New Mexico · Elk · bow only
New Mexico elk hunt ELK-2-331
Unit 23. 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 125 licences on hunt code ELK-2-331 in 2026 and issued 125 — the hunt filled. Among the three pools the state draws separately, 53 nonresident applicants ranked it first and 1 drew it, 1.89%; 70 resident applicants ranked it first and 38 drew it, 54.29%; 7 guided (outfitter) applicants ranked it first and none of them drew it.
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 | 70 | 38 | 54.29% | 245 | 105 | 84% |
| 2026 | Nonresident | 53 | 1 | 1.89% | 178 | 8 | 6.4% |
| 2026 | Guided (outfitter) | 7 | 0 | 0.00% | 128 | 12 | 9.6% |
| 2025 | Resident | 81 | 51 | 62.96% | 279 | 105 | 84% |
| 2025 | Nonresident | 58 | 3 | 5.17% | 187 | 8 | 6.4% |
| 2025 | Guided (outfitter) | 3 | 2 | 66.67% | 150 | 12 | 9.6% |
| 2024 | Resident | 80 | 48 | 60.00% | 286 | 105 | 84% |
| 2024 | Nonresident | 57 | 2 | 3.51% | 187 | 8 | 6.4% |
| 2024 | Guided (outfitter) | 16 | 1 | 6.25% | 81 | 12 | 9.6% |
| 2023 | Resident | 73 | 36 | 49.32% | 318 | 105 | 84% |
| 2023 | Nonresident | 87 | 7 | 8.05% | 196 | 8 | 6.4% |
| 2023 | Guided (outfitter) | 10 | 4 | 40.00% | 151 | 12 | 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 | 125 | 125 | 130 | 681 |
| 2025 | 125 | 125 | 142 | 758 |
| 2024 | 125 | 125 | 153 | 707 |
| 2023 | 125 | 125 | 170 | 835 |
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