New Mexico · Deer · any legal big-game sporting arm
New Mexico deer hunt DER-1-221
Unit 21. 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 425 licences on hunt code DER-1-221 in 2026 and issued 425 — the hunt filled. Among the three pools the state draws separately, 89 nonresident applicants ranked it first and 20 drew it, 22.47%; 702 resident applicants ranked it first and 211 drew it, 30.06%; 25 guided (outfitter) applicants ranked it first and 25 drew it, 100.00%.
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 | 702 | 211 | 30.06% | 1,373 | 357 | 84% |
| 2026 | Nonresident | 89 | 20 | 22.47% | 130 | 26 | 6.12% |
| 2026 | Guided (outfitter) | 25 | 25 | 100.00% | 39 | 42 | 9.88% |
| 2025 | Resident | 870 | 243 | 27.93% | 1,430 | 361 | 84.94% |
| 2025 | Nonresident | 92 | 18 | 19.57% | 144 | 26 | 6.12% |
| 2025 | Guided (outfitter) | 29 | 29 | 100.00% | 16 | 38 | 8.94% |
| 2024 | Resident | 748 | 220 | 29.41% | 1,397 | 364 | 85.64% |
| 2024 | Nonresident | 60 | 18 | 30.00% | 128 | 26 | 6.12% |
| 2024 | Guided (outfitter) | 14 | 14 | 100.00% | 31 | 35 | 8.24% |
| 2023 | Resident | 818 | 251 | 30.68% | 1,322 | 376 | 88.47% |
| 2023 | Nonresident | 57 | 8 | 14.04% | 151 | 26 | 6.12% |
| 2023 | Guided (outfitter) | 13 | 13 | 100.00% | 23 | 23 | 5.41% |
| 2022 | Resident | 89 | 30 | 33.71% | 205 | 59 | 84.28% |
| 2022 | Nonresident | 18 | 3 | 16.67% | 36 | 4 | 5.72% |
| 2022 | Guided (outfitter) | 1 | 1 | 100.00% | 16 | 7 | 10% |
| 2021 | Resident | 119 | 36 | 30.25% | 215 | 59 | 84.29% |
| 2021 | Nonresident | 38 | 4 | 10.53% | 47 | 4 | 5.71% |
| 2021 | Guided (outfitter) | 9 | 3 | 33.33% | 7 | 7 | 10% |
| 2020 | Resident | 101 | 36 | 35.64% | 182 | 60 | 85.72% |
| 2020 | Nonresident | 15 | 1 | 6.67% | 49 | 4 | 5.71% |
| 2020 | Guided (outfitter) | 6 | 6 | 100.00% | 7 | 6 | 8.57% |
| 2019 | Resident | 101 | 47 | 46.53% | 197 | 60 | — |
| 2019 | Nonresident | 16 | 4 | 25.00% | 25 | 4 | — |
| 2019 | Guided (outfitter) | 2 | 2 | 100.00% | 13 | 6 | — |
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 | 425 | 425 | 816 | 2,358 |
| 2025 | 425 | 425 | 991 | 2,581 |
| 2024 | 425 | 425 | 822 | 2,378 |
| 2023 | 425 | 425 | 888 | 2,384 |
| 2022 | 70 | 70 | 108 | 365 |
| 2021 | 70 | 70 | 166 | 435 |
| 2020 | 70 | 70 | 122 | 360 |
| 2019 | 70 | 70 | 119 | 354 |
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