New Mexico · Elk · muzzleloader, crossbow or bow only
New Mexico elk hunt ELK-3-176
Unit 52. Bag limit mature bull (MB). 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 120 licences on hunt code ELK-3-176 in 2022 and issued 120 — the hunt filled. Among the three pools the state draws separately, 108 nonresident applicants ranked it first and 5 drew it, 4.63%; 325 resident applicants ranked it first and 70 drew it, 21.54%; 63 guided (outfitter) applicants ranked it first and 8 drew it, 12.70%.
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 | 325 | 70 | 21.54% | 555 | 101 | 84.17% |
| 2022 | Nonresident | 108 | 5 | 4.63% | 191 | 7 | 5.83% |
| 2022 | Guided (outfitter) | 63 | 8 | 12.70% | 91 | 12 | 10% |
| 2021 | Resident | 347 | 70 | 20.17% | 541 | 101 | 84.17% |
| 2021 | Nonresident | 79 | 2 | 2.53% | 184 | 7 | 5.83% |
| 2021 | Guided (outfitter) | 54 | 6 | 11.11% | 75 | 12 | 10% |
| 2020 | Resident | 294 | 70 | 23.81% | 511 | 101 | 84.17% |
| 2020 | Nonresident | 67 | 2 | 2.99% | 133 | 7 | 5.83% |
| 2020 | Guided (outfitter) | 56 | 9 | 16.07% | 66 | 12 | 10% |
| 2019 | Resident | 318 | 73 | 22.96% | 441 | 101 | — |
| 2019 | Nonresident | 80 | 1 | 1.25% | 161 | 7 | — |
| 2019 | Guided (outfitter) | 40 | 7 | 17.50% | 58 | 12 | — |
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 | 120 | 120 | 496 | 1,333 |
| 2021 | 120 | 120 | 480 | 1,280 |
| 2020 | 120 | 120 | 417 | 1,127 |
| 2019 | 120 | 120 | 438 | 1,098 |
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