New Mexico · Deer · any legal big-game sporting arm
New Mexico deer hunt DER-1-399
Unit 53. 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 85 licences on hunt code DER-1-399 in 2026 and issued 85 — the hunt filled. Among the three pools the state draws separately, 18 nonresident applicants ranked it first and 3 drew it, 16.67%; 149 resident applicants ranked it first and 38 drew it, 25.50%; 2 guided (outfitter) applicants ranked it first and 2 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 | 149 | 38 | 25.50% | 550 | 74 | 87.06% |
| 2026 | Nonresident | 18 | 3 | 16.67% | 86 | 5 | 5.88% |
| 2026 | Guided (outfitter) | 2 | 2 | 100.00% | 5 | 6 | 7.06% |
| 2025 | Resident | 108 | 23 | 21.30% | 512 | 76 | 89.41% |
| 2025 | Nonresident | 8 | 1 | 12.50% | 50 | 5 | 5.88% |
| 2025 | Guided (outfitter) | 2 | 2 | 100.00% | 11 | 4 | 4.71% |
| 2024 | Resident | 113 | 33 | 29.20% | 541 | 78 | 91.76% |
| 2024 | Nonresident | 29 | 2 | 6.90% | 85 | 5 | 5.88% |
| 2024 | Guided (outfitter) | 1 | 1 | 100.00% | 5 | 2 | 2.36% |
| 2023 | Resident | 101 | 27 | 26.73% | 477 | 78 | 91.77% |
| 2023 | Nonresident | 10 | 4 | 40.00% | 33 | 5 | 5.88% |
| 2023 | Guided (outfitter) | 2 | 2 | 100.00% | 0 | 2 | 2.35% |
| 2022 | Resident | 51 | 13 | 25.49% | 73 | 13 | 86.67% |
| 2022 | Nonresident | 2 | 0 | 0.00% | 11 | 1 | 6.67% |
| 2022 | Guided (outfitter) | 4 | 1 | 25.00% | 6 | 1 | 6.66% |
| 2021 | Resident | 39 | 9 | 23.08% | 73 | 13 | 86.67% |
| 2021 | Nonresident | 0 | 0 | — | 14 | 1 | 6.67% |
| 2021 | Guided (outfitter) | 1 | 1 | 100.00% | 7 | 1 | 6.67% |
| 2020 | Resident | 29 | 12 | 41.38% | 62 | 13 | 86.66% |
| 2020 | Nonresident | 3 | 0 | 0.00% | 3 | 1 | 6.67% |
| 2020 | Guided (outfitter) | 1 | 1 | 100.00% | 4 | 1 | 6.67% |
| 2019 | Resident | 29 | 9 | 31.03% | 51 | 13 | — |
| 2019 | Nonresident | 3 | 1 | 33.33% | 3 | 1 | — |
| 2019 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 1 | — |
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 | 85 | 85 | 169 | 810 |
| 2025 | 85 | 85 | 118 | 691 |
| 2024 | 85 | 85 | 143 | 774 |
| 2023 | 85 | 85 | 113 | 623 |
| 2022 | 15 | 15 | 57 | 147 |
| 2021 | 15 | 15 | 40 | 134 |
| 2020 | 15 | 15 | 33 | 102 |
| 2019 | 15 | 15 | 32 | 87 |
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