New Mexico · Bighorn Sheep · any legal big-game sporting arm
New Mexico bighorn sheep hunt BHS-1-201
Units: 6A, 6C, 16B, 22, 23, 24, 45, 49, 50, 53, 55, 58 (TBD by hunt area selected). Bag limit ram (RAM). Of the people who ranked this hunt first, how many drew it — year by year, and separately for each of the three pools New Mexico draws. Every figure comes from a Department of Wildlife report linked at the foot of this page.
What the 2026 draw did
New Mexico offered 24 licences on hunt code BHS-1-201 in 2026 and issued 24 — the hunt filled. Among the three pools the state draws separately, 1,952 nonresident applicants ranked it first and 1 drew it, 0.05%; 7,002 resident applicants ranked it first and 21 drew it, 0.30%; 2,771 guided (outfitter) applicants ranked it first and 2 drew it, 0.07%.
First-choice draw rate, by pool and year
| Year | Pool | Ranked it first | Drew on first choice | First-choice draw rate | Ranked it 2nd or 3rd | Licences to this pool | Share of the quota |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Resident | 7,002 | 21 | 0.30% | 1,934 | 21 | 87.5% |
| 2026 | Nonresident | 1,952 | 1 | 0.05% | 752 | 1 | 4.17% |
| 2026 | Guided (outfitter) | 2,771 | 2 | 0.07% | 915 | 2 | 8.33% |
| 2025 | Resident | 6,466 | 24 | 0.37% | 1,921 | 24 | 85.72% |
| 2025 | Nonresident | 1,892 | 0 | 0.00% | 777 | 1 | 3.57% |
| 2025 | Guided (outfitter) | 2,612 | 3 | 0.11% | 805 | 3 | 10.71% |
| 2024 | Resident | 5,906 | 23 | 0.39% | 1,796 | 23 | 85.19% |
| 2024 | Nonresident | 1,614 | 1 | 0.06% | 951 | 1 | 3.7% |
| 2024 | Guided (outfitter) | 2,145 | 3 | 0.14% | 892 | 3 | 11.11% |
| 2023 | Resident | 5,402 | 16 | 0.30% | 1,993 | 20 | 86.96% |
| 2023 | Nonresident | 1,416 | 1 | 0.07% | 818 | 1 | 4.34% |
| 2023 | Guided (outfitter) | 1,566 | 2 | 0.13% | 1,171 | 2 | 8.7% |
| 2022 | Resident | 5,061 | 22 | 0.43% | 1,893 | 22 | 84.62% |
| 2022 | Nonresident | 1,053 | 1 | 0.09% | 851 | 1 | 3.85% |
| 2022 | Guided (outfitter) | 1,505 | 2 | 0.13% | 1,206 | 3 | 11.54% |
| 2021 | Resident | 4,977 | 22 | 0.44% | 1,974 | 22 | 84.62% |
| 2021 | Nonresident | 1,099 | 0 | 0.00% | 925 | 1 | 3.85% |
| 2021 | Guided (outfitter) | 1,200 | 3 | 0.25% | 1,244 | 3 | 11.54% |
| 2020 | Resident | 3,710 | 20 | 0.54% | 1,540 | 21 | 87.5% |
| 2020 | Nonresident | 862 | 1 | 0.12% | 772 | 1 | 4.17% |
| 2020 | Guided (outfitter) | 905 | 1 | 0.11% | 938 | 2 | 8.33% |
| 2019 | Resident | 3,369 | 19 | 0.56% | 1,497 | 19 | — |
| 2019 | Nonresident | 780 | 1 | 0.13% | 806 | 1 | — |
| 2019 | Guided (outfitter) | 690 | 2 | 0.29% | 952 | 2 | — |
Share of the quota is the department's own R% / NR% / O% column: this pool's share of the licences offered. It is an allocation split set by state law — a minimum of 84% resident, 10% outfitted, 6% nonresident — and not a chance of drawing. It reads 100% on any hunt residents took in full. It is shown because the department publishes it and a reader will meet it elsewhere, not because it answers the question this page is about.
The first-choice draw rate, year by year
One strip per pool, because the three are drawn separately under different shares and a single averaged line would hide the only distinction most readers are here for. Each figure is a record of what that year's draw did. None of it forecasts the next one.
Rounded to whole percentages here; the table above carries them to two decimals. A dash means nobody in that pool ranked this hunt first that year.
Licences offered against licences issued
These are different numbers and the department publishes both. A hunt can fail to fill, and 35 of the 893 hunts in the 2026 report did.
| Year | Licences offered | Licences issued | Applicants who ranked it first | Applicants in total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 24 | 24 | 11,725 | 15,326 |
| 2025 | 28 | 28 | 10,970 | 14,473 |
| 2024 | 27 | 27 | 9,665 | 13,304 |
| 2023 | 23 | 23 | 8,384 | 12,366 |
| 2022 | 26 | 26 | 7,619 | 11,569 |
| 2021 | 26 | 26 | 7,276 | 11,419 |
| 2020 | 24 | 24 | 5,477 | 8,727 |
| 2019 | 22 | 22 | 4,839 | 8,094 |
Applicants in total counts everyone who ranked this hunt anywhere in their three choices, across all three pools. It is a measure of demand, not of competition for a first-choice licence.
Sources for this hunt
- 2026CompleteReport.xlsx — New Mexico Department of Wildlife, published 2026-04-13, fetched 2026-08-31
- 2025CompleteReport.xlsx — New Mexico Department of Wildlife, published 2025-04-09, fetched 2026-08-31
- 2024CompleteReport.xlsx — New Mexico Department of Wildlife, published 2024-04-09, fetched 2026-08-31
- 2023-odds_corrected_CN.xlsx — New Mexico Department of Wildlife, published 2023-04-11, fetched 2026-08-31
- 2022-Complete-Report.xlsx — New Mexico Department of Wildlife, published 2022-04-12, fetched 2026-08-31
- 2021-Big-Game-Drawing-Odds-Complete-Report.xlsx — New Mexico Department of Wildlife, published 2021-04-14, fetched 2026-08-31
- 2020-Drawing-Odds-Complete-Report.xlsx — New Mexico Department of Wildlife, published 2020-08-03, fetched 2026-08-31
- 2019-Drawing-Odds-Complete-Report.xlsx — New Mexico Department of Wildlife, published 2019-06-26, fetched 2026-08-31