New Mexico · Elk · any legal big-game sporting arm
New Mexico elk hunt ELK-1-254
Unit 12. Bag limit A. 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 64 licences on hunt code ELK-1-254 in 2026 and issued 64 — the hunt filled. Among the three pools the state draws separately, no nonresident applicant ranked it first; 92 resident applicants ranked it first and 37 drew it, 40.22%; no guided (outfitter) applicant ranked it first.
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 | 92 | 37 | 40.22% | 285 | 63 | 98.44% |
| 2026 | Nonresident | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2026 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 1 | 1.56% |
| 2025 | Resident | 55 | 33 | 60.00% | 301 | 63 | 98.44% |
| 2025 | Nonresident | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2025 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 1 | 1.56% |
| 2024 | Resident | 53 | 17 | 32.08% | 264 | 64 | 100% |
| 2024 | Nonresident | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2024 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2023 | Resident | 49 | 17 | 34.69% | 323 | 64 | 100% |
| 2023 | Nonresident | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2023 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2022 | Resident | 347 | 30 | 8.65% | 687 | 42 | 84% |
| 2022 | Nonresident | 72 | 1 | 1.39% | 168 | 3 | 6% |
| 2022 | Guided (outfitter) | 5 | 0 | 0.00% | 125 | 5 | 10% |
| 2021 | Resident | 391 | 25 | 6.39% | 825 | 42 | 84% |
| 2021 | Nonresident | 60 | 1 | 1.67% | 146 | 3 | 6% |
| 2021 | Guided (outfitter) | 21 | 3 | 14.29% | 121 | 5 | 10% |
| 2020 | Resident | 380 | 32 | 8.42% | 692 | 42 | 84% |
| 2020 | Nonresident | 66 | 2 | 3.03% | 137 | 3 | 6% |
| 2020 | Guided (outfitter) | 35 | 2 | 5.71% | 103 | 5 | 10% |
| 2019 | Resident | 397 | 29 | 7.30% | 697 | 42 | — |
| 2019 | Nonresident | 48 | 1 | 2.08% | 130 | 3 | — |
| 2019 | Guided (outfitter) | 16 | 1 | 6.25% | 64 | 5 | — |
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 | 64 | 64 | 92 | 378 |
| 2025 | 64 | 64 | 55 | 357 |
| 2024 | 64 | 64 | 53 | 317 |
| 2023 | 64 | 64 | 49 | 372 |
| 2022 | 50 | 50 | 424 | 1,404 |
| 2021 | 50 | 50 | 472 | 1,564 |
| 2020 | 50 | 50 | 481 | 1,413 |
| 2019 | 50 | 50 | 461 | 1,352 |
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