New Mexico · Elk · any legal big-game sporting arm
New Mexico elk hunt ELK-1-325
Unit 21B. 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-1-325 in 2026 and issued 25 — the hunt filled. Among the three pools the state draws separately, 6 nonresident applicants ranked it first and none of them drew it; 10 resident applicants ranked it first and 5 drew it, 50.00%; 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 | 10 | 5 | 50.00% | 116 | 21 | 84% |
| 2026 | Nonresident | 6 | 0 | 0.00% | 22 | 2 | 8% |
| 2026 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 8 | 2 | 8% |
| 2025 | Resident | 3 | 1 | 33.33% | 74 | 21 | 84% |
| 2025 | Nonresident | 17 | 1 | 5.88% | 39 | 2 | 8% |
| 2025 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 10 | 2 | 8% |
| 2024 | Resident | 17 | 4 | 23.53% | 99 | 21 | 84% |
| 2024 | Nonresident | 3 | 1 | 33.33% | 26 | 2 | 8% |
| 2024 | Guided (outfitter) | 2 | 0 | 0.00% | 24 | 2 | 8% |
| 2023 | Resident | 34 | 11 | 32.35% | 72 | 21 | 84% |
| 2023 | Nonresident | 14 | 0 | 0.00% | 34 | 2 | 8% |
| 2023 | Guided (outfitter) | 4 | 2 | 50.00% | 16 | 2 | 8% |
| 2022 | Resident | 1,336 | 79 | 5.91% | 2,237 | 118 | 84.29% |
| 2022 | Nonresident | 324 | 5 | 1.54% | 629 | 8 | 5.72% |
| 2022 | Guided (outfitter) | 167 | 7 | 4.19% | 410 | 14 | 10% |
| 2021 | Resident | 1,533 | 88 | 5.74% | 2,319 | 118 | 84.29% |
| 2021 | Nonresident | 322 | 3 | 0.93% | 636 | 8 | 5.71% |
| 2021 | Guided (outfitter) | 153 | 5 | 3.27% | 470 | 14 | 10% |
| 2020 | Resident | 1,171 | 91 | 7.77% | 1,853 | 118 | 84.29% |
| 2020 | Nonresident | 262 | 7 | 2.67% | 495 | 8 | 5.71% |
| 2020 | Guided (outfitter) | 117 | 8 | 6.84% | 350 | 14 | 10% |
| 2019 | Resident | 989 | 90 | 9.10% | 1,719 | 118 | — |
| 2019 | Nonresident | 153 | 7 | 4.58% | 379 | 8 | — |
| 2019 | Guided (outfitter) | 68 | 1 | 1.47% | 247 | 14 | — |
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 | 16 | 162 |
| 2025 | 25 | 25 | 20 | 143 |
| 2024 | 25 | 25 | 22 | 171 |
| 2023 | 25 | 25 | 52 | 174 |
| 2022 | 140 | 140 | 1,827 | 5,103 |
| 2021 | 140 | 140 | 2,008 | 5,433 |
| 2020 | 140 | 140 | 1,550 | 4,248 |
| 2019 | 140 | 140 | 1,210 | 3,555 |
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