New Mexico · Elk · any legal big-game sporting arm
New Mexico elk hunt ELK-1-274
Unit 16A mobility impaired only. 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 25 licences on hunt code ELK-1-274 in 2026 and issued 25 — the hunt filled. Among the three pools the state draws separately, 28 nonresident applicants ranked it first and 2 drew it, 7.14%; 241 resident applicants ranked it first and 20 drew it, 8.30%; 34 guided (outfitter) applicants ranked it first and 1 drew it, 2.94%.
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 | 241 | 20 | 8.30% | 181 | 21 | 84% |
| 2026 | Nonresident | 28 | 2 | 7.14% | 20 | 2 | 8% |
| 2026 | Guided (outfitter) | 34 | 1 | 2.94% | 46 | 2 | 8% |
| 2025 | Resident | 218 | 20 | 9.17% | 206 | 21 | 84% |
| 2025 | Nonresident | 30 | 1 | 3.33% | 27 | 1 | 4% |
| 2025 | Guided (outfitter) | 49 | 3 | 6.12% | 45 | 3 | 12% |
| 2024 | Resident | 233 | 19 | 8.15% | 198 | 21 | 84% |
| 2024 | Nonresident | 30 | 1 | 3.33% | 26 | 1 | 4% |
| 2024 | Guided (outfitter) | 57 | 3 | 5.26% | 61 | 3 | 12% |
| 2023 | Resident | 240 | 19 | 7.92% | 217 | 21 | 84% |
| 2023 | Nonresident | 47 | 2 | 4.26% | 31 | 2 | 8% |
| 2023 | Guided (outfitter) | 36 | 1 | 2.78% | 67 | 2 | 8% |
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 | 25 | 25 | 303 | 550 |
| 2025 | 25 | 25 | 297 | 575 |
| 2024 | 25 | 25 | 320 | 605 |
| 2023 | 25 | 25 | 323 | 638 |
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