AmmoSight

New Mexico Deer — GMU 21

New Mexico GMU 21 covers 1,931,234 acres and lies 21 miles north-west of Hatch. 74% of it is public land, mostly BLM (37%) and state trust land (20%). In 2025, 1,620 people hunted deer here and took 320 — 20% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 42 tags here for 25 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):239 Nonresident share:capped at 6% Applicants:260 Hunter success (2025):20% Public land:74% Size:1,931,234 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every deer license type on offer in GMU 21, with the prior-draw chance for a first-choice nonresident applicant. Type your points in to see your own number.

No points in this draw — every nonresident applicant has the same chance.

14 licenses on offer · 239 tags · 260 applicants in the 2026 draw

Chances are from the 2026 draw (the most recent) for a first-choice nonresident. "Points needed" = the cut in the last draw.

Simple view Odds at every point level
  • DER-1-221 Unit 21 — fork-antlered deer — Any Legal — Nov. 7-11 26 tags · 89 applicants · Standard
    22% Long shot 6% as 2nd choice
  • DER-1-221 Unit 21 — fork-antlered deer — Any Legal — Nov. 7-11 42 tags · 25 applicants · Outfitter
    100% Undersubscribed 36% as 2nd choice
  • DER-1-222 Unit 21 — fork-antlered deer — Any Legal — Nov. 14-18 26 tags · 24 applicants · Standard
    100% Likely draw 11% as 2nd choice
  • DER-1-222 Unit 21 — fork-antlered deer — Any Legal — Nov. 14-18 34 tags · 23 applicants · Outfitter
    100% Undersubscribed 30% as 2nd choice
  • DER-1-223 Unit 21: youth only — fork-antlered deer — Any Legal - Youth — Nov. 21-29 6 tags · 10 applicants · Standard
    40% Real chance 50% as 2nd choice
  • DER-1-223 Unit 21: youth only — fork-antlered deer — Any Legal - Youth — Nov. 21-29 4 tags · 1 applicants · Outfitter
    100% Undersubscribed 67% as 2nd choice
  • DER-1-227 Unit 21 — fork-antlered white-tailed deer — Any Legal — Dec. 5-13 1 tags · 17 applicants · Standard
    0% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • DER-1-227 Unit 21 — fork-antlered white-tailed deer — Any Legal — Dec. 5-13 3 tags · 18 applicants · Outfitter
    11% Long shot 6% as 2nd choice
  • DER-2-224 Unit 21 — fork-antlered deer — Bow — Sept. 1-24 39 tags · 10 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 67% as 2nd choice
  • DER-2-224 Unit 21 — fork-antlered deer — Bow — Sept. 1-24 3 tags · 3 applicants · Outfitter
    100% Undersubscribed
  • DER-2-225 Unit 21 — fork-antlered deer — Bow — Jan. 1-15, ‘27 12 tags · 27 applicants · Standard
    19% Long shot 21% as 2nd choice
  • DER-2-225 Unit 21 — fork-antlered deer — Bow — Jan. 1-15, ‘27 8 tags · 2 applicants · Outfitter
    100% Undersubscribed 33% as 2nd choice
  • DER-3-226 Unit 21 — fork-antlered deer — Muzzle — Oct. 31-Nov.4 33 tags · 9 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 25% as 2nd choice
  • DER-3-226 Unit 21 — fork-antlered deer — Muzzle — Oct. 31-Nov.4 2 tags · 2 applicants · Outfitter
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
What these columns mean
Your odds
—
the share of applicants at your point level who drew this tag in the 2026 draw. Not a forecast: quotas and demand move every year.
The badge
—
plain language for that number. Likely draw 75% or better · Real chance 40%+ · Long shot 15%+ · Point builder below that, so you are applying mainly to bank a point · Undersubscribed means fewer first-choice applicants than tags, so everyone who applied drew.
As 2nd choice
—
New Mexico lets you name more than one hunt on the application. Miss on your first choice and you go into the pot for whatever tags are left, alongside everyone else's second choices. Points never help a lower choice, so this number is the same whatever you have banked — it is usually worth naming a hunt that goes undersubscribed.
Points needed
—
the lowest point total that still got a tag in the 2026 draw, and how that cut has moved since the earliest draw we hold.
Tags / applicants
—
tags on offer and first-choice applicants for them, as the agency published them. Under five tags we print counts instead of a percentage, because one applicant either way swings it.

What it costs to apply (2026 nonresident fees)

License Up front Gone if you miss If you draw
Standard license $492 $107 $502
Outfitter license $492 $107 $502

Application window: closes Mar 18, 2027 (expected). Full fee breakdown.

The country

Elephant Butte Hatch Socorro Anthony Rio Communities
GMU 21 within New Mexico
12 13 15 16 17 18 19 29 20 22 23 28 24 25 26 27 30 32 34 36 37 38 Elephant Butte Hatch Las Cruces Silver City Socorro
GMU 21 and its neighbours
Zoomable USGS topo, aerial imagery and shaded relief, with the neighboring areas drawn on.

Boundaries are drawn for orientation only — the written boundary description in the regulations governs.

Who owns the ground

  • BLM 713,962 ac · 37%
  • State trust land 395,618 ac · 20%
  • National Forest 298,135 ac · 15%
  • State land 18,520 ac · 1%
  • Bureau of Reclamation 699 ac · 0%
  • Tribal 29 ac · 0%
  • Private or other non-public land 504,268 ac · 26%

Source: BLM_Surface_Management_2023 (BLM New Mexico State Office Surface Management Agency layer)

Nearby areas

How the hunting has gone

What New Mexico Department of Game and Fish publishes for this area after each season — harvest statistics for everyone who hunted it, not draw odds and not a forecast.

Season Hunters Harvest Success
2025 1,620 320 20%
2024 1,676 377 23%
2023 1,606 334 21%
2022 1,620 341 21%
2021 1,678 304 18%

What people carried (2025 harvest)

  • Rifle 72 · 78% · 243 hunters, 30% success
  • Archery 20 · 22% · 68 hunters, 29% success
  • Muzzleloader 0 · 0%

Boundary: NM Game Management Units (NMDGF_Game_Management_Units_I_E__v2_WFL1), layer 0

Harvest: 2025-2026 Deer Harvest Report

Harvest: 2024-2025 Deer Harvest Report

Harvest: 2023-2024 Deer Harvest Report

How we compute draw odds · All New Mexico deer hunts