New Mexico · Elk · any legal big-game sporting arm
New Mexico elk hunt ELK-1-294
Unit 16D. 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 55 licences on hunt code ELK-1-294 in 2026 and issued 55 — the hunt filled. Among the three pools the state draws separately, 425 nonresident applicants ranked it first and 3 drew it, 0.71%; 1,118 resident applicants ranked it first and 45 drew it, 4.03%; 477 guided (outfitter) applicants ranked it first and 5 drew it, 1.05%.
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 | 1,118 | 45 | 4.03% | 1,467 | 47 | 85.45% |
| 2026 | Nonresident | 425 | 3 | 0.71% | 1,490 | 3 | 5.46% |
| 2026 | Guided (outfitter) | 477 | 5 | 1.05% | 739 | 5 | 9.09% |
| 2025 | Resident | 1,075 | 40 | 3.72% | 1,564 | 47 | 85.46% |
| 2025 | Nonresident | 415 | 3 | 0.72% | 1,472 | 3 | 5.45% |
| 2025 | Guided (outfitter) | 629 | 5 | 0.79% | 665 | 5 | 9.09% |
| 2024 | Resident | 1,190 | 37 | 3.11% | 1,558 | 47 | 85.45% |
| 2024 | Nonresident | 627 | 3 | 0.48% | 1,107 | 3 | 5.46% |
| 2024 | Guided (outfitter) | 890 | 5 | 0.56% | 565 | 5 | 9.09% |
| 2023 | Resident | 1,220 | 39 | 3.20% | 1,627 | 47 | 85.46% |
| 2023 | Nonresident | 711 | 1 | 0.14% | 680 | 3 | 5.45% |
| 2023 | Guided (outfitter) | 967 | 5 | 0.52% | 509 | 5 | 9.09% |
| 2022 | Resident | 20 | 12 | 60.00% | 69 | 15 | 100% |
| 2022 | Nonresident | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2022 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2021 | Resident | 19 | 9 | 47.37% | 28 | 15 | 100% |
| 2021 | Nonresident | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2021 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2020 | Resident | 12 | 7 | 58.33% | 32 | 15 | 100% |
| 2020 | Nonresident | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2020 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2019 | Resident | 4 | 2 | 50.00% | 39 | 15 | — |
| 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 | 55 | 55 | 2,020 | 5,716 |
| 2025 | 55 | 55 | 2,119 | 5,820 |
| 2024 | 55 | 55 | 2,707 | 5,937 |
| 2023 | 55 | 55 | 2,898 | 5,714 |
| 2022 | 15 | 15 | 20 | 89 |
| 2021 | 15 | 15 | 19 | 47 |
| 2020 | 15 | 15 | 12 | 44 |
| 2019 | 15 | 15 | 4 | 43 |
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