New Mexico · Deer · any legal big-game sporting arm
New Mexico deer hunt DER-1-278
Unit 27. 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 40 licences on hunt code DER-1-278 in 2026 and issued 40 — the hunt filled. Among the three pools the state draws separately, 46 nonresident applicants ranked it first and 2 drew it, 4.35%; 115 resident applicants ranked it first and 23 drew it, 20.00%; 6 guided (outfitter) applicants ranked it first and none of them drew it.
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 | 115 | 23 | 20.00% | 180 | 34 | 85% |
| 2026 | Nonresident | 46 | 2 | 4.35% | 134 | 2 | 5% |
| 2026 | Guided (outfitter) | 6 | 0 | 0.00% | 32 | 4 | 10% |
| 2025 | Resident | 130 | 30 | 23.08% | 163 | 34 | 85% |
| 2025 | Nonresident | 63 | 1 | 1.59% | 133 | 2 | 5% |
| 2025 | Guided (outfitter) | 12 | 1 | 8.33% | 31 | 4 | 10% |
| 2024 | Resident | 115 | 19 | 16.52% | 179 | 34 | 85% |
| 2024 | Nonresident | 41 | 1 | 2.44% | 118 | 2 | 5% |
| 2024 | Guided (outfitter) | 10 | 0 | 0.00% | 56 | 4 | 10% |
| 2023 | Resident | 118 | 27 | 22.88% | 159 | 34 | 85% |
| 2023 | Nonresident | 57 | 1 | 1.75% | 102 | 2 | 5% |
| 2023 | Guided (outfitter) | 14 | 0 | 0.00% | 30 | 4 | 10% |
| 2022 | Resident | 28 | 17 | 60.71% | 15 | 21 | 84% |
| 2022 | Nonresident | 30 | 2 | 6.67% | 16 | 2 | 8% |
| 2022 | Guided (outfitter) | 1 | 1 | 100.00% | 1 | 2 | 8% |
| 2021 | Resident | 33 | 16 | 48.48% | 17 | 21 | 84% |
| 2021 | Nonresident | 40 | 1 | 2.50% | 30 | 2 | 8% |
| 2021 | Guided (outfitter) | 2 | 0 | 0.00% | 3 | 2 | 8% |
| 2020 | Resident | 31 | 18 | 58.06% | 14 | 21 | 84% |
| 2020 | Nonresident | 37 | 1 | 2.70% | 13 | 1 | 4% |
| 2020 | Guided (outfitter) | 5 | 3 | 60.00% | 0 | 3 | 12% |
| 2019 | Resident | 24 | 7 | 29.17% | 6 | 8 | — |
| 2019 | Nonresident | 43 | 15 | 34.88% | 12 | 17 | — |
| 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 | 40 | 40 | 167 | 513 |
| 2025 | 40 | 40 | 205 | 532 |
| 2024 | 40 | 40 | 166 | 519 |
| 2023 | 40 | 40 | 189 | 480 |
| 2022 | 25 | 25 | 59 | 91 |
| 2021 | 25 | 25 | 75 | 125 |
| 2020 | 25 | 25 | 73 | 100 |
| 2019 | 25 | 25 | 67 | 86 |
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