New Mexico · Deer · any legal big-game sporting arm
New Mexico deer hunt DER-1-389
Unit 51A. 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 145 licences on hunt code DER-1-389 in 2026 and issued 145 — the hunt filled. Among the three pools the state draws separately, 50 nonresident applicants ranked it first and 4 drew it, 8.00%; 881 resident applicants ranked it first and 85 drew it, 9.65%; 6 guided (outfitter) applicants ranked it first and 6 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 | 881 | 85 | 9.65% | 1,603 | 122 | 84.14% |
| 2026 | Nonresident | 50 | 4 | 8.00% | 87 | 9 | 6.21% |
| 2026 | Guided (outfitter) | 6 | 6 | 100.00% | 16 | 14 | 9.65% |
| 2025 | Resident | 833 | 88 | 10.56% | 1,649 | 123 | 84.82% |
| 2025 | Nonresident | 69 | 4 | 5.80% | 115 | 9 | 6.21% |
| 2025 | Guided (outfitter) | 6 | 6 | 100.00% | 22 | 13 | 8.97% |
| 2024 | Resident | 864 | 88 | 10.19% | 1,551 | 130 | 89.65% |
| 2024 | Nonresident | 42 | 4 | 9.52% | 79 | 9 | 6.21% |
| 2024 | Guided (outfitter) | 4 | 4 | 100.00% | 9 | 6 | 4.14% |
| 2023 | Resident | 820 | 91 | 11.10% | 1,610 | 131 | 90.34% |
| 2023 | Nonresident | 32 | 6 | 18.75% | 93 | 9 | 6.21% |
| 2023 | Guided (outfitter) | 5 | 5 | 100.00% | 4 | 5 | 3.45% |
| 2022 | Resident | 115 | 36 | 31.30% | 511 | 77 | 90.59% |
| 2022 | Nonresident | 11 | 4 | 36.36% | 49 | 5 | 5.88% |
| 2022 | Guided (outfitter) | 2 | 2 | 100.00% | 3 | 3 | 3.53% |
| 2021 | Resident | 147 | 34 | 23.13% | 558 | 78 | 91.76% |
| 2021 | Nonresident | 9 | 1 | 11.11% | 34 | 5 | 5.88% |
| 2021 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 2 | 2 | 2.35% |
| 2020 | Resident | 121 | 40 | 33.06% | 416 | 80 | 94.12% |
| 2020 | Nonresident | 5 | 3 | 60.00% | 29 | 5 | 5.88% |
| 2020 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| 2019 | Resident | 100 | 35 | 35.00% | 402 | 80 | — |
| 2019 | Nonresident | 9 | 2 | 22.22% | 8 | 5 | — |
| 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 | 145 | 145 | 937 | 2,643 |
| 2025 | 145 | 145 | 908 | 2,694 |
| 2024 | 145 | 145 | 910 | 2,549 |
| 2023 | 145 | 145 | 857 | 2,564 |
| 2022 | 85 | 85 | 128 | 691 |
| 2021 | 85 | 85 | 156 | 750 |
| 2020 | 85 | 85 | 126 | 572 |
| 2019 | 85 | 85 | 109 | 520 |
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