New Mexico · Elk · any legal big-game sporting arm
New Mexico elk hunt ELK-1-352
Unit 34. Bag limit A. 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 350 licences on hunt code ELK-1-352 in 2026 and issued 350 — the hunt filled. Among the three pools the state draws separately, no nonresident applicant ranked it first; 961 resident applicants ranked it first and 128 drew it, 13.32%; 7 guided (outfitter) applicants ranked it first and 7 drew it, 100.00%.
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 | 961 | 128 | 13.32% | 2,785 | 332 | 94.86% |
| 2026 | Nonresident | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2026 | Guided (outfitter) | 7 | 7 | 100.00% | 17 | 18 | 5.14% |
| 2025 | Resident | 1,008 | 140 | 13.89% | 3,064 | 326 | 93.14% |
| 2025 | Nonresident | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | 0% |
| 2025 | Guided (outfitter) | 11 | 11 | 100.00% | 15 | 24 | 6.86% |
| 2024 | Resident | 1,103 | 146 | 13.24% | 3,009 | 332 | 94.86% |
| 2024 | Nonresident | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2024 | Guided (outfitter) | 3 | 3 | 100.00% | 20 | 18 | 5.14% |
| 2023 | Resident | 1,167 | 160 | 13.71% | 2,916 | 331 | 94.57% |
| 2023 | Nonresident | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0% |
| 2023 | Guided (outfitter) | 4 | 4 | 100.00% | 21 | 19 | 5.43% |
| 2022 | Resident | 42 | 33 | 78.57% | 214 | 118 | 90.08% |
| 2022 | Nonresident | 20 | 0 | 0.00% | 60 | 7 | 5.34% |
| 2022 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 14 | 6 | 4.58% |
| 2021 | Resident | 45 | 24 | 53.33% | 242 | 123 | 93.89% |
| 2021 | Nonresident | 28 | 2 | 7.14% | 73 | 7 | 5.34% |
| 2021 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 5 | 1 | 0.76% |
| 2020 | Resident | 32 | 28 | 87.50% | 209 | 123 | 93.9% |
| 2020 | Nonresident | 13 | 2 | 15.38% | 78 | 7 | 5.34% |
| 2020 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | 1 | 0.76% |
| 2019 | Resident | 32 | 27 | 84.38% | 201 | 121 | — |
| 2019 | Nonresident | 1 | 1 | 100.00% | 44 | 8 | — |
| 2019 | Guided (outfitter) | 0 | 0 | — | 6 | 2 | — |
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 | 350 | 350 | 968 | 3,770 |
| 2025 | 350 | 350 | 1,019 | 4,099 |
| 2024 | 350 | 350 | 1,106 | 4,135 |
| 2023 | 350 | 350 | 1,171 | 4,108 |
| 2022 | 131 | 131 | 62 | 350 |
| 2021 | 131 | 131 | 73 | 393 |
| 2020 | 131 | 131 | 45 | 333 |
| 2019 | 131 | 131 | 33 | 284 |
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