New Mexico · Deer · any legal big-game sporting arm
New Mexico deer hunt DER-1-222
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-1-222 in 2026 and issued 425 — the hunt filled. Among the three pools the state draws separately, 24 nonresident applicants ranked it first and 10 drew it, 41.67%; 214 resident applicants ranked it first and 114 drew it, 53.27%; 23 guided (outfitter) applicants ranked it first and 23 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 | 214 | 114 | 53.27% | 1,098 | 365 | 85.88% |
| 2026 | Nonresident | 24 | 10 | 41.67% | 174 | 26 | 6.12% |
| 2026 | Guided (outfitter) | 23 | 23 | 100.00% | 30 | 34 | 8% |
| 2025 | Resident | 195 | 94 | 48.21% | 1,168 | 379 | 89.17% |
| 2025 | Nonresident | 52 | 14 | 26.92% | 161 | 26 | 6.12% |
| 2025 | Guided (outfitter) | 8 | 8 | 100.00% | 34 | 20 | 4.71% |
| 2024 | Resident | 237 | 145 | 61.18% | 1,184 | 388 | 91.29% |
| 2024 | Nonresident | 37 | 9 | 24.32% | 112 | 26 | 6.12% |
| 2024 | Guided (outfitter) | 6 | 6 | 100.00% | 36 | 11 | 2.59% |
| 2023 | Resident | 237 | 115 | 48.52% | 1,131 | 374 | 88% |
| 2023 | Nonresident | 37 | 13 | 35.14% | 124 | 26 | 6.12% |
| 2023 | Guided (outfitter) | 7 | 7 | 100.00% | 34 | 25 | 5.88% |
| 2022 | Resident | 26 | 16 | 61.54% | 183 | 59 | 84.28% |
| 2022 | Nonresident | 9 | 2 | 22.22% | 31 | 4 | 5.72% |
| 2022 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 17 | 7 | 10% |
| 2021 | Resident | 41 | 20 | 48.78% | 171 | 60 | 85.71% |
| 2021 | Nonresident | 12 | 2 | 16.67% | 43 | 4 | 5.71% |
| 2021 | Guided (outfitter) | 6 | 6 | 100.00% | 0 | 6 | 8.57% |
| 2020 | Resident | 41 | 19 | 46.34% | 158 | 62 | 88.58% |
| 2020 | Nonresident | 3 | 0 | 0.00% | 25 | 4 | 5.71% |
| 2020 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 13 | 4 | 5.71% |
| 2019 | Resident | 28 | 22 | 78.57% | 134 | 66 | — |
| 2019 | Nonresident | 7 | 1 | 14.29% | 28 | 4 | — |
| 2019 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 6 | 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 | 425 | 425 | 261 | 1,563 |
| 2025 | 425 | 425 | 255 | 1,618 |
| 2024 | 425 | 425 | 280 | 1,612 |
| 2023 | 425 | 425 | 281 | 1,570 |
| 2022 | 70 | 70 | 35 | 266 |
| 2021 | 70 | 70 | 59 | 273 |
| 2020 | 70 | 70 | 44 | 240 |
| 2019 | 70 | 70 | 35 | 203 |
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