AmmoSight

New Mexico Deer — GMU 5A

New Mexico GMU 5A covers 146,318 acres and lies 59 miles south-east of Bloomfield. 17% of it is public land, mostly BLM (15%) and state trust land (1%). In 2025, 327 people hunted deer here and took 130 — 40% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 60 tags here for 57 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):138 Nonresident share:capped at 6% Applicants:145 Hunter success (2025):40% Public land:17% Size:146,318 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every deer license type on offer in GMU 5A, 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.

12 licenses on offer · 138 tags · 145 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-1-144 Unit 5A: public land only — fork-antlered deer — Any Legal — Nov. 10-16 2 tags · 8 applicants · Standard
    13% Long shot 6% as 2nd choice
  • DER-1-144 Unit 5A: public land only — fork-antlered deer — Any Legal — Nov. 10-16 4 tags · 3 applicants · Outfitter
    100% Likely draw 67% as 2nd choice
  • DER-1-145 Unit 5A: private land only — fork-antlered deer 60 tags · 57 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed 100% as 2nd choice
  • DER-1-145 Unit 5A: private land only — fork-antlered deer 5 tags · 5 applicants · Outfitter
    100% Undersubscribed
  • DER-2-146 Unit 5A: public land only — fork-antlered deer — Bow — Sept. 1-24 1 tags · 7 applicants · Standard
    14% Long shot 0% as 2nd choice
  • DER-2-146 Unit 5A: public land only — fork-antlered deer — Bow — Sept. 1-24 3 tags · 1 applicants · Outfitter
    100% Undersubscribed
  • DER-2-147 Unit 5A: private land only — fork-antlered deer 43 tags · 44 applicants · Standard
    98% Likely draw
  • DER-2-147 Unit 5A: private land only — fork-antlered deer 6 tags · 6 applicants · Outfitter
    100% Undersubscribed 0% as 2nd choice
  • DER-3-148 Unit 5A: public land only — fork-antlered deer — Muzzle — Sept. 27-Oct.3 0 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Not open to nonresidents
  • DER-3-148 Unit 5A: public land only — fork-antlered deer — Muzzle — Sept. 27-Oct.3 0 tags · 0 applicants · Outfitter
    — Not open to nonresidents
  • DER-3-149 Unit 5A: private land only — fork-antlered deer 12 tags · 12 applicants · Standard
    100% Undersubscribed
  • DER-3-149 Unit 5A: private land only — fork-antlered deer 2 tags · 2 applicants · Outfitter
    100% Undersubscribed
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

Española Bloomfield Rio Rancho Questa Bosque Farms
GMU 5A within New Mexico
51B 5B
GMU 5A 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 22,462 ac · 15%
  • State trust land 1,771 ac · 1%
  • Tribal 126 ac · 0%
  • National Forest 41 ac · 0%
  • State land 15 ac · 0%
  • Private or other non-public land 121,902 ac · 83%

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 327 130 40%
2024 319 94 30%
2023 318 140 44%
2022 340 158 47%
2021 349 157 45%

What people carried (2025 harvest)

  • Rifle 97 · 70% · 179 hunters, 54% success
  • Archery 16 · 12% · 81 hunters, 20% success
  • Muzzleloader 25 · 18% · 56 hunters, 45% success

What the agency says about the area

GMU 5A: That portion of GMU 5 beginning at the junction of the northwest boundary of the Santa Fe National Forest and junction with the Jicarilla Apache Indian Reservation north of Lindrith and following the forest boundary south towards Lindrith, then northeasterly past Llaves: thence southerly to its intersection with NM 96, then west along NM 96 to its junction with NM 595 north of Regina,...

Source: NM Game Management Units (NMDGF_Game_Management_Units_I_E__v2_WFL1), layer 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