New Mexico · Deer · any legal big-game sporting arm
New Mexico deer hunt DER-1-306
Unit 32, 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 560 licences on hunt code DER-1-306 in 2026 and issued 560 — the hunt filled. Among the three pools the state draws separately, 49 nonresident applicants ranked it first and 17 drew it, 34.69%; 343 resident applicants ranked it first and 194 drew it, 56.56%; 3 guided (outfitter) applicants ranked it first and 3 drew it, 100.00%.
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 | 343 | 194 | 56.56% | 1,407 | 503 | 89.82% |
| 2026 | Nonresident | 49 | 17 | 34.69% | 128 | 33 | 5.89% |
| 2026 | Guided (outfitter) | 3 | 3 | 100.00% | 38 | 24 | 4.29% |
| 2025 | Resident | 316 | 200 | 63.29% | 1,261 | 514 | 91.79% |
| 2025 | Nonresident | 30 | 16 | 53.33% | 122 | 33 | 5.89% |
| 2025 | Guided (outfitter) | 2 | 2 | 100.00% | 21 | 13 | 2.32% |
| 2024 | Resident | 317 | 223 | 70.35% | 1,180 | 514 | 91.79% |
| 2024 | Nonresident | 33 | 18 | 54.55% | 117 | 33 | 5.89% |
| 2024 | Guided (outfitter) | 2 | 2 | 100.00% | 24 | 13 | 2.32% |
| 2023 | Resident | 311 | 198 | 63.67% | 1,261 | 521 | 93.04% |
| 2023 | Nonresident | 24 | 7 | 29.17% | 126 | 33 | 5.89% |
| 2023 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 17 | 6 | 1.07% |
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 | 560 | 560 | 395 | 1,968 |
| 2025 | 560 | 560 | 348 | 1,752 |
| 2024 | 560 | 560 | 352 | 1,673 |
| 2023 | 560 | 560 | 335 | 1,739 |
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