New Mexico · Elk · bow only
New Mexico elk hunt ELK-2-264
Unit 15. 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 350 licences on hunt code ELK-2-264 in 2026 and issued 350 — the hunt filled. Among the three pools the state draws separately, 348 nonresident applicants ranked it first and 10 drew it, 2.87%; 608 resident applicants ranked it first and 183 drew it, 30.10%; 116 guided (outfitter) applicants ranked it first and 9 drew it, 7.76%.
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 | 608 | 183 | 30.10% | 975 | 294 | 84% |
| 2026 | Nonresident | 348 | 10 | 2.87% | 707 | 21 | 6% |
| 2026 | Guided (outfitter) | 116 | 9 | 7.76% | 682 | 35 | 10% |
| 2025 | Resident | 702 | 184 | 26.21% | 1,190 | 294 | 84% |
| 2025 | Nonresident | 446 | 9 | 2.02% | 874 | 21 | 6% |
| 2025 | Guided (outfitter) | 199 | 11 | 5.53% | 904 | 35 | 10% |
| 2024 | Resident | 650 | 190 | 29.23% | 1,118 | 294 | 84% |
| 2024 | Nonresident | 394 | 16 | 4.06% | 936 | 21 | 6% |
| 2024 | Guided (outfitter) | 133 | 17 | 12.78% | 736 | 35 | 10% |
| 2023 | Resident | 737 | 193 | 26.19% | 1,211 | 294 | 84% |
| 2023 | Nonresident | 415 | 9 | 2.17% | 903 | 21 | 6% |
| 2023 | Guided (outfitter) | 154 | 13 | 8.44% | 714 | 35 | 10% |
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 | 1,072 | 3,436 |
| 2025 | 350 | 350 | 1,347 | 4,315 |
| 2024 | 350 | 350 | 1,177 | 3,967 |
| 2023 | 350 | 350 | 1,306 | 4,134 |
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