Hunting & Shooting
Being out on the land is a way of life in the West, and the area around Yuma is no different. Fortunate to have abundant natural resources, the wildlands around Yuma provide many opportunities for hunters to practice their skills and even bring home the bacon, speaking of javelina season, which runs between January and February each year. In the Yuma area, the primary prey species are bighorn sheep, mule deer, dove, quail, and waterfowl.
Residents and nonresidents over the age of 10 are required to have a valid license to hunt in Arizona. Youth licenses (ages 10-17) for residents and non-residents are available for $5. Youth hunters interested in participating in big game hunts must first complete a hunter education course. You must be a bona fide resident of Arizona for six months to apply for resident hunting privileges.
Most types of hunting and fishing licenses are available online at the Arizona Game and Fish Department, or 300 dealers statewide. The website also offers detailed information on regulations, hunting areas, and more, or reach out to the Yuma regional office.
Yuma is home to two shooting ranges, one outdoors and one indoors. Adair Shooting Range is located about 15 miles northeast of Yuma on Highway 95 (turn left/west about 3/4 mile past Gila River bridge). Adair includes ranges for pistol, archery, big bore, small bore, trap and skeet, police combat, silhouette, and black powder, along with a camping area. It's operated and maintained for all to safely enjoy by Adair Ranges, Inc., a private, nonprofit corporation comprised of Yuma-area shooting and recreation. Archery classes are also offered through the City of Yuma’s Parks and Recreation Department.
The indoor range is at Sprague's Sports, Inc., and includes ten 25-yard lanes with an automatic target retrieval system, rated for pistols and rifles up to 3600 fps.
Did you know that Yuma is the dove-hunting capital of the United States? Locally, dove-hunting is a long-standing family tradition. Dove hunting season is a big deal, selling out most hotel rooms in Yuma, and it attracts hunters from all over.
The only hunting season nonhunters in the Yuma area will likely notice dove season, which opens with a bang on September 1 every year.
Yuma remains a prime dove-hunting area because of agriculture and the large amounts of acreage still devoted to grain farming on both sides of the border. Grainfields provide nesting cover and food for the two main species hunted here, the mourning dove and the white-winged dove. Mourning doves live in the area year-round, while white-wings migrate south to Mexico as crops are harvested and fall storms move in.
Arizona Game and Fish estimates that over the last decade, 45,000 to 60,000 hunters have bagged from one to 1.3 million mourning doves every year - and a significant part of that harvest takes place in and around Yuma. Check in with local sporting goods stores for specifics on local conditions and hunting restrictions, as well as for special dove season contests and promotions.