San Carlos Recreation and Wildlife Department

The recreation opportunities are incredible! The Reservation provides an excellent location for wildlife viewing, photography, and bird watching (our bird list has 218 species documented so far and is growing). We have some of the best fishing in the Southwest, offering largemouth bass, black crappie, smallmouth bass, trout, and catfish. The hunting on the Reservation is nothing short of phenomenal and in terms of big game diversity, we rival any other place in the continental United States. We have excellent wildlife resources that include Rocky Mountain Elk, Coues-White Tailed Deer, Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep, Desert Big Horn Sheep, Javelina, Pronghorn Antelope, Black Bear, Mountain Lion, and Wild Turkey. Add small game, upland birds, waterfowl, and predator hunting and an avid hunter can be kept busy year-round. All of our permits are sold on a first-come, first-serve basis, so there is no need to play the waiting game as is the case with most state agencies of applying for tags and crossing-your-fingers and hoping to be drawn. Just send us an application, and if the tag is available, it’s yours!

Hunting
Our Drylake and Hilltop trophy elk units are managed for older age structure and have produced some of the largest elk in the world. We also have Bighorn Sheep, Coues-White Tailed Deer, Black Bear and Pronghorn Antelope that are in record books.Read more ...

Fishing
San Carlos also has excellent fishery resources that include both cold and warm water fisheries. When full, the San Carlos Lake is the largest lake in Arizona with 158 miles of shoreline and provides world class Largemouth Bass, Black Crappie, and Flathead Catfish. Read more ...

Other Recreational Opportunities
A variety of lakes, ponds, and rivers await you on the Reservation Read more ... Bird watching is another possibility, with over 216 species identified to date (see list here)

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