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New Mexico non-resident elk is is worth it?

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I was a little down on NM earlier. That’s because their odds are dropping. I used to think I’d hunt a crap tag every couple years and love it cause id learn it. Their odds have dropped enough that you really can’t do that anymore. All that said, they have some great hunts with FAR BETTER odds than similar hunts for PROPLE ENTERING the system. Point systems are only good to the first entrants, and that won’t even be the case if NM or ID turns to points. Being the last two hold outs, EVERYONE will enter if they go to points, and they’ll be so bad so fast it’s not even funny. NM had the perfect system. Shoot for the moon, shoot for the middle, and go for any hunt you’d be happy with, and you won’t be punished for drawing. With point systems, if you apply for an easy unit, you’ll never draw the top end. In NM you can put the lowest end hunt you would accept as a third choice and not be harmed(lose points) by drawing it. It’s not what it once was. The non-refundable license and two consecutive years of record apps has really put a damper on NM, but BY NO MEANS do I want them to change their system.
Wisdom has been spoken
 
Yes you can, every year if you have the $
Can a person hold both a landowner antelope tag and a drawn tag in the same year?
I actually purchased a LO tag for this coming year because I figured I would spend the same amount of money over the next ten years putting in for the draw and NEVER pull a tag and get to hunt. Might as well do it while I'm young enough. And I'm thinking about buying LO for Elk at some point maybe in the future.
So, I will buy a license and apply for other species. If I can hold two antelope licenses, I guess I'll just put in for a unit 15 and try to win the lottery??!!
Thanks in advance, JW
 
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Can a person hold both a landowner antelope tag and a drawn tag in the same year?
I actually purchased a LO tag for this coming year because I figured I would spend the same amount of money over the next ten years putting in for the draw and NEVER pull a tag and get to hunt. Might as well do it while I'm young enough. And I'm thinking about buying LO for Elk at some point maybe in the future.
So, I will buy a license and apply for other species. If I can hold two antelope licenses, I guess I'll just put in for a unit 15 and try to win the lottery??!!
Thanks in advance, JW
No, you cannot hold 2 big game tags for the same animal ,issued by NM. One could buy a Rez. tag or 2 I guess. But not from G&F.
 
Can a person hold both a landowner antelope tag and a drawn tag in the same year?
I actually purchased a LO tag for this coming year because I figured I would spend the same amount of money over the next ten years putting in for the draw and NEVER pull a tag and get to hunt. Might as well do it while I'm young enough. And I'm thinking about buying LO for Elk at some point maybe in the future.
So, I will buy a license and apply for other species. If I can hold two antelope licenses, I guess I'll just put in for a unit 15 and try to win the lottery??!!
Thanks in advance, JW

Only one per year. You’re out of the draw on pronghorn.
 
Thanks ya'll.
I figured even with all the talk about how "corrupt" NM's system is, they couldn't possibly allow two limited tags per species to be held in one year.

To address the OP's question, I have put in for various units/species for the last few years. Luckliy, a few tags have found their way to me.
My hunting experience has been (for consideration before applying):
1. Make sure you investigate where you are going to park your vehicle if you plan to spike in an area. Many friends have had cars broken into.
2. If you are willing to hike a mile or more in, you will shed 97% of the other hunters. If you hunt the road, there will be tons of competion.
3. Take advantage of the "shorter" NM seasons - stay out hunting every second of every day.

There is great hunting in NM, but it comes with a little SW/Wild West flare. I can say that the few elk tags I have drawn maybe have low success harvests, but I was successful. Probably just lucky to scout elk habitat and animals be there.
The main point I am trying to make here is that any other state with a point system would take years to draw even one tag. General elk in WY will probably take 3 or 4 points to draw in the next couple application cycles. NM is a decent lottery if you play the game. I proved it can work.
Saying all that, I probably won't draw another tag for 20 years? :unsure:

Happy hunting
 
Thanks ya'll.
I figured even with all the talk about how "corrupt" NM's system is, they couldn't possibly allow two premium tags per species to be held in one year.

To address the OP's question, I have put in for various units/species for the last few years. Luckliy, a few tags have found their way to me.
My hunting experience has been (for consideration before applying):
1. Make sure you investigate where you are going to park your vehicle if you plan to spike in an area. Many friends have had cars broken into.
2. If you are willing to hike a mile or more in, you will shed 97% of the other hunters. If you hunt the road, there will be tons of competion.
3. Take advantage of the "shorter" NM seasons - stay out hunting every second of every day.

There is great hunting in NM, but it comes with a little SW/Wild West flare. I can say that the few elk tags I have drawn maybe have low success harvests, but I was successful. Probably just lucky to scout elk habitat and animals be there.
The main point I am trying to make here is that any other state with a point system would take years to draw even one tag. General elk in WY will probably take 3 or 4 points to draw in the next couple application cycles. NM is a decent lottery if you play the game. I proved it can work.
Saying all that, I probably won't draw another tag for 20 years? :unsure:

Happy hunting
I think part of the reason some of the success rates are so low is cuz there's alot of lazy hunters, that just drive the roads. But that's fine with me cuz it makes my hunt better cuz there's less guys out walking away from the roads
 
I applied this year. I see it as a raffle ticket; I win, good for me, I lose, good for the state/conservation.

I set a certain amount of funny money every year for this like that and commissioner license raffles... The way I see it, when I'll be on my death bed, I won't be telling myself "damn, I shouldn't have spent that money on possible tags", I'll be looking back on the hunts that I have done and the times I got lucky in the draw.

But eh, don't apply and you'll probably raise my chances by 0.00000000001%.
 
I applied for elk in NM for maybe 8-10 years along with pronghorn, sheep, and oryx. In that amount of time, my wife and I drew pronghorn, fun hunt, but nothing special. Didn't like the being stuck on one ranch, but the place we drew had pronghorn and we killed the best bucks on the ranch. I drew oryx with a friend several years ago also a fun hunt, but pretty rushed deal with only 2.5 days to hunt. I never did draw an elk tag.

I stopped applying for anything in NM after I drew oryx, sort of figured that state was played out with the huge increase in applications, higher over-all cost, and I don't agree at all with the landowner/outfitter welfare tags either.

Every year I'm tempted to apply again...just not a state on my list anymore. AZ has my attention way more than NM.
 
Definitely a different situation for everyone. If I lived in WY, I wouldn’t apply for anything in NM except maybe the real dream tags, and in that case, I’d have to have enough money to apply everywhere.

Since I live in TX, NM is on my radar. Their dropping odds hurt my feelings, but I’ll probably always apply there as long as they don’t go to points.
 
I applied for elk in NM for maybe 8-10 years along with pronghorn, sheep, and oryx. In that amount of time, my wife and I drew pronghorn, fun hunt, but nothing special. Didn't like the being stuck on one ranch, but the place we drew had pronghorn and we killed the best bucks on the ranch. I drew oryx with a friend several years ago also a fun hunt, but pretty rushed deal with only 2.5 days to hunt. I never did draw an elk tag.

I stopped applying for anything in NM after I drew oryx, sort of figured that state was played out with the huge increase in applications, higher over-all cost, and I don't agree at all with the landowner/outfitter welfare tags either.

Every year I'm tempted to apply again...just not a state on my list anymore. AZ has my attention way more than NM.
A correction on the antelope hunts it is now a unit wide hunt and you are not stuck just on one ranch.
 
A correction on the antelope hunts it is now a unit wide hunt and you are not stuck just on one ranch.

With crap odds and living in Wyoming, NM is an easy pass for me on pronghorn. I've shot better bucks on my additional buck tags here in Wyoming than what I killed in New Mexico. If I was still applying for sheep there, I would probably swing for the fences on pronghorn.
 
A correction on the antelope hunts it is now a unit wide hunt and you are not stuck just on one ranch.

That change did some great things for some units and some bad things for others. It’s nice to know that won’t get stuck on really marginal ranch and can cover the whole unit, but some of those good units are mostly private land with major access issues. It really changed which tags were the good ones.

I mostly like the change other than the fact that a lot of hunt codes no longer have tags for NRs. If they’d made the exact change without splitting the hunt codes so many ways it would probably have made things better overall.
 
Well, I tried. Swung for the fences and no dice. Thanks New Mexico! Another unsuccessful year. Really not sure is NM will be in my plans for the future. I know, someone got a tag, 🍀 lucky 👍🏻😃 but these diy odds are what I thought, bottom barrel. I could have spent the money elsewhere. Very disappointing when you invest years upon years of draw money and no draw; money could have been spent elsewhere. Anyways, I hope everyone else’s luck paid out. Have a safe season everyone and be safe during this pandemic.
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Hell, I'm not even sure if it's worth it as a resident. I put a lot of time into odds research ultimately to no avail.
 
I understand your disappointment. Fact is it is their game their rules.

Way I see it is you can be disappointed to not draw, or draw often and be disappointed with the hunt.

There are units with 50% draw odds in New Mexico that also are 50% or more public land.

CO has OTC elk hunts and you can hunt every year. Maybe that is more your speed?
 
So I’m trying to break this down as a DIY elk hunter this year for 2020 in NM. Forget about archery and focus on rifle. If unsuccessful in the draw your application fee is about the only thing you don’t get back; it says on the website that the license (“hunting”) is refunded if no draw is rewarded.

My only concerns is that the draw odds are so low in most of these units (ie .3%-5%) that odds in drawing would be nothing short of a miracle. I guess I’m just missing it. Why are some of these online hunters pushing New Mexico for a no brainer application? The odds are super low as a nonresident and non-guided....I might have a better chance at lottery hunting tickets than spend the interest on my refundable tag. Please suggest to me a different way of looking at the odds so that the application makes sense to apply as a nonresident unguided elk hunter....thanks!

The hunting license is refundable; the only cost would be interest and the application fee (around @ most $30) maybe that would be worth rolling the dice. Thank you for any clarity. But for $30 the draw odds realistically on most of these units is <.01% with all the unguided nonresidents applying...just left scratching my head on why I shouldn’t focus elsewhere. Thanks for the clarity. 😃

thanks for the suggestions and clarity, but please don’t say,”awesome, one less guy I don’t have to compete with....”. The odds are still super low regardless if I apply or not as a nonresident. It would take thousands of nonresident unguided hunters to make a % change to increase success. Let’s talk this through. Thanks.
Not sure if you would be interested in a mule deer tag (11/14 - 11/18) but I have a non-resident tag I would like to sell - Unit 13. [email protected]
 
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