Arizona Hunting Club & Outdoor Adventure Group

How to Pick the Right Stock Tanks to Scout

It is no secret to anyone that lives in Arizona why locating water is the key to successful hunting in this state. The most prevalent source of water in Arizona is stock tanks. That is why we went to the trouble of mapping out the GPS coordinates of every single stock tank in Arizona. Stock tanks are easy to see on forest maps, but sometimes they are hard to locate without the GPS coordinates.

Click here for a whole photo directory of clues to look for when scouting stock tanks.

When scouting topo maps try to locate tanks with these characteristics:

1. Look for stock tanks that are 1/2 mile off the road
2. Look for stock tanks that are at the end of a road, not on a loop
3. Look for stock tanks that are near grassy meadows
4. Look for stock tanks that are near mountains and large foothills
5. Look for stock tanks that will take lazy hunters several days to find
6. Look in creek beds for secret pools of water that animals know about
7. Look for low lying depressions where many seeps are found
8. Look for tanks near canyons and drainages that provide shelter

Stocks tanks are the easiest way to find where the majority of the animals in a given area are located. If you can just scout 10-20 water tanks on a given weekend, you are bound to find at least one with a lot more tracks than the rest.

However, before you start scouting stock tanks, you should try to think like a deer or an elk. Would you rather drink at a local bar in the inner city known for drive by shootings or a nice, quite rural town where nobody carries a gun? Animals prefer remote site tanks that are quiet and as far away from people with guns as possible.

Try to find stock tanks that are located at the end of a road versus ones that are located on heavily traveled loops. Also, try to find tanks that are located as far away from the road as possible. A great location to find is a stock tank located across a large grassy field from the road. Not all hunters will know it is there and 75% of hunters will not take the time get out of their truck and take a walk across the field to see if animals are drinking there. These are great places to check.

Most stocks tanks are located on a dammed up creek beds or draws where water naturally drains and fills up the tanks. Many times, you can scout above or below these tanks and find deep holes in river beds that will hold water for 90% of the year. Animals know these spots and frequent them often during hunting season.

Another source of water comes from trick tanks or drinkers that are built by the Arizona Game & Fish, which provide water in very dry parts of Arizona. You can buy their Arizona Wildlife Water Catchments Map Book for $35 that gives you directions on where to find them. Not a very accurate book and it doesn't contain their GPS coordinates, but if you want to know where water is in dry areas, the book is a great buy.

If you know the name of a stock tank, meadow, creek or any other geographic marker name, you can search for it below by entering the name and searching for it: