Smoking meat in the wild...

[Will_]

I'm keen to try smoking meat (venison) in the wild to preserve it.
I came across this article http://livetoseetomorrow.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/how-to-smoke-dry-meat-in-bush.html which sounds fairly straight forward (forgive the end of the world theme to the site), but I'd be keen to hear from anyone on the forum who has done it before.
It's a wilderness survival skill I'm keen to learn, so I won't be using any special kit (pressure smokers etc.) Just a fire, and whatever I can make out in the woods.

 

[GGTBod]

I've made venison jerky in the wild on the shores of a sea loch, we found a crevice about 2 feet tall in-between rocks on the beach (so the all day fire didn't set the ground on fire) and in that crevice we built up around it with rocks to form a capital L shaped internal area with a hole at the bottom in the toe of the L boot and a hole at the top, once we had the shape from larger rocks we filled in the gaps by shovelling on shale pebbles n gravel from the beach. We then built a fire from standing dead oak in the hole at the bottom of the L boot and hung strips of venison on racks we made from de-barked green willow in the top hole, we also wove mats to cover the top of the hole from reeds as it was raining on and off, we kept the fire small but fed all day long with nothing but oak until the strips of venison were dried but still a little flexible. It was well worth the effort and was delicious

 

[John Fenna]

I used a blanket and a tripod of branches to make a smoke tent in the woods - it worked fine. Using the IPK did not work well - it statred melting... and after the phots I replaced it with a wool blanket that survived and is still in use
A low fire below a platform of twigs inside the smoke tent and I had some well preserved meat.

IPK fail

 

[barbourdurham]

I used a blanket and a tripod of branches to make a smoke tent in the woods............
A low fire below a platform of twigs inside the smoke tent and I had some well preserved meat.

how long did it take john? did u season and prep the meat like biltong?

 

[Robson Valley]

Bark or no bark, willow is a poor choice for rack wood due to the high salicylic acid content.

Time and temp and meat thickness are all tied together. 1/4" bison in about 4-5 hrs at 250F with smoke for the first hour
then just low heat to dry it. I have lots of apple wood just for this. Too much smoke is really acidic. . . . if you like that.
Fatty meats like Pacific salmon suck up the smoke really quickly. Use alder for that.

I prefer a cure and seasoning, such as from High Mountain. But, plain smoked bison (or venison or bear) is a good chew. Done that way for
thousands of years here.

 

[GGTBod]

We've always used stripped willow for stuff like that, i was taught it years ago by someone who i totally trust who is considered by many to be an expert outdoorsman (except himself he insists he is a student) and he said as long as the bark is removed (because of the salicylic acid content) it is fine

 

[Robson Valley]

I suppose, if you have to. We have many, many options for woods from woody fruiting shrubs, even wild roses.

 

[John Fenna]

To get it right took most of the day - and I should have used more seasoning as there was not too much flavour. These days if I decide to dry/smoke meat I will pre-season it first, just like biltong

 

[Fraxinus]

Isn't the primary reason for smoking fresh meat/fish to keep away flies so that today's surplus is still good for tomorrow's lunch? So more smoke than heat is the way to go.
After that initial treatment the choice of woods used (if the game is large) will be down to availability and desired flavour the smoke may impart, oak, cherry and apple seem to be common favourites today but I suspect the need to save the food was greater than the preferred taste in earlier times.
Which leads onto the type of cover used, a tent of leaved/needled branches over the small fire traps in the smoke but allows some of the heat out (heat will escape quicker than the smoke, much as the wool blanket did over the IPK( makes a great ground sheet, the IPK though) ). It should be a low heat but smokey fire in order to dry out the meat without actually cooking it to aid preservation.

Rob.

 

[John Fenna]

Isn't the primary reason for smoking fresh meat/fish to keep away flies so that today's surplus is still good for tomorrow's lunch? So more smoke than heat is the way to go.
After that initial treatment the choice of woods used (if the game is large) will be down to availability and desired flavour the smoke may impart, oak, cherry and apple seem to be common favourites today but I suspect the need to save the food was greater than the preferred taste in earlier times.
Which leads onto the type of cover used, a tent of leaved/needled branches over the small fire traps in the smoke but allows some of the heat out (heat will escape quicker than the smoke, much as the wool blanket did over the IPK( makes a great ground sheet, the IPK though) ). It should be a low heat but smokey fire in order to dry out the meat without actually cooking it to aid preservation.

Rob.

The IPK was my ground sheet ... now it is a colection of smaller groundsheets for hammocking....the blanket is a little smoke stained but still gets used... as a blanket
My smoked meat was used over several days and was totally fine

 

[Will_]

Great - thanks for those replies. I'm going to give it a go
There's loads of oak where I'll be, and a huge fallen cherry tree. (I need to ask the land owner what he wants to do with that potential little gold mine before I start cutting branches off it though )