New Mexico · Elk · any legal big-game sporting arm
New Mexico elk hunt ELK-1-180
Unit 5B. Bag limit mature bull (MB). 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 86 licences on hunt code ELK-1-180 in 2026 and issued 86 — the hunt filled. Among the three pools the state draws separately, 32 nonresident applicants ranked it first and none of them drew it; 434 resident applicants ranked it first and 50 drew it, 11.52%; 27 guided (outfitter) applicants ranked it first and 6 drew it, 22.22%.
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 | 434 | 50 | 11.52% | 607 | 73 | 84.88% |
| 2026 | Nonresident | 32 | 0 | 0.00% | 125 | 5 | 5.82% |
| 2026 | Guided (outfitter) | 27 | 6 | 22.22% | 99 | 8 | 9.3% |
| 2025 | Resident | 426 | 57 | 13.38% | 627 | 73 | 84.89% |
| 2025 | Nonresident | 62 | 3 | 4.84% | 144 | 5 | 5.81% |
| 2025 | Guided (outfitter) | 22 | 2 | 9.09% | 108 | 8 | 9.3% |
| 2024 | Resident | 426 | 50 | 11.74% | 599 | 73 | 84.89% |
| 2024 | Nonresident | 44 | 2 | 4.55% | 152 | 5 | 5.81% |
| 2024 | Guided (outfitter) | 34 | 5 | 14.71% | 44 | 8 | 9.3% |
| 2023 | Resident | 436 | 54 | 12.39% | 639 | 73 | 84.89% |
| 2023 | Nonresident | 57 | 3 | 5.26% | 170 | 5 | 5.81% |
| 2023 | Guided (outfitter) | 47 | 8 | 17.02% | 36 | 8 | 9.3% |
| 2022 | Resident | 103 | 45 | 43.69% | 168 | 79 | 98.75% |
| 2022 | Nonresident | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2022 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 1 | 1.25% |
| 2021 | Resident | 115 | 41 | 35.65% | 177 | 79 | 98.75% |
| 2021 | Nonresident | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2021 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 4 | 1 | 1.25% |
| 2020 | Resident | 84 | 42 | 50.00% | 151 | 80 | 100% |
| 2020 | Nonresident | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2020 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| 2019 | Resident | 102 | 50 | 49.02% | 149 | 80 | — |
| 2019 | Nonresident | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2019 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 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 | 86 | 86 | 493 | 1,324 |
| 2025 | 86 | 86 | 510 | 1,389 |
| 2024 | 86 | 86 | 504 | 1,299 |
| 2023 | 86 | 86 | 540 | 1,385 |
| 2022 | 80 | 80 | 103 | 272 |
| 2021 | 80 | 80 | 115 | 296 |
| 2020 | 80 | 80 | 84 | 236 |
| 2019 | 80 | 80 | 102 | 251 |
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