Is New Mexico worth it?

[Doe Nob]

I would also rather leave my grandkids a wall full of mounts and a couple of guns than a bank account overflowing with money. You can't take it with you when you go.

I'm sure they will appreciate that more!

 

[Scott85]

I'm sure they will appreciate that more!

Wow, your first post! You could have used it on any number of threads instead you wasted it on quoting my post. You will never get that back but welcome to the forum!!

 

[Doe Nob]

$65 is a tank of gas. If you cant' afford that, how the hell can you afford to be hunting?

NM is one of the best states, I apply for everything every year in NM and have gotten lucky on a tag I shouldn't have drawn 4 out of 9 years now. Less than 10 or 20% odds on all 4 of those tags. Put in for everything you can afford and you will get lucky on something.

I can see the argument of not applying if you are ONLY applying for antelope, the odds are so bad, it's essentially an $80 raffle tag and that's an expensive raffle tag. Almost better to spend $75 on 3 different governor's raffle tags if you are shooting the moon and only applying for the best units. If you are very budget conscious just stay the course in WY and you will get good tags you can kill book bucks on more often than you will by getting lucky in the NM draw.

NM and UT very similar. Once you apply for one thing it is silly not to apply for everything ($7,843 - no barbs). The difference is fronting the tag cost and sheep, ibex and oryx are the big chunk of that ($6,419). I can see how not everyone can front the tag fees and doesn't want to pay the whack to finance it on a credit card.

And those are the 2 cheapest states to apply in - CO, AZ, NV, MT and WY all cost more to be in the game.

 

[Doe Nob]

Wow, your first post! You could have used it on any number of threads instead you wasted it on quoting my post. You will never get that back but welcome to the forum!!

thank you, sir!

Monster muleys kind of slow

 

[Blackcats06]

$65 is a tank of gas. If you cant' afford that, how the hell can you afford to be hunting?

NM is one of the best states, I apply for everything every year in NM and have gotten lucky on a tag I shouldn't have drawn 4 out of 9 years now. Less than 10 or 20% odds on all 4 of those tags. Put in for everything you can afford and you will get lucky on something.

I can see the argument of not applying if you are ONLY applying for antelope, the odds are so bad, it's essentially an $80 raffle tag and that's an expensive raffle tag. Almost better to spend $75 on 3 different governor's raffle tags if you are shooting the moon and only applying for the best units. If you are very budget conscious just stay the course in WY and you will get good tags you can kill book bucks on more often than you will by getting lucky in the NM draw.

NM and UT very similar. Once you apply for one thing it is silly not to apply for everything ($7,843 - no barbs). The difference is fronting the tag cost and sheep, ibex and oryx are the big chunk of that ($6,419). I can see how not everyone can front the tag fees and doesn't want to pay the whack to finance it on a credit card.

And those are the 2 cheapest states to apply in - CO, AZ, NV, MT and WY all cost more to be in the game.

Thanks for the info. I ended up applying for antelope and probably wont do another species. I can't find any info on deer populations other than they seem to be hard hunts. I'm not strapped for money, more strapped for time with a wife and a 2 year old, thus don't want to waste my time on poor hunts.

 

[WildWill]

Thanks for the info. I ended up applying for antelope and probably wont do another species. I can't find any info on deer populations other than they seem to be hard hunts. I'm not strapped for money, more strapped for time with a wife and a 2 year old, thus don't want to waste my time on poor hunts.

Now that you've already bought the license I have to encourage you to apply for elk, deer, or both. There are some really good elk hunts in NM if you can afford to front the tag cost do it shoot for the moon you'll either get all your money back except I think $13 or have a dream tag. I can understand being strapped for time my daughter will be 3 in October but if NM wants to give me a elk tag for Valle Vidal or the Gila I'll make time.

As for deer I've only had one deer tag in NM in 58 I was successful and harvested a young 5 point but definitely wasn't a easy hunt. I can only speak to the NE corner of the state but from what I've seen a guy could expect a pretty high success rate if you're willing to shoot any legal buck. If you're going to hold out for a descent not giant just descent buck be prepared to eat your tag. But I don't no much about the western half of the state might be some better deer hunts there.

 

[blueridge]

you'll either get all your money back except I think $13

Change for this year: license fee ($65 - Non-Res), habitat stamp ($5), habitat management and access validation ($4) and application fee ($13 per species) are all now non-refundable.

 

[WildWill]

Change for this year: license fee ($65 - Non-Res), habitat stamp ($5), habitat management and access validation ($4) and application fee ($13 per species) are all now non-refundable.

He already bought the license and stamp to put in for antelope so it will only cost a additional $13 to apply per species. Of course he would still have to front tag cost that's all refundable if unsuccessful.

 

[blueridge]

Ah, gotcha. I misunderstood you. Thanks.

 

[Doe Nob]

If time is an issue, put in for the Oryx hunt on the stallion or rhodes. It's a super fun hunt and the season is 2.5 days max!

 

[wistowy]

Points don’t guarantee you significantly better odds of drawing a hunt. They just guarantee you significantly WORSE odds of ever drawing a hunt AGAIN.(or the first time if you get in late)

The lack of a point system is exactly why NM is worth it. Their pronghorn odds are terrible, but their elk and deer odds are actually quite good for the quality of animals that you have a chance at. If applying for both deer and pronghorn your non-refundable cost is $100 total, which is pretty close to CO, and you’ll get to hunt deer roughly 1/3 of the years in NM(there are some decent hunts with 30% odds). In CO you’d be in for the roughly the same $100/year and once you had about three points you could hunt about similar quality mule deer to the easier to draw NM units, but that would guarantee you never got a glory CO tag. In NM, applying for the easy tag as a third choice does not decrease your odds of drawing a glory tag as your first choice. You can essentially hunt short-term, mid-term, and long-term all in NM without your short-term plan delrailing your long-term plan. Additionally, if you draw a glory tag in a state that draws before NM, you can save your money in NM that year and lose absolutely nothing.

The points game is just a way for the younger guys to subsidize the glory hunts for the guys who got in on the ground floor. Anyone who thinks that NM going to a point system would help them out because they would finally be in on the ground floor is mistaken.

There are plenty of deer and elk hunts in NM with reasonable odds. You might not draw this year, but if you apply each year, you’ll actually draw reasonably often.

It’s the ultimate bonus point. It never goes away! Forgot to apply? Don’t worry, you still have ALL your points. Drew a 3pt hunt? That’s okay apply for a 20pt hunt next year! Just started today and found out someone else has 20pts? So do you!

I'm 0-3 in New Mexico draws, so you're saying I have a chance? Am I correct that if your first choice is a very low chance of draw and you in fact don't draw, you have essentially thrown away your second and third choice??

 

[utah400elk]

I put me and my son in so...I will tell you if it was worth it in a few weeks.

Hopefully it was. I would love the chance to get my son an elk. That would definitely be worth it!

 

[npaden]

Am I correct that if your first choice is a very low chance of draw and you in fact don't draw, you have essentially thrown away your second and third choice??

No. It really matters in New Mexico how you order your choices. Once you are chosen in the draw they will look at each of your three choices before going to the next person. If you are drawn early you want some premium options, if you are drawn late and you want to hunt, you need some marginal options that are easier to draw. Put some home run type choices as your first choice, medium type options as your 2nd choice and then the marginal ones as your third choice and you have yourself covered.

 

[beginnerhunter]

I'm 0-3 in New Mexico draws, so you're saying I have a chance? Am I correct that if your first choice is a very low chance of draw and you in fact don't draw, you have essentially thrown away your second and third choice??

If your choices have odds like this:
1) 3%
2) 5%
3) 8%

then you probably aren't going to draw your third choice if you don't draw your first choice. My limited understanding is that some people do it like this if they are planning on going elsewhere but want a shot at the top units in NM.

I want to hunt NM this year, so my choices look like this:
1) 3%
2) 9%
3) 45%

Still not terrific odds, but not bad. And I probably should have gone for a unit with 25% odds instead of 9% for my second choice. But it's just where I ended up. Of course, this is all based on the last few years. I'm hoping the increase in application cost will help the odds. But apparently people are willing to blow all sorts of $$ on hunting, myself included lol. So we'll see.

 

[ImBillT]

I'm 0-3 in New Mexico draws, so you're saying I have a chance? Am I correct that if your first choice is a very low chance of draw and you in fact don't draw, you have essentially thrown away your second and third choice??

That’s not correct. They look at your first choice, if there are tags left, you get it and that species is over, if not, they check your second choice, if there’s a tag left for that hunt you get it, and your app for that species is done, if not, they check your third choice, if there’s a tag left, you get it, if not, they move on to the next person. After all of the applications have been read, they start over and begin issuing any remaining tags to fourth choice applicants.

If you put a high odds hunt as your first choice, you wasted your second and third. Put your hardest to draw hunt first.

For elk and deer there are tags that you can draw every few years as a non-resident, especially archery and muzzle loader. If you apply for both hunting almost every year is possible. Those easy to draw units are easy to draw for a reason. Still, a hunt with 20% odds means you will draw that hunt approximately one out of five years. If you do that for both species, you will be hunting good hunts almost every other year, and by swinging for the fences with your 1st, or 1st and 2nd choices, you may draw that glory tag some day.

Antelope odds in NM are pretty dismal no matter which way you cut it.

 

[wistowy]

That’s not correct. They look at your first choice, if there are tags left, you get it and that species is over, if not, they check your second choice, if there’s a tag left for that hunt you get it, and your app for that species is done, if not, they check your third choice, if there’s a tag left, you get it, if not, they move on to the next person. After all of the applications have been read, they start over and begin issuing any remaining tags to fourth choice applicants.

If you put a high odds hunt as your first choice, you wasted your second and third. Put your hardest to draw hunt first.

For elk and deer there are tags that you can draw every few years as a non-resident, especially archery and muzzle loader. If you apply for both hunting almost every year is possible. Those easy to draw units are easy to draw for a reason. Still, a hunt with 20% odds means you will draw that hunt approximately one out of five years. If you do that for both species, you will be hunting good hunts almost every other year, and by swinging for the fences with your 1st, or 1st and 2nd choices, you may draw that glory tag some day.

Antelope odds in NM are pretty dismal no matter which way you cut it.

Thanks Bill, that sounds more logical that what I had read elsewhere. Most of the areas I'd like to hunt are pretty low odds, couple that with my extreme bad luck at gambling, I may never get to New Mexico...lol

 

[LCH]

According to what I've read, your odds are always equal to your highest % choice. It's been too many years since I took statistics and finite math, so I'm trusting this is correct.

Say your choice one is 1%, choice two is 5%, choice three is 20%. Your odds of drawing any tag are still 20%. If you put your highest odds choice first, you probably have no shot at your other choices, but your overall odds of drawing a tag do not go down.

For me, a December hunt in NM is the only thing that really fits my schedule this year considering my other commitments. Therefore, I did not apply for any late archery or early rifle hunts. My overall odds did not go down of drawing a tag, I just took myself out of the running for those higher demand tags that conflict with my schedule this year.

 

[dihardhunter]

Anyone else having issues accessing the draw portal on NM G&F website? I can log in to see my customer profile, can access the OTC/license purchasing options, but the clicking to apply to any hunts - that webpage is a dead-end. Tried through Explorer and Firefox, so I don't think it's just a "me" issue.

 

[Thomas11]

According to what I've read, your odds are always equal to your highest % choice. It's been too many years since I took statistics and finite math, so I'm trusting this is correct.

Say your choice one is 1%, choice two is 5%, choice three is 20%. Your odds of drawing any tag are still 20%. If you put your highest odds choice first, you probably have no shot at your other choices, but your overall odds of drawing a tag do not go down.

For me, a December hunt in NM is the only thing that really fits my schedule this year considering my other commitments. Therefore, I did not apply for any late archery or early rifle hunts. My overall odds did not go down of drawing a tag, I just took myself out of the running for those higher demand tags that conflict with my schedule this year.

This is correct

 

[WildWill]

Anyone else having issues accessing the draw portal on NM G&F website? I can log in to see my customer profile, can access the OTC/license purchasing options, but the clicking to apply to any hunts - that webpage is a dead-end. Tried through Explorer and Firefox, so I don't think it's just a "me" issue.

Did mine about a week ago everything went smooth.