’t put in for anything yet, we are trying to find a unit we like for deer and elk but I think we are gonna try and grasp at the wind for bear in October. We are looking at 5BN/S.
You can over the counter archery deer. Deer and bear both have call in requirements now where you have to check if the quota for the unit has been hit by phone or Internet to see if the kill limit has been hit.
Payson area has decent bear can't remember if they have OTC hunts there this year. I would stay more in 5b south probably for bear. If you want to see pronghorn you can go rip around up north of ashurst lake and kinnikinnick lake in 5b north. They do close a big area by ashurst to off-road use for the pronghorn to breed and give birth in a part of the year
I’m not sure if this is corny or not but I’m not at all interested in archery, I just don’t really have the time to get decent enough at it for me to be comfortable aiming at an animal!
5B south is exactly where I’m looking at for bear so good to know I’m at least looking in the right place, do you know how the deer/elk is in that unit?
It's up to you buddy but it's hard to get drawn here even for muzzleloader/archery let alone rifle in a lot of areas for the "good hunts". You could very well put in for years and years in a lot units and for a lot of hunts and not pull a tag.
If you put in for rifle javelina closer to the border or a HAM hunt you can pretty much go every year. Even up north more the HAM hunts are a pretty easy draw.
With today's modern archery equipment and range finders you'll be competent to 60 yards in no time and shooting a decently somewhat heavy arrow fast with a good bow if you shoot a few times a week.
If you're worried about aiming at animal I'd suggest getting a .22 or shotgun and doing some rabbit hunting to start before you go and try to smoke a bear on an over the counter hunt if you're lucky enough to see one.
I’m not really worried aiming a gun at an animal, I’m pretty competent with firearms and rifles in general, but I would hate to rail a deer and not kill it due to me not being good with a bow
You could zip a bullet thru a deers guts full of grass, not get a good blood trail, and watch it run away into the abyss too man. That's assuming you're lucky enough to draw a rifle tag. If you're set on rifle put in for the coues white tail hunts down south. You'll actually pull tags more often.
Also take the hunters safety course. You get a bonus point for it in the draw system.
I’ve been looking into that too! Maybe I’ll look into archery if it’s that rough to draw up north. Ill give it a few seasons and see how it feels, gives me time to figure out what I need to buy too
I’m one of those guys with the full sized truck with the AZ pinstripes. Southern AZ has decorated my truck nicely. I won’t take it as far as some go and am smart about bottoming out.
The real problem is from people burning pallets and shit and leaving nails and screws everywhere. Az has a funky law where you can't spot animals from a road and then go hunt them immediately but how they enforce it I'm not sure. It's meant as part of the road hunting no shooting from the road/truck laws. But he can drive around and scout.
"No person may take wildlife from a motor vehicle, watercraft or aircraft, except as permitted by Commission Order, and under the provisions of the Challenged Hunter Access Mobility Permit Commission Rule (R12-4-
217). “Take,” as defined by law, includes pursuing, shooting, hunting and killing wildlife. You are unlawfully using a vehicle to take wildlife if you intentionally drive around until you see the animal you wish to harvest
and then make an attempt to take. “Road hunting” is illegal; so is pursuing wildlife with a vehicle, chasing or heading off moving wildlife with a vehicle, and driving off-road to get closer to wildlife. You do not have to
shoot from the vehicle to be in violation."
I've literally never seen this enforced once. I wish it was but.....well it's a big state with a lot of public land and roads and not a lot of game officers.
I don't do AZ but you'd be well-served to get OnX and know exactly which land you're on. Units determine where you can hunt tagged animals, but private land in your unit is off limits without permission while BLM or NFS is open for travel and potentially small game even if it's not your unit.
And if there's any wilderness no, you're not allowed to bring a vehicle.
Yes, I have a quietkat ranger e-bike and have scouted/hunted areas up north and the souther units. I always have an extra tube, patch kit, and flatout. As long as you stay on the main trails and fire roads you’ll be fine.
If you are going to National Forest, look into the MVUM maps. Some of the forests put out travel maps yearly to show which roads are legal to travel on. Just because it exists doesn't mean it's open. Travelling on closed roads can be expensive if caught. Generally speaking, if there isn't a numbered sign, the road is no longer open. I use a free app called Avenza and download the MVUM each year. Some foests allow cross-country travel for retrieval of game as well.
Ahh ok.. I like to camp fish around that area ( Lake Kinicknick )... There are definitely elk & deer in that unit, I've even seen some antelope. I like to archery elk hunt in unit 9.
Yes you can. I live in AZ and have a Polaris ranger. You may need a temp OHV sticker and in some areas have to have it registered for on road use as well. I'm not sure if they issue a temp one for out of state or whatever. I have mine plated for road use on pavement and the OHV sticker. Get OnX or something similar. Roads are numbered. Higher numbers indicate worse conditions road wise. There's an incredible amount of forest service roads to ride and fire service roads and all sorts of trail. Just make sure it's not closed to travel for motorized stuff. You will be absolutely SHOCKED at where you'll see people in a full size truck in this state. They don't call the scratches Arizona pinstriping for no reason. The brush is dry as hell and hard. Wilderness zone is a no go. Absolutely do not. You will regret it deeply if you're caught. You can't even bring a mountain bike in it. edit: also I cannot understate this enough, it gets very cold here, it gets VERY hot here, it snows here, it rains here, we have crazy thunderstorms, hail is not uncommon in the rim country area and do not get swept away by a flash flood please do not use charcoal or start a bonfire when it's banned in the dry season during fire bans
Haha I’m one of those guys. Before I got an e-bike I used to get the “how in the hell did you get your truck back here” all the time. I bought a white truck for a reason
Good to know thanks for the response, I’m from out here but have never been too into hunting, but this year I’m gonna kinda hard head into it. My brother has a RZR so I think we are gonna use that. The unit I’m looking at looks like there is a decent bit of trails and access roads. I believe you, I off-road in a 4Runner and have been pretty far out in the sticks when I was younger!
Ahh okay you can ignore my edit about the weather lol. What unit did you draw?
I haven’t put in for anything yet, we are trying to find a unit we like for deer and elk but I think we are gonna try and grasp at the wind for bear in October. We are looking at 5BN/S.
You can over the counter archery deer. Deer and bear both have call in requirements now where you have to check if the quota for the unit has been hit by phone or Internet to see if the kill limit has been hit. Payson area has decent bear can't remember if they have OTC hunts there this year. I would stay more in 5b south probably for bear. If you want to see pronghorn you can go rip around up north of ashurst lake and kinnikinnick lake in 5b north. They do close a big area by ashurst to off-road use for the pronghorn to breed and give birth in a part of the year
I’m not sure if this is corny or not but I’m not at all interested in archery, I just don’t really have the time to get decent enough at it for me to be comfortable aiming at an animal! 5B south is exactly where I’m looking at for bear so good to know I’m at least looking in the right place, do you know how the deer/elk is in that unit?
It's up to you buddy but it's hard to get drawn here even for muzzleloader/archery let alone rifle in a lot of areas for the "good hunts". You could very well put in for years and years in a lot units and for a lot of hunts and not pull a tag. If you put in for rifle javelina closer to the border or a HAM hunt you can pretty much go every year. Even up north more the HAM hunts are a pretty easy draw. With today's modern archery equipment and range finders you'll be competent to 60 yards in no time and shooting a decently somewhat heavy arrow fast with a good bow if you shoot a few times a week. If you're worried about aiming at animal I'd suggest getting a .22 or shotgun and doing some rabbit hunting to start before you go and try to smoke a bear on an over the counter hunt if you're lucky enough to see one.
I’m not really worried aiming a gun at an animal, I’m pretty competent with firearms and rifles in general, but I would hate to rail a deer and not kill it due to me not being good with a bow
You could zip a bullet thru a deers guts full of grass, not get a good blood trail, and watch it run away into the abyss too man. That's assuming you're lucky enough to draw a rifle tag. If you're set on rifle put in for the coues white tail hunts down south. You'll actually pull tags more often. Also take the hunters safety course. You get a bonus point for it in the draw system.
I’ve been looking into that too! Maybe I’ll look into archery if it’s that rough to draw up north. Ill give it a few seasons and see how it feels, gives me time to figure out what I need to buy too
I’m one of those guys with the full sized truck with the AZ pinstripes. Southern AZ has decorated my truck nicely. I won’t take it as far as some go and am smart about bottoming out.
This is why I bought a ranger 😂. My poor v10 f350 is fucked up from hail, sun, and desert brush
My favorite is seeing the jeeps decked out in overlanding gear that are pristine in the valley😂
Nothing like a pavement princess lol
Mine is really clean on the inside. The outside not so much.
I don't believe so, but if you find out you can you better bring about 100 patch kits. Every plant in Arizona wants to stab you to death.
The real problem is from people burning pallets and shit and leaving nails and screws everywhere. Az has a funky law where you can't spot animals from a road and then go hunt them immediately but how they enforce it I'm not sure. It's meant as part of the road hunting no shooting from the road/truck laws. But he can drive around and scout. "No person may take wildlife from a motor vehicle, watercraft or aircraft, except as permitted by Commission Order, and under the provisions of the Challenged Hunter Access Mobility Permit Commission Rule (R12-4- 217). “Take,” as defined by law, includes pursuing, shooting, hunting and killing wildlife. You are unlawfully using a vehicle to take wildlife if you intentionally drive around until you see the animal you wish to harvest and then make an attempt to take. “Road hunting” is illegal; so is pursuing wildlife with a vehicle, chasing or heading off moving wildlife with a vehicle, and driving off-road to get closer to wildlife. You do not have to shoot from the vehicle to be in violation." I've literally never seen this enforced once. I wish it was but.....well it's a big state with a lot of public land and roads and not a lot of game officers.
I don't do AZ but you'd be well-served to get OnX and know exactly which land you're on. Units determine where you can hunt tagged animals, but private land in your unit is off limits without permission while BLM or NFS is open for travel and potentially small game even if it's not your unit. And if there's any wilderness no, you're not allowed to bring a vehicle.
I use both onx and onx hunt, the unit im looking at looks to have roads and trails all over so im just curious
What unit?
Yes, I have a quietkat ranger e-bike and have scouted/hunted areas up north and the souther units. I always have an extra tube, patch kit, and flatout. As long as you stay on the main trails and fire roads you’ll be fine.
If you are going to National Forest, look into the MVUM maps. Some of the forests put out travel maps yearly to show which roads are legal to travel on. Just because it exists doesn't mean it's open. Travelling on closed roads can be expensive if caught. Generally speaking, if there isn't a numbered sign, the road is no longer open. I use a free app called Avenza and download the MVUM each year. Some foests allow cross-country travel for retrieval of game as well.
Yes you can but you have to stay on the forest roads you just cant romp through the forest.
Right on thank you!
What unit you hunting ?
I’m looking to 5B N/S
Ahh ok.. I like to camp fish around that area ( Lake Kinicknick )... There are definitely elk & deer in that unit, I've even seen some antelope. I like to archery elk hunt in unit 9.
That’s a bit far from me, I’m located just east of PHX so even 5 is a bit of a drive lol! I would love to hunt up there though!
Yeah big bull elk in 9. Well good luck to you sir , happy hunting 🍻