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NEW MEXICO

Anyone applying in New Mexico?

Probably not. The 0.000001 % chance of drawing makes it seem like a waste of time and some money, since you get most of it back. Yeah, I know, SOMEBODY will draw the tag. Like Utah where the point creep is now 2/3 of a point per year. So, it takes 3 years just to gain a point. A guy who started 5 years ahead of me now has a 15 year advantage. What a racket this has become.

depends on WY

Yes, applying for three species.

Yes for antelope, elk, deer, and sheep. Sheep is a long shot but you gotta play to win.

I hear ya luckily I'm a resident. I have friends that tie up thousands of dollars who are NR. You guys going outfitted of NR pool?

Use Cabelas so they can float your tags fees. I have a buddy that has a daughter that has drawn a Stallion oryx tag and a Valle Vidal MB Elk tag in back to back years.

Cabelas TAGS has no influence on draw success.

Having max points in UT doesn't necessarily mean you are guaranteed a tag, the dreaded "point creep" doesn't behave the same as it does in CO. I have a way better chance drawing UT this year than NM.

Putting in for NM as always because it's more affordable than out of state with kids putting in now...

Just grateful to get several hunts in NM before the difficulty of drawing a tag went up. Back in the early/mid 80's I was stationed there in the Air Force and new to bowhunting. The archery elk tags were UNLIMITED for residents, it was just a matter of which unit you might draw. We always put unit 34 as our third choice, a "mediocre" unit at the time compared to the Gila. Then the landowners started getting in on the act. Now a lot of tags are allocated to landowners that could be recycled back into the draw. Life just ain't fair I guess . Also back then, you couldn't put in for an archery hunt and a rifle/muzzleloader hunt, it was one or the other, which really cut down on the competition for a tag.

there are some great hunts and odds in NM, just have to think outside the box a bit.

Very true Trial, but then when a "sleeper" unit starts getting a lot of attention, they change the unit or tag allocation for it. For example, unit 12 use to be an unlimited unit. It got popular, the landowners and outfitters moved in , and now there's a whopping 15 tags available for the unit. Unit 22 use to be an unlimited unit due to sparse and widespread elk, use to be a great 3rd choice. Now it's been combined with unit 16B, but they haven't allocated any more tags for the hunt.

There are good mule deer units in the state that are kept off the billboard . As a resident it's good to know that the unit 2's aren't the only units that hold big muleys. Tons of NR are attracted to them due to the amount of publicity there over the years. I think all other species are pretty much difficult to draw even in the resident pool and especially in the non resident. At least odds are the same across the board.

Oh and "sleeper" units get awoken when people blast them on social media! I swear ,so many times I'm thinking to myself,WHAT AN IDIOT ,OR, HAVE YOU HEARD OF PRIVATE MESSAGE??

Yes, good odds on some hunts - if that's where you want to go and you make the cut.

The only "strategy" you can have is to put in for hunts that don't "fill up" as fast based on 2nd and 3rd choice draw assignment and then it only matters if you are high enough up in the app shuffle to even have half a chance.

Otherwise, just put in for what you want and hope for the best.

Any recommendations for off range oryx outfitter? Thanks

Splitlimb 13 said it all! Toprut combined with nmdgf satisfaction rationg has just about closed out my "sleeper" deer units. Was nice while it lasted but theres still at least a chance to draw. People just don't understand how to keep secrets

I cringed when I saw toprut had published "true" draw odds for nm last year! ouch

You know I'll be applying. Been a couple years since I drew an elk tag. Hopefully I can draw. I made my mind up a few years ago, I will only apply for primo units knowing my odds aren't much better than a nr's. If I don't draw, we have a great neighbor to the north ;) and I absolutely love CO! No place on Earth like it! The vistas are absolutely breath taking. Oh and there are a few elk there too ;) funny the expectations some have of CO after watching a Primo's video lol. I sure am glad I'm an equal opportunity hunter. They're all trophy's with a bow in my book. Yes even the cows ;) God I love CO! But I digress. Here's to drawing a tag here in NM ;)

I sent you a message Huntcell . I don't even like to think about top rut . I really wish that stupid site would get shut down.

Top rut thinks they have it figured out - they don't.

Only publishing what a little research on your own will reveal and no secrets to success...

None of the draw-helper websites have it all 100%. There's data that you can't get get off the web. There's data that can only be derived from hunters who hunt the unit and COs/biologists who spend time in the units or local knowledge. There's private vs public stats in a given unit that have to be taken into account because they throw off the unit's stats. There's units where numbers are buffed by effective outfitters and decreased by tough terrain (most states). There's sleepers that are hidden in the stats due to a host of reasons. There's draw systems that don't work off a standard computer algorithm, especially if you don't understand exactly how the draw works and the stats in many states are not easily calculable based off of how you'd think they work without digging deeper and learning how they actually work (WY). There's states that don't collect data properly and have to be taken with a grain of salt (CO). There's states that don't even collect data or produce stats (MT). There's states that produce some stats, but make it impossible to fully calculate stats due to incomplete data (CA, IA, WA, MT).

The western state's draw systems and statistics are so convoluted, it's ridiculous. The organization of data on their websites is often times surreptitious and disorganized. And they change their websites every 2-3 years, making it hard to track data down regularly.

It's no wonder so many rely on companies to do this stuff for them and throw their hands up when planning a western hunt. It takes an incredible amount of time and determination to sift through the BS.

But I love it.

You won't get any better than having the app database. In the end, it all comes down your random number.

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