New Mexico · Elk · any legal big-game sporting arm
New Mexico elk hunt ELK-1-208
Unit 52. 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 230 licences on hunt code ELK-1-208 in 2026 and issued 230 — the hunt filled. Among the three pools the state draws separately, 93 nonresident applicants ranked it first and 5 drew it, 5.38%; 276 resident applicants ranked it first and 76 drew it, 27.54%; 49 guided (outfitter) applicants ranked it first and 5 drew it, 10.20%.
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 | 276 | 76 | 27.54% | 1,322 | 194 | 84.35% |
| 2026 | Nonresident | 93 | 5 | 5.38% | 405 | 13 | 5.65% |
| 2026 | Guided (outfitter) | 49 | 5 | 10.20% | 191 | 23 | 10% |
| 2025 | Resident | 222 | 75 | 33.78% | 1,123 | 194 | 84.35% |
| 2025 | Nonresident | 53 | 7 | 13.21% | 263 | 13 | 5.65% |
| 2025 | Guided (outfitter) | 23 | 10 | 43.48% | 171 | 23 | 10% |
| 2024 | Resident | 222 | 70 | 31.53% | 1,123 | 194 | 84.35% |
| 2024 | Nonresident | 75 | 7 | 9.33% | 288 | 13 | 5.65% |
| 2024 | Guided (outfitter) | 30 | 8 | 26.67% | 174 | 23 | 10% |
| 2023 | Resident | 242 | 69 | 28.51% | 1,162 | 194 | 84.35% |
| 2023 | Nonresident | 60 | 2 | 3.33% | 261 | 13 | 5.65% |
| 2023 | Guided (outfitter) | 32 | 11 | 34.38% | 174 | 23 | 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 | 230 | 230 | 418 | 2,336 |
| 2025 | 230 | 230 | 298 | 1,855 |
| 2024 | 230 | 230 | 327 | 1,912 |
| 2023 | 230 | 230 | 334 | 1,931 |
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