New Mexico · Elk · bow only
New Mexico elk hunt ELK-2-292
Unit 16D. 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 60 licences on hunt code ELK-2-292 in 2026 and issued 60 — the hunt filled. Among the three pools the state draws separately, 528 nonresident applicants ranked it first and 3 drew it, 0.57%; 418 resident applicants ranked it first and 50 drew it, 11.96%; 403 guided (outfitter) applicants ranked it first and 6 drew it, 1.49%.
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 | 418 | 50 | 11.96% | 483 | 51 | 85% |
| 2026 | Nonresident | 528 | 3 | 0.57% | 762 | 3 | 5% |
| 2026 | Guided (outfitter) | 403 | 6 | 1.49% | 391 | 6 | 10% |
| 2025 | Resident | 433 | 45 | 10.39% | 591 | 51 | 85% |
| 2025 | Nonresident | 595 | 2 | 0.34% | 787 | 3 | 5% |
| 2025 | Guided (outfitter) | 503 | 6 | 1.19% | 318 | 6 | 10% |
| 2024 | Resident | 489 | 48 | 9.82% | 569 | 51 | 85% |
| 2024 | Nonresident | 688 | 3 | 0.44% | 533 | 3 | 5% |
| 2024 | Guided (outfitter) | 704 | 6 | 0.85% | 233 | 6 | 10% |
| 2023 | Resident | 547 | 50 | 9.14% | 628 | 51 | 85% |
| 2023 | Nonresident | 799 | 1 | 0.13% | 659 | 3 | 5% |
| 2023 | Guided (outfitter) | 692 | 6 | 0.87% | 375 | 6 | 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 | 60 | 60 | 1,349 | 2,985 |
| 2025 | 60 | 60 | 1,531 | 3,227 |
| 2024 | 60 | 60 | 1,881 | 3,216 |
| 2023 | 60 | 60 | 2,038 | 3,700 |
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