New Mexico · Elk · bow only
New Mexico elk hunt ELK-2-345
Unit 34. 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 200 licences on hunt code ELK-2-345 in 2026 and issued 200 — the hunt filled. Among the three pools the state draws separately, 410 nonresident applicants ranked it first and 3 drew it, 0.73%; 687 resident applicants ranked it first and 123 drew it, 17.90%; 257 guided (outfitter) applicants ranked it first and 9 drew it, 3.50%.
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 | 687 | 123 | 17.90% | 1,160 | 168 | 84% |
| 2026 | Nonresident | 410 | 3 | 0.73% | 789 | 12 | 6% |
| 2026 | Guided (outfitter) | 257 | 9 | 3.50% | 485 | 20 | 10% |
| 2025 | Resident | 700 | 112 | 16.00% | 1,272 | 168 | 84% |
| 2025 | Nonresident | 368 | 7 | 1.90% | 677 | 12 | 6% |
| 2025 | Guided (outfitter) | 211 | 8 | 3.79% | 473 | 20 | 10% |
| 2024 | Resident | 742 | 113 | 15.23% | 1,223 | 168 | 84% |
| 2024 | Nonresident | 413 | 10 | 2.42% | 735 | 12 | 6% |
| 2024 | Guided (outfitter) | 257 | 13 | 5.06% | 528 | 20 | 10% |
| 2023 | Resident | 788 | 119 | 15.10% | 1,376 | 168 | 84% |
| 2023 | Nonresident | 441 | 5 | 1.13% | 717 | 12 | 6% |
| 2023 | Guided (outfitter) | 223 | 16 | 7.17% | 564 | 20 | 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 | 200 | 200 | 1,354 | 3,788 |
| 2025 | 200 | 200 | 1,279 | 3,701 |
| 2024 | 200 | 200 | 1,412 | 3,898 |
| 2023 | 200 | 200 | 1,452 | 4,109 |
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