I'm applying thos year! Don't worry I'm not applying for any of the glory tags just putting in for some of the higher draw odd units. Going on my first out west elk hunt this year if I don't draw NM I'm going over the counter in CO with the orange army lol.
Be careful with the highest odds units in NM. NM has some really fantastic elk hunts, but they are all low draw odds. When I started hunting NM a lot of lower tier rifle elk tags were 30%-50% draw odds, and a couple were 100%. I was okay with hunting the lower tier because I could hunt it a few times and learn the unit. That is not the case today. The highest odds rifle tag in the state for a non-resident is now at 18% draw odds. Worse than 1/5 years. It also has very low harvest success(14%).
In contrast, CO has 76 rifle hunts with bull or either-sex tags you can draw with 0 pts with a higher probability than 18%. 46 of those hunts have better than 14% harvest success. 27 of those hunts are considered by goHunt to have equal or better trophy potential to the easiest to draw rifle hunt in NM. That’s right, with 0pts, you have 27 limited entry rifle elk options in CO that are better than NM’s easiest to draw rifle hunt, and you’re more likely to draw it as well. We haven’t even gotten into cow tags(you’re not allowed a cow tag in NM) or OTC yet. You can easily pick a unit with 100% odds cow tags during an OTC bull hunt. Get a cow tag and go hunt and decided if you want to try an OTC bull hunt in that unit. Why waste a season hunting a unit in NM that is potentially even worse, knowing you won’t even be able to come back for five years?
I’m not saying don’t apply in NM. I’m saying to be careful with the absolute bottom tier. It’s almost $80 in non-refundables now. When I started it was $0 non-refundable. You’ll also loose that $80, 5-10 times between elk tags now, and that’s for bottom to mid-tier, so add $400-$800 to your tag price.
There are excellent hunts in NM, but the state has very low supply. There are far fewer elk there than in CO, WY, ID, MT, and even fewer than AZ. When I started hunting NM demand was much lower. CO was more expensive to apply and locked me out of the top end. Now days, CO is a similar price to apply and still has 100% odds tags. The main reason to apply in NM is that CO has locked you out of the top end, and NM gives you a 1%-5%(1/100-1/20) chance at their top end. For NM’s lower tier hunts, CO has them beat by a long shot. Don’t be so sure that OTC CO is a worse hunt than NM’s lower tier. There will be more hunters, but there will also be more elk.
