New Mexico · Elk · any legal big-game sporting arm
New Mexico elk hunt ELK-1-244
Unit 7. 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 30 licences on hunt code ELK-1-244 in 2026 and issued 30 — the hunt filled. Among the three pools the state draws separately, 8 nonresident applicants ranked it first and none of them drew it; 69 resident applicants ranked it first and 13 drew it, 18.84%; 1 guided (outfitter) applicant ranked it first and 1 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 | 69 | 13 | 18.84% | 273 | 26 | 86.67% |
| 2026 | Nonresident | 8 | 0 | 0.00% | 28 | 1 | 3.33% |
| 2026 | Guided (outfitter) | 1 | 1 | 100.00% | 24 | 3 | 10% |
| 2025 | Resident | 48 | 9 | 18.75% | 300 | 26 | 86.67% |
| 2025 | Nonresident | 8 | 1 | 12.50% | 26 | 1 | 3.33% |
| 2025 | Guided (outfitter) | 7 | 3 | 42.86% | 5 | 3 | 10% |
| 2024 | Resident | 62 | 11 | 17.74% | 204 | 26 | 86.67% |
| 2024 | Nonresident | 7 | 1 | 14.29% | 38 | 1 | 3.33% |
| 2024 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 33 | 3 | 10% |
| 2023 | Resident | 63 | 12 | 19.05% | 274 | 26 | 86.67% |
| 2023 | Nonresident | 8 | 0 | 0.00% | 27 | 1 | 3.33% |
| 2023 | Guided (outfitter) | 3 | 0 | 0.00% | 16 | 3 | 10% |
| 2022 | Resident | 496 | 54 | 10.89% | 945 | 74 | 98.67% |
| 2022 | Nonresident | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2022 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 6 | 1 | 1.33% |
| 2021 | Resident | 524 | 53 | 10.11% | 917 | 73 | 97.33% |
| 2021 | Nonresident | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2021 | Guided (outfitter) | 2 | 2 | 100.00% | 2 | 2 | 2.67% |
| 2020 | Resident | 492 | 59 | 11.99% | 738 | 72 | 96% |
| 2020 | Nonresident | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2020 | Guided (outfitter) | 2 | 2 | 100.00% | 1 | 3 | 4% |
| 2019 | Resident | 482 | 61 | 12.66% | 844 | 73 | — |
| 2019 | Nonresident | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — |
| 2019 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 5 | 2 | — |
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 | 30 | 30 | 78 | 403 |
| 2025 | 30 | 30 | 63 | 394 |
| 2024 | 30 | 30 | 69 | 344 |
| 2023 | 30 | 30 | 74 | 391 |
| 2022 | 75 | 75 | 496 | 1,447 |
| 2021 | 75 | 75 | 526 | 1,445 |
| 2020 | 75 | 75 | 494 | 1,233 |
| 2019 | 75 | 75 | 482 | 1,331 |
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