New Mexico · Elk · any legal big-game sporting arm
New Mexico elk hunt ELK-1-444
Unit 55A: Valle Vidal only. 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 35 licences on hunt code ELK-1-444 in 2026 and issued 35 — the hunt filled. Among the three pools the state draws separately, 206 nonresident applicants ranked it first and 2 drew it, 0.97%; 777 resident applicants ranked it first and 27 drew it, 3.47%; 94 guided (outfitter) applicants ranked it first and 3 drew it, 3.19%.
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 | 777 | 27 | 3.47% | 481 | 30 | 85.71% |
| 2026 | Nonresident | 206 | 2 | 0.97% | 188 | 2 | 5.72% |
| 2026 | Guided (outfitter) | 94 | 3 | 3.19% | 85 | 3 | 8.57% |
| 2025 | Resident | 749 | 26 | 3.47% | 465 | 30 | 85.72% |
| 2025 | Nonresident | 176 | 2 | 1.14% | 173 | 2 | 5.71% |
| 2025 | Guided (outfitter) | 89 | 1 | 1.12% | 67 | 3 | 8.57% |
| 2024 | Resident | 702 | 24 | 3.42% | 447 | 30 | 85.71% |
| 2024 | Nonresident | 208 | 1 | 0.48% | 192 | 2 | 5.72% |
| 2024 | Guided (outfitter) | 128 | 2 | 1.56% | 62 | 3 | 8.57% |
| 2023 | Resident | 749 | 25 | 3.34% | 446 | 30 | 85.72% |
| 2023 | Nonresident | 188 | 1 | 0.53% | 233 | 2 | 5.71% |
| 2023 | Guided (outfitter) | 111 | 3 | 2.70% | 57 | 3 | 8.57% |
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 | 35 | 35 | 1,077 | 1,831 |
| 2025 | 35 | 35 | 1,014 | 1,719 |
| 2024 | 35 | 35 | 1,038 | 1,739 |
| 2023 | 35 | 35 | 1,048 | 1,784 |
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