New Mexico · Deer · any legal big-game sporting arm
New Mexico deer hunt DER-1-301
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 435 licences on hunt code DER-1-301 in 2026 and issued 435 — the hunt filled. Among the three pools the state draws separately, 70 nonresident applicants ranked it first and 14 drew it, 20.00%; 428 resident applicants ranked it first and 158 drew it, 36.92%; 45 guided (outfitter) applicants ranked it first and 25 drew it, 55.56%.
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 | 428 | 158 | 36.92% | 1,840 | 366 | 84.14% |
| 2026 | Nonresident | 70 | 14 | 20.00% | 234 | 26 | 5.98% |
| 2026 | Guided (outfitter) | 45 | 25 | 55.56% | 70 | 43 | 9.88% |
| 2025 | Resident | 541 | 168 | 31.05% | 2,120 | 366 | 84.13% |
| 2025 | Nonresident | 99 | 18 | 18.18% | 269 | 26 | 5.98% |
| 2025 | Guided (outfitter) | 46 | 26 | 56.52% | 91 | 43 | 9.89% |
| 2024 | Resident | 467 | 162 | 34.69% | 2,119 | 366 | 84.14% |
| 2024 | Nonresident | 95 | 10 | 10.53% | 269 | 26 | 5.97% |
| 2024 | Guided (outfitter) | 32 | 24 | 75.00% | 106 | 43 | 9.89% |
| 2023 | Resident | 613 | 193 | 31.48% | 2,275 | 366 | 84.14% |
| 2023 | Nonresident | 89 | 14 | 15.73% | 217 | 26 | 5.97% |
| 2023 | Guided (outfitter) | 36 | 28 | 77.78% | 57 | 43 | 9.89% |
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 | 435 | 435 | 543 | 2,687 |
| 2025 | 435 | 435 | 686 | 3,166 |
| 2024 | 435 | 435 | 594 | 3,088 |
| 2023 | 435 | 435 | 738 | 3,287 |
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