New Or Noteworthy For This Year

State Information

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New Mexico Mule Deer Breakdown

New Mexico Coues Deer Breakdown

NEW MEXICO'S 2025 MULE DEER AND COUES DEER APPLICATION OVERVIEW

Note: The online application deadline for New Mexico Barbary sheep, bighorn sheep, deer, elk, ibex, javelina, antelope, and oryx is March 19, 2025, by 5 p.m. MT. Apply online here.

View important information and an overview of the New Mexico rules/regulations, the draw system, permit and license fees, on our State Profile. You can also view the species profiles to access historical and statistical data to help you find trophy areas.

Important dates and information

A number of years ago, New Mexico made an adjustment to their license allocation to guarantee that 84% of the licenses for each hunt goes to resident applicants. This change has continued to cause some confusion for applicants in knowing how many total permits must be available to offer one to a nonresident in the regular draw and the guide draw. 

Use the table below to cross-reference the total number of licenses to ensure the hunts you are applying for will have enough licenses. Every year, we see a good number of applicants who apply for hunts that have no nonresident licenses available. In essence, those nonresidents are wasting that chance to draw a tag. DO NOT apply for hunts that they have no chance to draw!

The current drought/moisture status in New Mexico

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

New Mexico had a very good moisture year in 2023, while 2024 was much drier. While 2025 is still dry in comparison to what we would hope to see, it is better than the same timeframe of 2024. Most of the elk range in the state is currently experiencing moderate to abnormal drought conditions. Antler growth in New Mexico is tied much more closely to moisture that produces quality feed than it is in more northerly states. On good moisture years, antler growth is noticeably better. If you can tie multiple years of good moisture, the impact is even better. To that point, 2023 was a good growth year, 2024 much less so. Based on the current information, 2024 and 2025, it's likely that antler growth will be less than ideal this year. It’s still a little early to make a definitive statement about antler growth potential, but it appears it will not be a great year, but perhaps it will be better than 2024.

The New Mexico Draw System

New Mexico has a random draw system for all species. There is no preference or bonus point system. This means that every applicant is on an equal playing field to draw — even if this is the first year they are applying in New Mexico. 

The highest hurdle for applicants in New Mexico is that you must purchase a nonrefundable $65 hunting license and front the cost of the hunt you apply for. For example, if you were to apply for a Unit 2C late archery mule deer tag as your first choice, you will need to pay the $65 hunting license fee and the $368 high quality/high demand permit. There are also some smaller application and vendor fees.

Standard, High Quality, High Demand

New Mexico lists each hunt as either a standard, high demand, quality or, in some cases, quality/high demand. A quality hunt is one that the state manages for better trophy potential and typically less hunting pressure. A high demand hunt is a hunt where the total number of applicants for an elk hunt exceeds 22% of the total applicants based on the draw for the two years prior. The standard hunts are typically lower quality, opportunity type hunts, but the cost is lower for the license. The cost for the quality, high demand and quality/high demand hunts is higher than it is for the standard license.

Nonresident/resident permit splits

There are three pools of permits: the resident pool, the nonresident pool and the guided pool. Residents are guaranteed 84% of the permits for each hunt. Nonresidents can draw up to 6% of the permits for each hunt. Up to 10% of the permits for each hunt are allocated to applicants through the draw who have a signed agreement with a guide/outfitter. Both residents and nonresidents can apply with a guide and be considered to draw from the guide pool of permits. Once you have an agreement with a guide, you will apply in the draw with their guide number. If you enter the draw with a guide/outfitter and draw a permit, you are required to hunt in the field with that guide for a minimum of two days. The draw odds are typically better for applicants applying with an outfitter. If you can afford a guided hunt in New Mexico, applying with a guide is a great way to improve your chances of drawing a permit.

The total number of permits for each hunt should be considered before applying. As indicated in the table above, there are minimum numbers of permits required for nonresidents to have a chance to draw. Make sure that there are enough permits for the hunts you apply for to offer you a chance in the draw. Every year, nonresident applicants apply for hunts that they have no chance to draw because there are not enough total permits. Do not be that applicant!

Hunt Choices

New Mexico allows applicants to include up to five hunt choices when they apply. In the draw, they will consider your first three choices before moving to the next applicant. 

To further explain: once your application is considered, they will attempt to allocate your first hunt choice. If there are no licenses remaining for that choice, then they will then consider your second choice. If there are no licenses remaining for your second choice, then they will then consider your third choice. If there are no licenses remaining for the third choice, they will then move to the next application. Fourth and fifth choices are only considered if there are leftover permits after every application has been considered in the draw.

If you include a fourth and fifth choice, applicants are agreeing to accept any leftover license, which means that they may allocate you a license that was not your fourth and fifth choice. We highly recommend that you do not include fourth and fifth choices unless you are willing to accept any leftover license.

Hunt choice strategy

Because of the way New Mexico conducts their draw there is some strategy in how you stagger your hunt choices. First, applicants should apply for a hunt for their first, second and third choice on their application. All of those choices matter and will be considered in the draw. Second, we recommend that you apply with the best hunt (worst odds) as your first choice and then select progressively better odds (average hunts) as your second and third choices. The reasoning behind this strategy is that, with a random draw, you never know what position your application will be in the draw. Your application could be one of the first selected in the draw and, as such, you want to receive the best permit/hunt possible. If your first hunt choice had better odds than your second and third choice, you are essentially wasting those choices.

New Mexico GOHUNT Draw Odds

We regularly get asked how we calculate draw odds. To calculate draw odds in New Mexico, we obtain the draw data, including applicants’ first, second, and third choices, and we use that information and software to simulate the draw hundreds of thousands of times. By doing so, we generate the odds of drawing any given hunt as any of your first three hunt choices. Remember that New Mexico will consider each applicant's first, second, and third hunt choice before moving to the next applicant, and you can draw any of those three choices. With the draw odds displayed for each hunt, applicants can use those to make their choices, staggering them from one to three with the best hunt (worse odds) as your first choice to good hunt (better odds) as your third choice. 

Party applications

Up to four applicants can apply as a party for deer. Nonresidents and residents can apply together in a party. A party application is treated as a single application in the draw. If selected, all applicants on the application would receive a license provided there are enough licenses to offer one to each applicant. New Mexico will not over allocate the license quota to cover a group application. In the case that residents and nonresidents apply together, nonresident licenses are pulled from the nonresident quota. When applying as a party, one applicant will apply first and upon completing the process will receive a party application number. The rest of the party will then select “attach to an existing application” and then enter the application code. 

There is no odds advantage to applying as a party. In fact, there may be a slight disadvantage. For example, if an application with two people is drawn and there is only one license remaining, then that application will be rejected or if a nonresident and a resident apply together and there are not enough nonresident licenses, neither the resident or nonresident will be given a license.

New Mexico is increasingly becoming a more talked about state for quality mule deer, with a decent number of great scoring bucks coming from the best units in the state and even some from units that are far less known. The hunts that most often produce the biggest bucks are late-season archery and rifle in Units 2C and 5B. Those units get better with deer migrating into those areas. They are also thickly vegetated and generally the deer densities are low, but every year a few really big bucks are killed. Units 5B and Unit 7 also have good potential for a big buck, but, once again, those areas are thick, and it can be very challenging to turn up those bigger bucks. Beyond these units already noted, there are several others that can offer great hunts for a mature buck, including the more desert units in the southern end of state. Some of the best bucks are coming from lower-density desert terrain. If you have the time to scout, there is the possibility of a real hidden gem in these types of areas. 

As you look through the mule deer draw odds, you will see that most of the units have a late-season archery hunt. The harvest success for those is often better than the early archery hunts and, if you are a bowhunter, I believe these are worth considering. The late archery hunts will run the first two weeks of January 2026 when bucks will be rutting and much more active. New Mexico also offers muzzleloader hunts that occur either in late September/early October or the tail end of October. The timeframe for the muzzleloader hunts presents a challenge unless hunters are willing to scout and/or spend several days in the field glassing. During those dates, bucks are still likely to be in summer range, but after having shed their velvet become much harder to find consistently. The one real draw to the muzzleloader hunts is that the draw odds are good for both residents and nonresidents. Rifle hunts occur in late October and early November. Since the rut for mule deer in New Mexico is later than it is for more northern states, it’s not likely you will have the benefits of bucks actively rutting. Most rifle hunts have harvest success rates between 20% to 40%, so they are not easy hunts. 

Overall, New Mexico is a good mule deer state that flies somewhat under the radar. With the random draw and odds that are better than they are for other species I think you should strongly consider applying in New Mexico for mule deer. I would not expect to kill the buck of a lifetime in New Mexico but certainly for someone willing to hunt hard there is real potential for a 160”+ buck. Below is the hit list for the best 2025 mule deer hunts.

The units above represent the best options in terms of quality, but there are many more hunts to choose from — many of which have better odds. The table below indicates some of the better mid-tier hunts with generally better odds that can still offer a good hunt. Before applying for any of the hunts below, I would also suggest that you review the public land layer within GOHUNT maps to evaluate if there is good access and amounts of public land to hunt.

Arizona will always be the hub for Coues deer hunters, but in a few units of New Mexico near the Arizona border there are good populations and trophy potential for Coues deer. The best options are in Unit 23 Burro Mtns and Unit 27. Unit 24 and Unit 23 (excluding the Burro Mtns) have smaller populations of deer, but can still produce a great buck and offer a good hunt. The best dates are the January late archery hunts when Coues bucks will be more active and rutting. The late archery hunts are still tough spot and stalk hunts, but they are the best in terms of being able to see more bucks and better bucks. Applicants can mix and match their application for deer in New Mexico, meaning there are not two separate applications for mule deer and Coues deer. For example, you could apply for a mule deer hunt as your first choice and Coues deer hunts as your subsequent choices. If you have a Coues deer addiction or are intrigued by the adventure of hunting new country and a new species, you should consider Coues deer in New Mexico. Draw odds are quite good even for nonresidents, and with a random draw, you could pick up a late-season opportunity to hunt one of the southwest’s most challenging species, and trophy potential is solid.