New Mexico · Deer · any legal big-game sporting arm
New Mexico deer hunt DER-1-300
Unit 31, including Prairie Chicken WMAs. 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 440 licences on hunt code DER-1-300 in 2026 and issued 440 — the hunt filled. Among the three pools the state draws separately, 169 nonresident applicants ranked it first and 17 drew it, 10.06%; 1,475 resident applicants ranked it first and 335 drew it, 22.71%; 59 guided (outfitter) applicants ranked it first and 26 drew it, 44.07%.
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 | 1,475 | 335 | 22.71% | 1,719 | 370 | 84.09% |
| 2026 | Nonresident | 169 | 17 | 10.06% | 257 | 26 | 5.91% |
| 2026 | Guided (outfitter) | 59 | 26 | 44.07% | 102 | 44 | 10% |
| 2025 | Resident | 1,496 | 343 | 22.93% | 1,813 | 370 | 84.09% |
| 2025 | Nonresident | 168 | 23 | 13.69% | 230 | 26 | 5.91% |
| 2025 | Guided (outfitter) | 42 | 29 | 69.05% | 57 | 44 | 10% |
| 2024 | Resident | 1,532 | 339 | 22.13% | 1,859 | 370 | 84.09% |
| 2024 | Nonresident | 154 | 17 | 11.04% | 205 | 26 | 5.91% |
| 2024 | Guided (outfitter) | 60 | 34 | 56.67% | 76 | 44 | 10% |
| 2023 | Resident | 1,603 | 338 | 21.09% | 2,033 | 370 | 84.09% |
| 2023 | Nonresident | 142 | 21 | 14.79% | 210 | 26 | 5.91% |
| 2023 | Guided (outfitter) | 44 | 26 | 59.09% | 56 | 44 | 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 | 440 | 440 | 1,703 | 3,781 |
| 2025 | 440 | 440 | 1,706 | 3,806 |
| 2024 | 440 | 440 | 1,746 | 3,886 |
| 2023 | 440 | 440 | 1,789 | 4,088 |
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