New Mexico · Elk · muzzleloader, crossbow or bow only
New Mexico elk hunt ELK-3-172
Unit 51. 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 2022 draw did
New Mexico offered 145 licences on hunt code ELK-3-172 in 2022 and issued 145 — the hunt filled. Among the three pools the state draws separately, 39 nonresident applicants ranked it first and 5 drew it, 12.82%; 182 resident applicants ranked it first and 63 drew it, 34.62%; 7 guided (outfitter) applicants ranked it first and 2 drew it, 28.57%.
This hunt code stops appearing after 2022. The department's 2026 report does not carry it, and this site does not map a retired code onto a current one — a renumbered hunt is not necessarily the same hunt, and the department has published nothing that says which is which. What is below is the record of the 4 years it was drawn.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Resident | 182 | 63 | 34.62% | 484 | 122 | 84.14% |
| 2022 | Nonresident | 39 | 5 | 12.82% | 148 | 9 | 6.21% |
| 2022 | Guided (outfitter) | 7 | 2 | 28.57% | 41 | 14 | 9.66% |
| 2021 | Resident | 161 | 63 | 39.13% | 493 | 122 | 84.14% |
| 2021 | Nonresident | 48 | 7 | 14.58% | 131 | 9 | 6.21% |
| 2021 | Guided (outfitter) | 2 | 2 | 100.00% | 41 | 14 | 9.66% |
| 2020 | Resident | 159 | 67 | 42.14% | 360 | 123 | 84.82% |
| 2020 | Nonresident | 20 | 2 | 10.00% | 81 | 9 | 6.21% |
| 2020 | Guided (outfitter) | 6 | 6 | 100.00% | 20 | 13 | 8.97% |
| 2019 | Resident | 165 | 70 | 42.42% | 394 | 123 | — |
| 2019 | Nonresident | 31 | 6 | 19.35% | 67 | 9 | — |
| 2019 | Guided (outfitter) | 5 | 5 | 100.00% | 13 | 13 | — |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 145 | 145 | 228 | 901 |
| 2021 | 145 | 145 | 211 | 876 |
| 2020 | 145 | 145 | 185 | 646 |
| 2019 | 145 | 145 | 201 | 675 |
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
- 2022-Complete-Report.xlsx — New Mexico Department of Wildlife, published 2022-04-12, fetched 2026-08-31
- 2021-Big-Game-Drawing-Odds-Complete-Report.xlsx — New Mexico Department of Wildlife, published 2021-04-14, fetched 2026-08-31
- 2020-Drawing-Odds-Complete-Report.xlsx — New Mexico Department of Wildlife, published 2020-08-03, fetched 2026-08-31
- 2019-Drawing-Odds-Complete-Report.xlsx — New Mexico Department of Wildlife, published 2019-06-26, fetched 2026-08-31