New Mexico hunting units

Terrain, access, and species notes for 75 units. Seasons and regulations live with the official agencies — every unit page links them.

Two hunters loading elk antlers into a pickup in sage country

Far northwest New Mexico — Navajo Nation / Chuska Mountains (tribal land)

Unit 1

A vast trophy-caliber elk and mule deer unit that is almost entirely Navajo Nation reservation — hunted under tribal permit, not a general NMDGF draw

NMDGF Northwest — San Juan Basin (sub-units 2A, 2B, 2C)

Unit 2

San Juan Basin high desert: storied trophy mule deer country carrying a growing, truck-accessible desert elk herd.

Northwest NM — San Juan Basin trophy mule deer country

Unit 2A

Legendary big-buck genetics in a checkerboard of tribal, private and BLM land

San Juan Basin — northwest high desert

Unit 2B

Trophy-caliber mule deer in low-pressure PJ mesa and sage country

San Juan Basin — canyon and mesa country

Unit 2C

Quality-managed public-land mule deer on a vast BLM canyon complex

San Juan Basin — Jicarilla Apache country

Unit 3

World-class deer and elk country, but most of it is tribal and closed to general hunting

North-central New Mexico — Chama / Brazos, private ranch elk country

Unit 4

A trophy-bull migration unit on the San Juan herd's corridor — but almost all private E-PLUS ground

North-central — Lindrith foothill elk country

Unit 5A

A compact, elk-rich private-ranch unit on the Jicarilla Apache border

North-central NM — Tusas Mountains / upper Rio Chama, Carson NF

Unit 5B

A big-bull and trophy-mule-deer unit where December migration from the San Juans turns it on

Jemez Mountains west side — Sierra Nacimiento & San Pedro Parks

Unit 6A

Home of New Mexico's largest elk herd on big, accessible Santa Fe NF country

Valles Caldera National Preserve — the Baca

Unit 6B

A draw-only trophy-bull hunt inside a volcanic caldera preserve, all public and all controlled

Jemez Mountains — Valles Caldera rim elk country

Unit 6C

A high-harvest Jemez elk unit wrapped around three sides of the Valles Caldera

Northwest high desert — Cuba / Rio Puerco mesa country

Unit 7

A huge, thinly hunted mesa unit — few tags, scarce deer, but bucks as big as anywhere

Sandia & Manzano Mountains — Albuquerque's backyard deer unit

Unit 8

Steep, rugged Sandia mule deer country famous for its late-winter archery hunt

West-central New Mexico — Mount Taylor (Cibola NF island in a sea of tribal and private land)

Unit 9

A big elk unit built around one mountain — the public hunting is concentrated on the Cibola National Forest high country of Mount Taylor, ringed by pueblo, Navajo, and private ground that is off-limits or E-PLUS only

West-central New Mexico — Zuni Mountains (Cibola NF, private ranch country)

Unit 10

The standalone Zuni elk herd in ponderosa-timbered mountains and sandstone canyons — solid public-land elk if you can work the Forest Service ground between big private ranches

West-central New Mexico — Zuni Pueblo / Ramah checkerboard (southwest of the Zuni Mountains)

Unit 11

A small, access-limited unit wedged in the tribal-and-private checkerboard around Zuni Pueblo — fringe of the Zuni elk herd where knowing the ownership matters more than anything

West-central mesa country — Fence Lake / Quemado

Unit 12

A big, quiet Arizona-border unit of pinyon mesas and hidden elk pockets where water rules everything

Plains of San Agustin & Datil-Bear Mountains

Unit 13

A vast, 60%-private unit spanning malpais flats, island mountain ranges and the wide grass sea of the San Agustin plains

Manzano Mountains — private valleys, public timber crest

Unit 14

A steep forested spine of quality mule deer and black bear ringed by private farmland southeast of Albuquerque

Gila high country — western Catron County, Arizona line

Unit 15

A world-class Gila elk unit with rare wide-open pronghorn plains stitched to it

NMDGF Southwest — Gila National Forest, Catron & Grant counties

Unit 16

The Gila: America's first wilderness and New Mexico's flagship trophy-elk country, managed as five lettered sub-units.

Gila high country — Reserve / northern Gila Wilderness edge

Unit 16A

A compact, trophy-bull Gila unit that has grown monster elk for decades

Gila high country — Gila & Aldo Leopold Wilderness

Unit 16B

Nearly all wilderness — a backcountry, foot-and-horse unit that hides all-time record bulls

Gila high country — Black Range & upper Gila

Unit 16C

Roaded ponderosa mesas up front, wild Gila canyons out back — big-bull country with a wilderness escape hatch.

Gila high country — Mogollon & Tularosa Mountains

Unit 16D

A near-all-public elk factory of ponderosa spines and rugged canyons where bulls grow big.

San Augustin Plains — grassland & scattered ranges

Unit 16E

A sleeper of open plains and low ranges where monster bulls roam but access is the real hunt.

San Mateo & Magdalena mountains — Cibola NF high country

Unit 17

Trophy-bull elk country wrapped in wilderness, with desert flats holding strong antelope

Central NM desert grassland — Socorro to the Chupaderas

Unit 18

Big public-land antelope country with sleeper big-bull elk in the breaks

Jornada del Muerto & White Sands Missile Range desert

Unit 19

Vast restricted-access desert — tiny tag numbers, high success for the few who draw

South-central desert — Jornada, San Andres & Caballo ranges

Unit 20

Desert mule deer, pronghorn and coveted desert bighorn wedged between I-25 and the missile range

NMDGF Southwest — east slope of the Black Range to the Rio Grande valley, Sierra/Doña Ana/Luna counties

Unit 21

Black Range crest to Chihuahuan desert west of I-25: sleeper desert mule deer country with a trophy-elk timber strip up top.

NMDGF Southwest — east slope of the Black Range, Gila National Forest (Black Range Ranger District), Sierra County

Unit 21A

The roadless east slope of the Black Range — Aldo Leopold Wilderness elk country reshaped by the 2022 Black Fire.

NMDGF Southwest — GMU 21 outside the Gila NF: Sierra Cuchillo and Black Range foothills to the Nutt grasslands and Sierra de las Uvas, Sierra/Doña Ana/Luna counties

Unit 21B

Everything in Unit 21 below the forest line — sleeper desert mule deer, grassland pronghorn, and a whole lot of empty Chihuahuan country west of I-25.

Western Gila high country — Mogollon Mountains

Unit 22

Wilderness backcountry elk and mule deer on the roof of the Gila.

Southwest Gila borderlands — Burro Mountains & Blue Range

Unit 23

Trophy Coues country from the Arizona line to the Bootheel desert.

Gila gateway — Pinos Altos & Mimbres country

Unit 24

Rugged trophy deer country at the front door of the Gila.

Southern desert basins — Potrillos & Florida Mountains

Unit 25

A vast, dry Chihuahuan-desert unit of lava flows, volcanic cinder cones and lonely desert ranges where a few heavy mule deer live scattered across hard, waterless country.

Bootheel — Hatchet Mountains & Playas Valley

Unit 26

The eastern half of New Mexico's bootheel: low desert mule deer, a fringe of high-country Coues, and a coveted desert bighorn tag in the Big Hatchet Mountains.

Far bootheel — Peloncillo & Animas Mountains

Unit 27

New Mexico's southwestern corner: a Boone-and-Crockett sleeper for Coues whitetail and desert bighorn tucked between the Arizona and Mexico lines.

South-central NM — Otero Mesa & McGregor Range desert

Unit 28

Chihuahuan grassland pronghorn and desert mule deer on a military-access range

Far south-central NM — Otero Mesa desert on the Texas line

Unit 29

High-percentage BLM/state-land pronghorn and hard-earned desert mule deer

Guadalupe Mountains — Lincoln NF high country

Unit 30

New Mexico's best desert mule deer numbers, with a sleeper Guadalupe elk herd

Southeast corner — Llano Estacado sand hills and oil country

Unit 31

Sprawling private-ranch pronghorn plains with sand-hill desert mule deer

Roswell / Pecos plains — private ranch country

Unit 32

Varied Chaves County plains-to-canyon country with strong pronghorn and a limited landowner elk hunt

Southeast plains — Pecos / Caprock pronghorn country

Unit 33

Big, open BLM antelope ground on the Llano Estacado east of Roswell — one of New Mexico's premier pronghorn units

Sacramento Mountains — Lincoln NF elk country

Unit 34

Southern New Mexico's most accessible trophy-elk unit — Cloudcroft pine-fir high country wrapped around the south end of the Mescalero Reservation

Sierra Blanca / Mescalero Apache Reservation — tribal land

Unit 35

The Mescalero Apache Reservation around Ruidoso and Sierra Blanca — tribal-managed elk and deer, closed to general NMDGF hunting

Sierra Blanca & White Mountains — Sacramento high country

Unit 36

One of New Mexico's premier bull elk units, wrapped around the Mescalero line

Capitan & Jicarilla Mountains — Lincoln County

Unit 37

Rugged forest islands over private desert flats — big bulls and scattered bucks

Corona plains & Gallinas Mountains — central NM pronghorn country

Unit 38

Big open ranch country built for pronghorn, with mountain fringes for deer and elk

Central New Mexico — Estancia Basin / Vaughn plains, private ranch country

Unit 39

A wide-open pronghorn unit on the central grasslands with sky-high buck success

Eastern New Mexico — Llano Estacado / Caprock plains, private ranch country

Unit 40

Big-country eastern-plains pronghorn with record-class buck genetics — but it's a private-land game

Northeast plains — Kiowa grassland & Texas-border ranch country

Unit 41

Shortgrass-prairie antelope on the Texas line, mostly behind private gates

East-central mesa & Canadian River country — private ranch land

Unit 42

Big private-ranch unit with antelope, mule deer, and sleeper canyon elk

Upper Pecos foothills — private ranch & mesa country south of Santa Fe

Unit 43

Scattered-public elk and deer unit where access is the whole game

Sangre de Cristo / Pecos Wilderness high country

Unit 45

Rugged public-land mountain unit northeast of Santa Fe with strong elk, mule deer and a marquee bighorn presence

Sangre de Cristo foothills to plains — private ranch country

Unit 46

Big-time private-land elk unit between Las Vegas and the mountains, run almost entirely through E-PLUS

Northeast plains — Canadian River canyon country

Unit 47

Roy-Springer shortgrass and mesa-break unit where pronghorn lead and elk hold on private ground

Northeast NM — Sangre de Cristo foothills meeting the plains, private ranch country

Unit 48

High-success plains antelope with a genuine bull-elk herd, but access is the puzzle

North-central NM — Carson National Forest high country south of Taos

Unit 49

Steep, heavily public Sangre de Cristo timber with quality elk and mule deer

North-central NM — Tusas Mountains and pinyon-juniper country west of the Rio Grande

Unit 50

A long, low, mostly public unit — marginal elk, tough deer, patient hunting

NMDGF Northwest — Carson National Forest, Tusas Mountains & Chama River canyon (sub-units 51A, 51B)

Unit 51

A big, mostly public Carson Forest elk unit south of the Chama–Tres Piedras highway, from red-rock Chama canyon to 10,000-foot Tusas ridges.

North-central Carson NF — Tusas Mountains, east of US 84

Unit 51A

A big, largely public Carson Forest unit with strong public-land bulls and quality mule deer

Chama River Wilderness country — west of US 84

Unit 51B

A compact, mixed-ownership unit built around the Chama River Wilderness with strong public-land elk

Colorado border high country — San Antonio Mountain & Cruces Basin Wilderness

Unit 52

A big, 92%-public Carson Forest unit of high prairie and aspen with a strong elk herd

Sangre de Cristo high country — Wheeler Peak & Latir, north of Taos

Unit 53

Rugged Carson NF wilderness with world-class bighorn rams and solid elk and deer

Cimarron Range & Philmont country — private ranch land east of the Sangre de Cristos

Unit 54

A small, elk-rich unit that is almost all private ranch, with one big public wildlife area

NMDGF Northeast — Cimarron & Raton country, Colorado line to I-25 (sub-units 55A, 55B)

Unit 55

Vermejo's private elk empire ringed by hard-won public gems: Valle Vidal and the walk-in Barker and Urraca wildlife areas.

Northeast ranch country — Vermejo & Valle Vidal, Colorado border west of Raton

Unit 55A

A huge, mostly private trophy-elk unit fronted by Vermejo, with Valle Vidal the public prize

Northeast foothills — Cimarron private-ranch country

Unit 55B

Small, tightly-managed mule deer unit on the Sangre de Cristo edge where access runs through the ranch gate.

Northeast plains — Kiowa Grassland pronghorn country

Unit 56

A vast eastern-plains unit with world-class pronghorn, a real plains-elk herd, and access that mostly runs through private ranch gates.

Northeast mesa country — Raton-Clayton volcanic plateau

Unit 57

Pinyon-juniper mesas and shortgrass benches near Raton where deer and antelope share ground, and access mostly means a ranch or a landowner tag.

Northeast plains — Dry Cimarron canyons & shortgrass pronghorn country

Unit 58

High-success plains pronghorn in a private-ranch and scattered-grassland corner

Northeast plains — Canadian River breaks & Kiowa Grassland pronghorn country

Unit 59

Big pronghorn numbers on the Harding County plains, with river-breaks deer and a few elk

Every unit, with boundaries and ownership.

Baseline Maps has the boundary lines, public/private parcels, topo, and offline maps for all of these units. Free for 14 days.

Get Baseline Maps