New Mexico · Deer · any legal big-game sporting arm
New Mexico deer hunt DER-1-256
Unit 24: excluding Fort Bayard management area. 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 100 licences on hunt code DER-1-256 in 2026 and issued 100 — the hunt filled. Among the three pools the state draws separately, 25 nonresident applicants ranked it first and 3 drew it, 12.00%; 81 resident applicants ranked it first and 38 drew it, 46.91%; 9 guided (outfitter) applicants ranked it first and 2 drew it, 22.22%.
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 | 81 | 38 | 46.91% | 262 | 84 | 84% |
| 2026 | Nonresident | 25 | 3 | 12.00% | 65 | 6 | 6% |
| 2026 | Guided (outfitter) | 9 | 2 | 22.22% | 36 | 10 | 10% |
| 2025 | Resident | 42 | 25 | 59.52% | 239 | 84 | 84% |
| 2025 | Nonresident | 25 | 3 | 12.00% | 101 | 6 | 6% |
| 2025 | Guided (outfitter) | 3 | 3 | 100.00% | 33 | 10 | 10% |
| 2024 | Resident | 49 | 29 | 59.18% | 238 | 84 | 84% |
| 2024 | Nonresident | 31 | 2 | 6.45% | 91 | 6 | 6% |
| 2024 | Guided (outfitter) | 5 | 4 | 80.00% | 22 | 10 | 10% |
| 2023 | Resident | 53 | 37 | 69.81% | 229 | 84 | 84% |
| 2023 | Nonresident | 18 | 1 | 5.56% | 76 | 6 | 6% |
| 2023 | Guided (outfitter) | 1 | 1 | 100.00% | 24 | 10 | 10% |
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 | 100 | 100 | 115 | 478 |
| 2025 | 100 | 100 | 70 | 443 |
| 2024 | 100 | 100 | 85 | 436 |
| 2023 | 100 | 100 | 72 | 401 |
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