New Mexico · Deer · any legal big-game sporting arm
New Mexico deer hunt DER-1-166
Unit 9, including Water Canyon WMA: youth only. Bag limit fork-antlered deer (FAD). 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 10 licences on hunt code DER-1-166 in 2026 and issued 10 — the hunt filled. Among the three pools the state draws separately, no nonresident applicant ranked it first; 45 resident applicants ranked it first and 5 drew it, 11.11%; no guided (outfitter) applicant ranked it first.
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 | 45 | 5 | 11.11% | 62 | 9 | 90% |
| 2026 | Nonresident | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2026 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 8 | 1 | 10% |
| 2025 | Resident | 37 | 6 | 16.22% | 83 | 9 | 90% |
| 2025 | Nonresident | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2025 | Guided (outfitter) | 3 | 1 | 33.33% | 5 | 1 | 10% |
| 2024 | Resident | 47 | 7 | 14.89% | 86 | 9 | 90% |
| 2024 | Nonresident | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2024 | Guided (outfitter) | 2 | 0 | 0.00% | 2 | 1 | 10% |
| 2023 | Resident | 42 | 6 | 14.29% | 71 | 9 | 90% |
| 2023 | Nonresident | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2023 | Guided (outfitter) | 1 | 1 | 100.00% | 0 | 1 | 10% |
| 2022 | Resident | 451 | 44 | 9.76% | 615 | 65 | 92.86% |
| 2022 | Nonresident | 12 | 4 | 33.33% | 16 | 4 | 5.72% |
| 2022 | Guided (outfitter) | 1 | 1 | 100.00% | 2 | 1 | 1.43% |
| 2021 | Resident | 533 | 56 | 10.51% | 633 | 66 | 94.29% |
| 2021 | Nonresident | 23 | 4 | 17.39% | 12 | 4 | 5.71% |
| 2021 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2020 | Resident | 395 | 57 | 14.43% | 540 | 65 | 92.86% |
| 2020 | Nonresident | 8 | 3 | 37.50% | 9 | 4 | 5.71% |
| 2020 | Guided (outfitter) | 1 | 1 | 100.00% | 0 | 1 | 1.43% |
| 2019 | Resident | 307 | 53 | 17.26% | 462 | 66 | — |
| 2019 | Nonresident | 5 | 3 | 60.00% | 9 | 4 | — |
| 2019 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | — |
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 | 10 | 10 | 45 | 115 |
| 2025 | 10 | 10 | 40 | 128 |
| 2024 | 10 | 10 | 49 | 137 |
| 2023 | 10 | 10 | 43 | 114 |
| 2022 | 70 | 70 | 464 | 1,097 |
| 2021 | 70 | 70 | 556 | 1,201 |
| 2020 | 70 | 70 | 404 | 953 |
| 2019 | 70 | 70 | 312 | 784 |
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