New Mexico.

[renello]

It has been quite a few years since I last applied in New Mexico. I am curious where I can find good information on what units to apply for in New Mexico. I am basically after trophy animals of any variety. From what I have gathered so far only 6% of tags going to DIY hunters and 10% to outfitted hunters. That is sad, let it be 16% for non-residents let them decide if they want outfitter or not. Anyway, at 6% are there any oryx, ibex and sheep units even available for nonresidents? Next question. Is it worth it to apply for elk, deer and antelope there? Thanks for your response. Also happy to receive PM's.

 

[ImBillT]

For trophy animals just look at which units are hardest to draw. Yes there are NR tags for oryx, ibex and sheep. They’re just rare. A non-resident tag is only guaranteed for hunt codes with 17 or more tags available. Pronghorn became extremely difficult for a NR to draw after they split the hunt codes. The total tag numbers didn’t change much, but by dividing them up many more ways, the number of hunts with more than 17 tags is very small.

 

[renello]

Pretty simple, the demand index doesn't lie. He he. Thanks Bill.

 

[Riplip]

Depends on how you define trophy? As mentioned above draw odds are a pretty good indicator as to trophy quality etc, although certainly not the only thing to look for. A good place to start is one of the subscription services like Go Hunt. They don't provide much more information than that which is available on the State's web site, however they do organize it in a way that saves a bunch of time. Especially helpful if you are looking at multiple species across multiple States. I still apply for Elk and Deer every year in spite of the low NR odds. Good luck.

 

[utah400elk]

I am always at a loss for NM. For me...It totals about $200 for a 2%-4% chance at elk. Not really a good buy but...I love elk hunting. It’s really like a $200 lottery ticket but I have had a couple great archery elk hunts in NM.

My wife tried to add the total cost of
my applications/year. I am afraid to look but I am sure it’s north of $1000.00. Now that I have also added my son, probably north of $1500.

I guess that is just the game I play because I don’t live out west anymore.

 

[Arctic_Snow_Seeker]

I am always at a loss for NM. For me...It totals about $200 for a 2%-4% chance at elk. Not really a good buy but...I love elk hunting. It’s really like a $200 lottery ticket but I have had a couple great archery elk hunts in NM.

My wife tried to add the total cost of
my applications/year. I am afraid to look but I am sure it’s north of $1000.00. Now that I have also added my son, probably north of $1500.

I guess that is just the game I play because I don’t live out west anymore.

Life’s too short to live back east.

 

[Valley1320]

It has been quite a few years since I last applied in New Mexico. I am curious where I can find good information on what units to apply for in New Mexico. I am basically after trophy animals of any variety. From what I have gathered so far only 6% of tags going to DIY hunters and 10% to outfitted hunters. That is sad, let it be 16% for non-residents let them decide if they want outfitter or not. Anyway, at 6% are there any oryx, ibex and sheep units even available for nonresidents? Next question. Is it worth it to apply for elk, deer and antelope there? Thanks for your response. Also happy to receive PM's.

I believe you could definitely draw deer and elk tags almost every year depending on what units you put in for

 

[ImBillT]

I believe you could definitely draw deer and elk tags almost every year depending on what units you put in for

The elk odds have gotten a lot worse in the past few years, and having hunted one of the easy to draw units...I didn’t apply there again, even though I got an elk. For deer on the other hand, there are more than a few hunts with very high draw odds even for NRs. I drew one of those twice, got my deer in the last 15 minutes of the last day the first time, struck out the second time, but would go back. The easy to draw units really are easy for a reason. I’ll put in for nearly anything, but man that one elk unit...so little public and all of it bad...I was pretty lucky to catch some elk crossing a corner of public. There are a lot of great places with odds a lot higher than 4%, but the places you can hunt nearly every year as an NR...I put in for them, but it ain’t easy to find an animal on public in a few days unless you’re a local. Residents have it great there though. A couple of my 1st choice hunts have 50%-75% odds for residents! Those guys know those places inside and out too. They live there, and they hunt there every year, cause if they don’t draw elk there, they’ll usually draw mule deer.

There are a lot of 100% odds hunts there for residents.

 

[Brentc]

Residents have it great there though. A couple of my 1st choice hunts have 50%-75% odds for residents! Those guys know those places inside and out too. They live there, and they hunt there every year, cause if they don’t draw elk there, they’ll usually draw mule deer.

There are a lot of 100% odds hunts there for residents.

I agree wholeheartedly. NM residents have it great. However, I always hear residents complaining about NRs getting all their tags.

BTW The new tag rounding is a joke. A lot of fuss to save a couple tags.

 

[ImBillT]

I agree wholeheartedly. NM residents have it great. However, I always hear residents complaining about NRs getting all their tags.

BTW The new tag rounding is a joke. A lot of fuss to save a couple tags.

The new tag rounding? Are you referring to how many pronghorn hunts now have fewer than 17 total tags, or is was there another change I haven’t noticed yet?

 

[gburk]

Previously it was 9 "pre-draw" (not sure where you got 17) total tags to guarantee 1 NR. I say "pre-draw" since that would actually result in 10 being given out and bumping R% to below 84%. Now it's 13 minimum, based on a reinterpretation of an ambiguous statute, and pre-draw tag count is the same as post-draw.
Splitting the pronghorn hunts was last year's grievance, this is new

 

[Brentc]

The new tag rounding? Are you referring to how many pronghorn hunts now have fewer than 17 total tags, or is was there another change I haven’t noticed yet?

No. A new tag rounding procedure was put into place to ensure that NM residents receive no less than 84% of the tag allocation. Before, the up rounding for outfitted and NR applicants often caused the state to issue a tag or two above the published allocation causing the percentage of the actual resident allocation to be less than 84%.

Now, the rounding procedure is up for residents and generally down for outfitted and NR. Any extra tags go to whichever of the outfitted or NR has the highest fraction. So, if a hunt has 15 tags available, the 84% allocation is 12.6. This rounds to 13. The outfitted is 1.5 and the NR is .9. In this instance, since the fraction for NR is higher, Outfitted gets one tag and NR gets one tag to fill out the allocated 15 tags.

Make sense?

 

[sbhooper]

Good luck. Before long, NM is not going to allow guns, the way that they are going.

 

[ImBillT]

Previously it was 9 "pre-draw" (not sure where you got 17) total tags to guarantee 1 NR. I say "pre-draw" since that would actually result in 10 being given out and bumping R% to below 84%. Now it's 13 minimum, based on a reinterpretation of an ambiguous statute, and pre-draw tag count is the same as post-draw.
Splitting the pronghorn hunts was last year's grievance, this is new

I’m quite glad that you cleared that up. It wasn’t for pronghorn, but for the particular hunts I’d checked in the past with limited tags the only time an NR had drawn them, there was always either a leftover in the outfitter or resident pool. I had assumed that if the resident pool had less than one tag(.9) that it wasn’t guaranteed. I’m glad to know that I was wrong. So the new number is 13. Not much better than 17, but I guess a little better. There are some hunts with 15 tags.

 

[Deleted member 40315]

I am always at a loss for NM. For me...It totals about $200 for a 2%-4% chance at elk. Not really a good buy but...I love elk hunting. It’s really like a $200 lottery ticket but I have had a couple great archery elk hunts in NM.

My wife tried to add the total cost of
my applications/year. I am afraid to look but I am sure it’s north of $1000.00. Now that I have also added my son, probably north of $1500.

I guess that is just the game I play because I don’t live out west anymore.

I feel the same way. If you talk to a hunt advisor/planner, first thing is they will ask you what your application budget is to go hunting each year. Seems around $1200 minimum for application budget, yes expensive. Anyways, New Mexico is a crap shoot with not really any great hunt higher than 10% from 2019 stats. Basically your buying a really expensive lottery ticket with low odds but hey someone has to get it right??? Lol! I haven’t decided whether I’m going to or not. You front the tag with interest and non-refundable application fee and non-refundable Hunt license; definitely an expensive lottery ticket. Maybe you think about spreading that money around on some hunt lottery tickets.

 

[prhunter]

So, what's the magic number?

17 tags or 13 tags minimum in order for a non res to get a tag?

 

[ImBillT]

So, what's the magic number?

17 tags or 13 tags minimum in order for a non res to get a tag?

13

 

[prhunter]

13

Cool! Thanks!

 

[ImBillT]

Cool! Thanks!

Also keep in mind that not only do a lot of draw odds sites list hunt codes with fewer than 13 tags, but a lot of hunt codes have lost 1 NR tag and most odds do not reflect that either.

 

[renello]

Well this corona virus crap is really throwing a wrench into things. Cdn dollar down to 71.5 from 75 in just a few days. My Africa hunt in April in doubt. I think I'll take a pass on the draw this year, the investment of time researching NM will have to wait until next year hopefully.