AmmoSight

New Mexico Elk — GMU 51

New Mexico GMU 51 covers 635,021 acres and lies 34 miles north of Española. 88% of it is public land, mostly national forest (81%) and BLM (5%). In 2025, 2,227 people hunted elk here and took 857 — 39% of them killed something. The 2026 draw put up 22 tags here for 296 first-choice applicants.

Tags (2026):186 Nonresident share:capped at 6% Applicants:1,194 Hunter success (2025):39% Public land:88% Size:635,021 acres

Your chance of drawing here

Every elk license type on offer in GMU 51, 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.

18 licenses on offer · 186 tags · 1,194 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
  • ELK-1-195 Unit 51 — mature bull — Any Legal — Oct. 10-14 13 tags · 298 applicants · Standard
    3% Long shot 2% as 2nd choice
  • ELK-1-195 Unit 51 — mature bull — Any Legal — Oct. 10-14 22 tags · 296 applicants · Outfitter
    7% Long shot 2% as 2nd choice
  • ELK-1-196 Unit 51 — mature bull — Any Legal — Oct. 17-21 13 tags · 43 applicants · Standard
    5% Long shot 3% as 2nd choice
  • ELK-1-196 Unit 51 — mature bull — Any Legal — Oct. 17-21 22 tags · 59 applicants · Outfitter
    19% Long shot 5% as 2nd choice
  • ELK-1-197 Unit 51 — mature bull — Any Legal — Oct. 24-28 13 tags · 52 applicants · Standard
    8% Long shot 4% as 2nd choice
  • ELK-1-197 Unit 51 — mature bull — Any Legal — Oct. 24-28 22 tags · 24 applicants · Outfitter
    29% Long shot 9% as 2nd choice
  • ELK-1-198 Unit 51 — antlerless — Any Legal - NM — Nov. 7-11 0 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Not open to nonresidents
  • ELK-1-198 Unit 51 — antlerless — Any Legal - NM — Nov. 7-11 2 tags · 0 applicants · Outfitter
    100% No first-choice applicants 0% as 2nd choice
  • ELK-1-199 Unit 51 — antlerless — Any Legal - NM — Nov. 14-18 0 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Not open to nonresidents
  • ELK-1-199 Unit 51 — antlerless — Any Legal - NM — Nov. 14-18 0 tags · 0 applicants · Outfitter
    — Not open to nonresidents
  • ELK-1-200 Unit 51 — antlerless — Any Legal - NM — Nov. 21-25 0 tags · 0 applicants · Standard
    — Not open to nonresidents
  • ELK-1-200 Unit 51 — antlerless — Any Legal - NM — Nov. 21-25 0 tags · 0 applicants · Outfitter
    — Not open to nonresidents
  • ELK-2-193 Unit 51 — either sex — Bow — Sept. 1-14 10 tags · 67 applicants · Standard
    1% Long shot 3% as 2nd choice
  • ELK-2-193 Unit 51 — either sex — Bow — Sept. 1-14 18 tags · 70 applicants · Outfitter
    21% Long shot 3% as 2nd choice
  • ELK-2-194 Unit 51 — either sex — Bow — Sept. 15-24 10 tags · 118 applicants · Standard
    4% Long shot 2% as 2nd choice
  • ELK-2-194 Unit 51 — either sex — Bow — Sept. 15-24 18 tags · 103 applicants · Outfitter
    9% Long shot 4% as 2nd choice
  • ELK-3-201 Unit 51 — either sex — Muzzle — Dec. 5-9 9 tags · 46 applicants · Standard
    13% Long shot 2% as 2nd choice
  • ELK-3-201 Unit 51 — either sex — Muzzle — Dec. 5-9 14 tags · 18 applicants · Outfitter
    61% Real chance 20% 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 $867 $107 $877
Outfitter license $867 $107 $877

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

The country

Española Questa Pecos Edgewood Bloomfield
GMU 51 within New Mexico
4 49 50 52 53 5A 5B Española Taos Questa
GMU 51 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

  • National Forest 514,739 ac · 81%
  • BLM 32,637 ac · 5%
  • State trust land 10,370 ac · 2%
  • State land 17 ac · 0%
  • Private or other non-public land 77,257 ac · 12%

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 2,227 857 39%
2024 2,190 779 35%
2023 2,180 794 36%
2022 2,126 778 33%
2021 2,145 748 32%

What people carried (2025 harvest)

  • Rifle 407 · 79% · 1,302 hunters, 31% success
  • Archery 68 · 13% · 419 hunters, 16% success
  • Muzzleloader 40 · 8% · 196 hunters, 20% success

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

Harvest: 2025-2026 Elk Harvest Report

Harvest: 2024-2025 Elk Harvest Report

Harvest: 2023 New Mexico Elk Hunter Harvest Report

How we compute draw odds · All New Mexico elk hunts