By Bryan Rogala
Ask a hunter who lives in the Western US what their favorite game meat is and chances are they’ll say elk. There's a good reason for that—it’s delicious, lean and tender, and harvesting an elk will put around 200 pounds of said delicious meat in your freezer. While I do love elk, my favorite game meat is actually pronghorn (or antelope, as they’re also called).
Pronghorn meat has a reputation among some hunters for tasting gamey or overly sage-y given the animal’s feeding habits, but I’ve never experienced that. In fact, I find it far more tender and even more delicious than elk meat, with a delicate flavor to it and no hint of sagebrush. Perhaps pronghorn that live in other parts of the West taste different than they do in New Mexico, but my guess is that a lot of the bad rap comes from poor meat care after harvest. Pronghorn hunts typically take place in August, and temperatures can be impressively hot—especially given the open plains and intense sun where they live. If you take care of the meat and get it on ice quickly, I bet you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how good it is.
This year, I was lucky enough to draw a pronghorn tag in New Mexico and two pronghorn tags in Colorado. The New Mexico tag was for a Game Management Unit (GMU) in the Northeastern part of the state in the beginning of October. The season dates for one of the Colorado tags overlapped with it, so I decided to start my hunt in New Mexico and then continue on to Colorado.
The nature of a pronghorn hunt is quite different from an elk or deer hunt. They are very easy to spot due to the bright white patches of hair they have and the extremely open country in which they live. That means that you typically spend a lot of time driving around on dirt roads through vast swaths of BLM or other pieces of public land, traveling from high point to high point, glassing along the way to locate them. With a good pair of binoculars you can usually spot them as far as 2-3 miles away, but their incredible eyesight makes getting close enough for a shot challenging. A stalk typically involves using small undulations to get as close as possible before crawling on your hands and knees to get within shooting distance. Even with these precautions, most stalks end with the animals seeing you from 750 yards away and running in the opposite direction.
Why I Like the Tune M1 Truck Camper for Chasing Pronghorn
All that to say, staying mobile during a pronghorn hunt is essential, and I’ve found my Tune M1-equipped Toyota Tundra to be the perfect pronghorn hunting rig. Rather than being tied to a basecamp where a tent is set up or trailer is parked, I’ve got everything I need in the truck at all times, and my camp goes wherever my truck goes. That means I don’t have to spend valuable time driving to and from camp each morning, or spend extra time breaking down camp if I need to drive to a new zone to look for more pronghorn. That’s especially helpful given that most of the GMUs that have pronghorn in them are massive—the one I hunted is nearly 70 miles wide and takes a few hours to cross. It’s very easy to spend several hours each day driving.
While it’s not necessary, I’ve also found the Tune M1 makes a great glassing platform. Climbing on top and setting up binoculars on a tripod gives just enough elevation to provide a clear vantage point. It’s wild how much further I’m able to see just by climbing on top of the truck.
My power needs are fairly minimal, but I do run a 70L Dometic fridge, MaxxAir fan and a Truma heater in my camper. Occasionally, I also use a Starlink Mini if I don’t have cell service. One issue I used to run into on hunting trips was my Goal Zero Yeti 1500X running out of juice if I didn’t drive the truck for a few days (I only had a 100-watt portable solar panel and relied mostly on DC-DC charging). While I typically drive at least a little every day on a pronghorn hunt, I nearly depleted the battery last year simply trying to run the fridge in 90-100 degree temperatures.
My Tune M1 is now equipped with a Pecron E1500LFP that has DC-DC charging and a 265 watt solar panel on the roof. This was a massive upgrade from my previous pronghorn hunt. While temps were cooler in October, I was able to run the fridge, fan, Starlink and use the heater at night without ever draining the battery past 60 percent. The Pecron recharges much faster than the Goal Zero did, and the mobile nature of a pronghorn hunt certainly helps the alternator keep the battery topped off.
As I’ve written about before, one of the other main benefits of using my Tune M1 for hunting is that I don’t lose valuable floor space in the bed of my truck for bulky gear. I have not been able to fit a cooler inside other truck campers I’ve tried, but the Tune M1 allows me to bring along a Yeti 210 without any issues. On this hunt I brought a smaller Yeti 110, which I packed full of 80lbs of ice in case I was able to harvest a pronghorn.
The Hunt
I pulled into camp well after dark the night before my hunt, but the Tune M1’s minimal setup meant my friend and I were quickly able to make dinner and get to bed early. We got up the next morning and had a quick breakfast before collapsing the Tune and heading out in search of our first glassing point.
We quickly located a solo buck once we started glassing atop the truck, and I set out on foot after him while my friend stayed behind to watch through binoculars. I got within 400 yards but he eventually saw me as I crested a small rise. I also noticed four other trucks driving in on the road we’d just been on, so once I made it back to my truck my friend and I decided to try and put some distance between us and the other hunters.
We drove several miles down another road and set up our binoculars again. Within minutes, we located two more bucks, and I was off on another stalk. The terrain was better on the second stalk, and I was able to move quickly towards them by keeping small hills and a few bushes between me and the bucks. I eventually started crawling on my hands and knees and was able to creep within 220 yards of them.
Just as I was setting up my shooting sticks and taking aim, the bucks started moving around erratically and working away from me. I assumed they saw me, or at least saw a tiny bit of movement, and I wasn’t able to get a shot. They continued walking away from me and when they dropped out of view I scrambled as quickly as possible to close some distance. I re-located the bucks and snuck in as close as I could—but it was getting windy and they were standing 400 yards away from me, which was further than I wanted to shoot.
The two bucks began looking directly at me as I crouched behind a small bush 400 yards away, and just as I was convinced they were about to run, I looked to my left and saw a group of 5 more pronghorns hustling my way. The two bucks I was chasing forgot about me, becoming much more interested in the three does and two other bucks that were headed towards us. The antelope rut typically runs from late August through early October, and it quickly became clear that we were still in the thick of it as a few of the bucks started fighting and pushing the does around.
I stayed still, just observing the action for several minutes. To me, getting a front-row seat to animals doing what they do is the best part of hunting. You get to witness things that most people never will, and it’s absolutely amazing to be within a couple hundred yards of an animal like a pronghorn that embodies the spirit of the American West so well. After a while, the group started working closer to me, and I was able to get a clean, 300-yard shot at one of the bucks.
My friend joined me, and we quickly got to work breaking down the animal. It was cool enough and we were close enough to the truck that we were able to pack out the whole carcass, which meant we’d be able to get as much meat from the buck as possible. The M1 came in handy during this process, too; there was plenty of room in the bed of the truck for the pronghorn. The camper’s floor is just the truck bed, so I didn’t worry about creating a big mess or ruining anything inside.
We drove back to where my friend had parked his rig and finished quartering the buck. Once I had the meat in game bags, I hung it from the side of the Tune M1 to cool and dry in the shade. A breeze made quick work of that process, and then we put the meat on ice in the cooler.
Since I was lucky enough to fill my tag on the first morning of the hunt, I had plenty of time left to head up to Colorado for the other tag. The Colorado hunt turned out to be much more of a wild goose chase than the New Mexico hunt, and involved A LOT of driving trying to locate pronghorn, and navigating tiny bits of huntable public land. Ultimately I spent several days searching, but I wasn’t able to find pronghorn on public land (just loads on private land right next door). Again, the ability to stay mobile with my camp aboard the truck proved vital, as did being able to get a great night’s rest every night thanks to the Tune M1’s comfy interior and heater when temps dropped.
Despite not harvesting another pronghorn, I had a blast exploring new areas I would've otherwise never visited and learned a lot for the next hunt. Plus, I already had a cooler full of delicious meat to process. The actual act of killing an animal is always difficult. However, the meat that animal will provide my family, along with the adventure and memories made, will be forever cherished.
Build Your Perfect Hunting Rig
FAQ
Why is a truck camper better than a tent for hunting season?
A truck camper keeps you mobile, warm, and comfortable—letting you move quickly between glassing locations and hunt units without breaking down camp. It also protects gear from weather, dust, and wildlife.
Is the Tune M1 a good truck camper for pronghorn or Western hunts?
Yes. Pronghorn hunts require constant driving, glassing, and relocating. The Tune M1’s fast setup, low profile, and ability to stay “camp-ready” at all times make it ideal for long days covering big terrain.
Is the Tune M1 secure for leaving gear while I’m out hunting?
The aluminum structure, lockable awning doors, and low-profile design offer solid security against both weather and tampering when you’re away from camp.
