New Mexico · Deer · bow only
New Mexico deer hunt DER-2-303
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 100 licences on hunt code DER-2-303 in 2026 and issued 100 — the hunt filled. Among the three pools the state draws separately, 52 nonresident applicants ranked it first and 6 drew it, 11.54%; 319 resident applicants ranked it first and 68 drew it, 21.32%; 31 guided (outfitter) applicants ranked it first and 4 drew it, 12.90%.
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 | 319 | 68 | 21.32% | 405 | 84 | 84% |
| 2026 | Nonresident | 52 | 6 | 11.54% | 80 | 6 | 6% |
| 2026 | Guided (outfitter) | 31 | 4 | 12.90% | 55 | 10 | 10% |
| 2025 | Resident | 335 | 70 | 20.90% | 402 | 84 | 84% |
| 2025 | Nonresident | 70 | 5 | 7.14% | 115 | 6 | 6% |
| 2025 | Guided (outfitter) | 40 | 3 | 7.50% | 44 | 10 | 10% |
| 2024 | Resident | 359 | 79 | 22.01% | 389 | 84 | 84% |
| 2024 | Nonresident | 74 | 3 | 4.05% | 101 | 6 | 6% |
| 2024 | Guided (outfitter) | 39 | 9 | 23.08% | 51 | 10 | 10% |
| 2023 | Resident | 382 | 77 | 20.16% | 472 | 84 | 84% |
| 2023 | Nonresident | 64 | 5 | 7.81% | 88 | 6 | 6% |
| 2023 | Guided (outfitter) | 36 | 8 | 22.22% | 23 | 10 | 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 | 100 | 100 | 402 | 942 |
| 2025 | 100 | 100 | 445 | 1,006 |
| 2024 | 100 | 100 | 472 | 1,013 |
| 2023 | 100 | 100 | 482 | 1,065 |
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