New Mexico · Elk · any legal big-game sporting arm
New Mexico elk hunt ELK-1-347
Unit 34 youth only. Bag limit either sex (ES). 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 75 licences on hunt code ELK-1-347 in 2026 and issued 75 — the hunt filled. Among the three pools the state draws separately, 385 nonresident applicants ranked it first and 3 drew it, 0.78%; 1,355 resident applicants ranked it first and 63 drew it, 4.65%; 362 guided (outfitter) applicants ranked it first and 8 drew it, 2.21%.
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 | 1,355 | 63 | 4.65% | 528 | 63 | 84% |
| 2026 | Nonresident | 385 | 3 | 0.78% | 174 | 4 | 5.33% |
| 2026 | Guided (outfitter) | 362 | 8 | 2.21% | 112 | 8 | 10.67% |
| 2025 | Resident | 1,312 | 57 | 4.34% | 547 | 63 | 84% |
| 2025 | Nonresident | 387 | 4 | 1.03% | 186 | 4 | 5.33% |
| 2025 | Guided (outfitter) | 376 | 7 | 1.86% | 110 | 8 | 10.67% |
| 2024 | Resident | 1,357 | 60 | 4.42% | 510 | 63 | 84% |
| 2024 | Nonresident | 370 | 3 | 0.81% | 156 | 5 | 6.67% |
| 2024 | Guided (outfitter) | 368 | 7 | 1.90% | 81 | 7 | 9.33% |
| 2023 | Resident | 1,319 | 60 | 4.55% | 478 | 63 | 84% |
| 2023 | Nonresident | 363 | 5 | 1.38% | 151 | 5 | 6.67% |
| 2023 | Guided (outfitter) | 316 | 7 | 2.22% | 71 | 7 | 9.33% |
| 2022 | Resident | 72 | 24 | 33.33% | 444 | 77 | 100% |
| 2022 | Nonresident | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2022 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2021 | Resident | 71 | 25 | 35.21% | 447 | 77 | 100% |
| 2021 | Nonresident | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2021 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2020 | Resident | 66 | 22 | 33.33% | 395 | 77 | 100% |
| 2020 | Nonresident | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2020 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2019 | Resident | 72 | 32 | 44.44% | 362 | 77 | — |
| 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 | 75 | 75 | 2,102 | 2,916 |
| 2025 | 75 | 75 | 2,075 | 2,918 |
| 2024 | 75 | 75 | 2,095 | 2,842 |
| 2023 | 75 | 75 | 1,998 | 2,698 |
| 2022 | 77 | 77 | 72 | 516 |
| 2021 | 77 | 77 | 71 | 518 |
| 2020 | 77 | 77 | 66 | 461 |
| 2019 | 77 | 77 | 72 | 434 |
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