Quail, dove and javelina: Arizona's everyday hunting

Big game in Arizona is a draw and a wait. The hunting most people actually do every year is birds and javelina in the desert within an hour of home, and it needs a shotgun, a light handgun or a rimfire rather than a magnum rifle. Here is how the 2026-27 seasons lay out and what to carry for them.

Dove: the first day of September

The dove opener is the social event of the Arizona hunting year. For 2026-27 the statewide early season runs September 1 to 15, 2026 for mourning and white-winged doves, and the late season runs November 20, 2026 to January 3, 2027. The daily bag is 15 mourning and white-winged doves in the aggregate and the possession limit is 45, with no more than 15 taken in any one day. Eurasian collared-doves have their own season from September 1, 2026 to August 31, 2027 with no bag or possession limit. Band-tailed pigeons, a high country bird, run September 25 to October 8, 2026 with a daily bag of two.

Bring a shotgun plugged so it cannot hold more than three shells, which is a federal migratory bird rule, and check the regulations for the areas that require non-toxic shot; several wildlife areas and refuges along the rivers do. You need an Arizona hunting license and the state migratory bird stamp, and hunters born after a certain date should carry proof of hunter education if they have it.

Quail: the desert bird that defines Arizona

Gambel's quail live in almost every wash and mesquite thicket in the southern half of the state, and the season is long. Under the department's 2026-27 small game orders, Gambel's, scaled and California quail run October 16, 2026 to February 7, 2027 statewide, and Mearns' quail, the oak-grassland bird of the Huachucas, Santa Ritas and Atascosas, runs December 4, 2026 to February 7, 2027. The daily bag is 15 quail in the aggregate with no more than eight Mearns'. Confirm the dates in the current small game regulations before opening weekend, because the commission adopts them each spring.

Quail hunting in Arizona is walking hunting, usually four to eight miles a day over rock and cactus. A 20-gauge or 28-gauge semi-auto or over-under with improved cylinder and modified chokes, loaded with 7.5 or 8 shot, is the classic outfit; a 12-gauge works and many people carry one. Browning and Remington both build field guns that fit this hunting well. Boots, snake protection and far more water than you expect matter as much as the gun.

Javelina: Arizona's other big game

Javelina are collared peccaries, not pigs, and Arizona has no huntable feral hog population, so this is the animal people hunt in the brush. Fall youth hunts in the southern units ran October 9 to 15 and November 20 to 26, 2026 in units 33, 34A, 34B, 35A and 35B, and 37A and 37B, and the general fall javelina application period closed on July 24, 2026. The bigger general and HAM seasons fall in the late winter, with their own draw, and those regulations come out in early September with an October deadline.

HAM stands for handgun, archery and muzzleloader, and it is where a lot of Arizona handgun hunting happens. A .357 Magnum, .41 Magnum, .44 Magnum or 10mm with a red dot or a low-power scope is plenty for an animal that rarely weighs more than 50 pounds, and shots are usually inside 75 yards after a glassing session on a south-facing slope. Smith and Wesson and Ruger revolvers dominate this hunting for good reason. In general seasons any legal centerfire rifle works, and the light .243 or 6.5 Creedmoor you use for Coues deer is ideal.

Rabbits, squirrels and everything else

Cottontail and tree squirrel seasons run through the winter and are the best practice a new hunter can get. A .22 LR rifle or a .410 or 20-gauge shotgun covers both, and the bag limits are generous at five a day each. Tassel-eared squirrel hunting up in the pines around Flagstaff, Show Low and Prescott is a different world from rabbit hunting in the mesquite flats, and it is one of the reasons a .22 belongs in every Arizona gun cabinet.

Licenses and where to go

Everything here needs a current Arizona hunting or combination license, and migratory birds also need the state migratory bird stamp and, for waterfowl, a federal duck stamp. Public land is the norm: Coronado National Forest, BLM ground, state trust land with a permit and several wildlife areas all hold birds. Check closures before you go, because units and wildlife areas near Tucson and Phoenix carry restrictions that open desert does not.

Loads and chokes for desert birds

Gambel's quail flush close and fly fast through mesquite, so an open choke and a light load beat anything heavy: 7.5 or 8 shot in a one-ounce 12-gauge, seven-eighths in a 20 or three-quarters in a 28 will do everything. Mearns' quail hold tighter for a dog in the oak grassland and often flush underfoot, which is the one case where a skeet choke and 8 shot make a real difference. Doves in September ask for the same shells, usually more of them; take twice what you think you need on opening day. If you are hunting a wildlife area or a refuge that requires non-toxic shot, steel in 6 or 7 patterns fine at dove range, and the regulations list which areas those are.

A word on heat, dogs and water

The early dove and quail seasons happen in weather that can still hit 95 degrees. Hunt the first two hours of light, carry more water than feels reasonable, and if you run a dog, carry water for the dog as well and check its feet for cholla and its chest for cactus spines after every drive. Rattlesnakes are still active in October on the desert flats, which is why most quail hunters here wear snake boots or gaiters until the first hard cold.

Start with field shotguns, look at the same catalog for a revolver for the HAM seasons, and read the deer and elk rifle guide for the draw side of the calendar. Local detail for the metro area is in the Tucson buying guide.

General information, not legal advice. Current as of September 2026. Laws change; check the official source before you act.