New Mexico · Deer · any legal big-game sporting arm
New Mexico deer hunt DER-1-227
Unit 21. Bag limit FAWTD. 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 25 licences on hunt code DER-1-227 in 2026 and issued 25 — the hunt filled. Among the three pools the state draws separately, 17 nonresident applicants ranked it first and none of them drew it; 71 resident applicants ranked it first and 13 drew it, 18.31%; 18 guided (outfitter) applicants ranked it first and 2 drew it, 11.11%.
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 | 71 | 13 | 18.31% | 146 | 21 | 84% |
| 2026 | Nonresident | 17 | 0 | 0.00% | 45 | 1 | 4% |
| 2026 | Guided (outfitter) | 18 | 2 | 11.11% | 30 | 3 | 12% |
| 2025 | Resident | 65 | 16 | 24.62% | 140 | 21 | 84% |
| 2025 | Nonresident | 48 | 2 | 4.17% | 52 | 2 | 8% |
| 2025 | Guided (outfitter) | 9 | 2 | 22.22% | 18 | 2 | 8% |
| 2024 | Resident | 55 | 17 | 30.91% | 177 | 21 | 84% |
| 2024 | Nonresident | 18 | 1 | 5.56% | 32 | 2 | 8% |
| 2024 | Guided (outfitter) | 6 | 1 | 16.67% | 20 | 2 | 8% |
| 2023 | Resident | 55 | 15 | 27.27% | 141 | 21 | 84% |
| 2023 | Nonresident | 18 | 1 | 5.56% | 37 | 2 | 8% |
| 2023 | Guided (outfitter) | 1 | 1 | 100.00% | 11 | 2 | 8% |
| 2022 | Resident | 449 | 229 | 51.00% | 861 | 423 | 94% |
| 2022 | Nonresident | 126 | 21 | 16.67% | 146 | 27 | 6% |
| 2022 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 9 | 0 | 0% |
| 2021 | Resident | 505 | 235 | 46.53% | 989 | 418 | 92.89% |
| 2021 | Nonresident | 135 | 23 | 17.04% | 146 | 27 | 6% |
| 2021 | Guided (outfitter) | 4 | 4 | 100.00% | 8 | 5 | 1.11% |
| 2020 | Resident | 417 | 233 | 55.88% | 773 | 421 | 93.56% |
| 2020 | Nonresident | 89 | 27 | 30.34% | 73 | 27 | 6% |
| 2020 | Guided (outfitter) | 1 | 1 | 100.00% | 1 | 2 | 0.44% |
| 2019 | Resident | 397 | 228 | 57.43% | 717 | 419 | — |
| 2019 | Nonresident | 79 | 16 | 20.25% | 79 | 27 | — |
| 2019 | Guided (outfitter) | 4 | 4 | 100.00% | 1 | 4 | — |
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 | 25 | 25 | 106 | 327 |
| 2025 | 25 | 25 | 122 | 332 |
| 2024 | 25 | 25 | 79 | 308 |
| 2023 | 25 | 25 | 74 | 263 |
| 2022 | 450 | 450 | 575 | 1,591 |
| 2021 | 450 | 450 | 644 | 1,787 |
| 2020 | 450 | 450 | 507 | 1,354 |
| 2019 | 450 | 450 | 480 | 1,277 |
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