New Mexico · Elk · any legal big-game sporting arm
New Mexico elk hunt ELK-1-351
Unit 34. 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 150 licences on hunt code ELK-1-351 in 2026 and issued 150 — the hunt filled. Among the three pools the state draws separately, 885 nonresident applicants ranked it first and 9 drew it, 1.02%; 4,291 resident applicants ranked it first and 123 drew it, 2.87%; 599 guided (outfitter) applicants ranked it first and 11 drew it, 1.84%.
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 | 4,291 | 123 | 2.87% | 3,912 | 126 | 84% |
| 2026 | Nonresident | 885 | 9 | 1.02% | 1,016 | 9 | 6% |
| 2026 | Guided (outfitter) | 599 | 11 | 1.84% | 675 | 15 | 10% |
| 2025 | Resident | 4,363 | 124 | 2.84% | 3,805 | 126 | 84% |
| 2025 | Nonresident | 835 | 7 | 0.84% | 933 | 9 | 6% |
| 2025 | Guided (outfitter) | 418 | 8 | 1.91% | 619 | 15 | 10% |
| 2024 | Resident | 4,375 | 120 | 2.74% | 3,901 | 126 | 84% |
| 2024 | Nonresident | 825 | 9 | 1.09% | 877 | 9 | 6% |
| 2024 | Guided (outfitter) | 473 | 12 | 2.54% | 695 | 15 | 10% |
| 2023 | Resident | 4,488 | 124 | 2.76% | 3,931 | 126 | 84% |
| 2023 | Nonresident | 830 | 7 | 0.84% | 882 | 9 | 6% |
| 2023 | Guided (outfitter) | 452 | 8 | 1.77% | 674 | 15 | 10% |
| 2022 | Resident | 134 | 53 | 39.55% | 215 | 68 | 85% |
| 2022 | Nonresident | 29 | 2 | 6.90% | 66 | 4 | 5% |
| 2022 | Guided (outfitter) | 2 | 2 | 100.00% | 28 | 8 | 10% |
| 2021 | Resident | 156 | 40 | 25.64% | 261 | 68 | 85% |
| 2021 | Nonresident | 33 | 2 | 6.06% | 93 | 4 | 5% |
| 2021 | Guided (outfitter) | 2 | 2 | 100.00% | 9 | 8 | 10% |
| 2020 | Resident | 109 | 46 | 42.20% | 214 | 73 | 91.25% |
| 2020 | Nonresident | 13 | 1 | 7.69% | 61 | 4 | 5% |
| 2020 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 10 | 3 | 3.75% |
| 2019 | Resident | 86 | 36 | 41.86% | 190 | 69 | — |
| 2019 | Nonresident | 17 | 1 | 5.88% | 49 | 5 | — |
| 2019 | Guided (outfitter) | 2 | 2 | 100.00% | 9 | 6 | — |
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 | 150 | 150 | 5,775 | 11,378 |
| 2025 | 150 | 150 | 5,616 | 10,973 |
| 2024 | 150 | 150 | 5,673 | 11,146 |
| 2023 | 150 | 150 | 5,770 | 11,257 |
| 2022 | 80 | 80 | 165 | 474 |
| 2021 | 80 | 80 | 191 | 554 |
| 2020 | 80 | 80 | 122 | 407 |
| 2019 | 80 | 80 | 105 | 353 |
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