Pellet smoker for hunting?

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I'm looking at portable pellet smokers for outdoor activities like hunting camp, fishing camping and what not.
I'm trying to stay under $250 which limits me mostly to the table top pellet smoker/ grills.

If I can get the money I think I like the green mountain grill Davy Crockett which is now the updated trek, I like that it's 12volt and most inside is stainless. But don't have the $350 at the moment.

For the sub $250 I was looking at the pit boss table top, the asmoke as300 which looks exactly like the pit boss. There's a few others to.

Any info would be nice, interested if any of you use these.
 
I have made my own pellet smoker in the past as well as electric and wood, even have a small camp style one that will run on propane.

Pretty hard to beat electric (assuming you have power) for ease of use and the least amount of other stuff you need to accompany it.
He cool to make one, especially if one could get a old pellet smoker that was rusted out in the trash. I've always wanted a pellet smoker no one I know has one. I like the idea of them being portable, the gmg Davy Crockett is a 12 volt dc unit and come with the 120 power brick s it can be used about anywhere. It's a little more then I can afford at the moment tho.

The smaller portable table top pellet smokers are about $225-$250 there 120 ac the 3 main brands seem to be the same unit just branded different. Looks great to bring to deer camp or fishing.
 
For the first decade after I built mine it was always difficult to get pellets here in Texas and one had to stock up in the winter when a few places did have them. Now that pellet smokers are more common they are much more available.

Rule #1 is stay away from moisture. They get wet, expand = problems.

I used a 4130 chromoly seamless tube for the main tube and an auger formed from 3/8x1/4 flat strap, that is driven by a low speed gear motor. The tube has a section at the motor end cut out so the pellets can drop in, to be fed out the end. That tube with the little nub sticking up at the top left is a grease drain where a bucket hangs, so grease runs out vs being able to drop into the burn chamber and cause uncontrollable fire.

23EE08DE-7858-49A9-BB14-3778D8E5ED93.jpeg

The air flow is provided by a small “computer fan”. It runs constantly and is channeled down a 4” box tube.

8BA8A713-382D-49A7-A5A2-30D5D25B862A.jpeg

At the other end of the 4” box tube is a section of 3” stainless exhaust tubing with one large hole for the pellet feed tube and a number of smaller holes for the combustion air to flow around the fuel pellets.

The little hole below the large hole is for an electric heater for initial ignition of the pellets. The little black delay off timer runs it for a few minutes upon being plugged in to start the fire, then it turns off.

C587748E-64E4-4C91-9D38-B6DBE278CB2D.jpeg

At that point I used a PID that turns on/off the auger gear motor. If it’s below the set point, it feeds pellets until it reaches the set point then shuts off. Repeat as needed.

AB0F9E5F-1708-4533-B47E-42512E03861F.jpeg

For the hopper I used an 8 round 60mm ammo can, enough for it to run 13 hours.

3EBAF6E1-0412-4AAF-913E-F33FAD3F1CEA.jpeg
 
For the first decade after I built mine it was always difficult to get pellets here in Texas and one had to stock up in the winter when a few places did have them. Now that pellet smokers are more common they are much more available.

Rule #1 is stay away from moisture. They get wet, expand = problems.

I used a 4130 chromoly seamless tube for the main tube and an auger formed from 3/8x1/4 flat strap, that is driven by a low speed gear motor. The tube has a section at the motor end cut out so the pellets can drop in, to be fed out the end. That tube with the little nub sticking up at the top left is a grease drain where a bucket hangs, so grease runs out vs being able to drop into the burn chamber and cause uncontrollable fire.

View attachment 1010118

The air flow is provided by a small “computer fan”. It runs constantly and is channeled down a 4” box tube.

View attachment 1010120

At the other end of the 4” box tube is a section of 3” stainless exhaust tubing with one large hole for the pellet feed tube and a number of smaller holes for the combustion air to flow around the fuel pellets.

The little hole below the large hole is for an electric heater for initial ignition of the pellets. The little black delay off timer runs it for a few minutes upon being plugged in to start the fire, then it turns off.

View attachment 1010121

At that point I used a PID that turns on/off the auger gear motor. If it’s below the set point, it feeds pellets until it reaches the set point then shuts off. Repeat as needed.

View attachment 1010119

For the hopper I used an 8 round 60mm ammo can, enough for it to run 13 hours.

View attachment 1010117
thanks for sharing, I love the 60mm can idea lol. I'd like to build one wanted to build a big offset for years, but we're I like now it's just not possible unfortunately. I'm aware of the moisture problem, I think I'll keep the pellets in some sealed 5 gallon buckets.
 
Best investment I've found for hunting camp is a large gas griddle. Works for everything from breakfast to supper. Does eggs, fried potatoes, burgers and steaks all very well and is easy to clean. I love my smokers, both the Master-built and the Traeger.....but they are time consuming and need vigilance. I have neither at hunting camp.......at least when it comes to cooking/eating.
 
Best investment I've found for hunting camp is a large gas griddle. Works for everything from breakfast to supper. Does eggs, fried potatoes, burgers and steaks all very well and is easy to clean. I love my smokers, both the Master-built and the Traeger.....but they are time consuming and need vigilance. I have neither at hunting camp.......at least when it comes to cooking/eating.
That's another thing I'm looking at getting, there's even griddles with oil and air friers. And again comes up the question to get a big one for home or something that's more portable.
 
If I may, I'll add one more vote to the griddle camp. Pellet smokers/grills are prone to failure for a number of reasons and can leave you stranded in the field. A gas or electric griddle is excellently reliable and versatile, and since the blackstone awakening there are all sorts of portable tabletop versions available. Not the case 10 years ago when I ended up buying a crazy heavy old commercial griddle for cookouts. Big or small, the griddle comes in super handy when you've got family in town and cooking bacon 4 slices at a time in a pan is not cutting it.

Will add that a weber "go anywhere" portable charcoal grill (or w/e they call it these days) is a great way to augment the griddle and purchasing both will fall within your price range. Good luck with your search.
 
I too like griddles, I have likely made more of them than any other cooking implement.

I used to make 4ft ones from 1/4” plate steel but the last 20 years or so I make them from 1/8” plate and a 1x.125” x brace welded to the bottom, lots easier to nest 2 of the 2ft ones than the bigs ones. The breaks down the side D’s, backstop and drip tray section brace the sides. The wind block is also the structure for the removable legs (perfect for tailgate or table top without legs). Burners are made from 14ga 3/4” box tube.

6507621B-976A-497F-8154-E113CD76B650.jpeg 248F47FA-2123-442A-8E7E-7A75713A8FA3.jpeg 385DCB2F-D25E-486A-A33B-6B1DF731BC4B.jpeg 7838642F-4DA0-4B60-B8AC-C2E170D6335A.jpeg A49AA9C1-9AF2-49EA-9675-9D0462CFD563.jpeg
 
The time concern is one reason I do like smokers though, once you don’t have to maintain the temperature and it can do it automatically, they are the least time consuming device, electric smokers beating out all the others but even a log burner can be turned into a consistent cooker that doesn’t require much from the user.



Turn on, open door, put food in, wrap in foil at some point, eat and throw away foil. Even with Potato’s, corn, and other stuff there is just more foil to throw away. Doesn’t matter if your cooking for 4 or 40. Mrs. Morris cooks spaghetti for 4 and gets every pot, pan, fork, spoon, strainer in the house dirty. The two methods are a dead giveaway, as to whom does the dishes…
 
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As much as I love smoked meat, my hunting camp kitchen consists of a three burner gas grill with griddle inserts and a free standing two burner propane camp stove. With those I have yet to find anything that I couldn't make while out hunting and they are both on folding legs so they can be stored in a large rubber made container when we aren't using them.
 
I too like griddles, I have likely made more of them than any other cooking implement.

I used to make 4ft ones from 1/4” plate steel but the last 20 years or so I make them from 1/8” plate and a 1x.125” x brace welded to the bottom, lots easier to nest 2 of the 2ft ones than the bigs ones. The breaks down the side D’s, backstop and drip tray section brace the sides. The wind block is also the structure for the removable legs (perfect for tailgate or table top without legs). Burners are made from 14ga 3/4” box tube.

View attachment 1011712 View attachment 1011711 View attachment 1011713 View attachment 1011710 View attachment 1011709
How much or a griddle my mom wants on for the house. They look very nice.
 
As much as I love smoked meat, my hunting camp kitchen consists of a three burner gas grill with griddle inserts and a free standing two burner propane camp stove. With those I have yet to find anything that I couldn't make while out hunting and they are both on folding legs so they can be stored in a large rubber made container when we aren't using them.
I'd probably use this more for fishing trips. A griddle would be nice to, that Weber portable mentioned earlier maybe a good choice for the money.
 
I'd probably use this more for fishing trips. A griddle would be nice to, that Weber portable mentioned earlier maybe a good choice for the money.

Out of curiosity, are you looking for some proper low and slow cookery, or just something to get some of that wood flavor on the meat?

The little portaweber def has it's limitations. For red meat, it does well with a short smoke for flavor, then pull the meat off to cool and build a big fire for the final sear. Pretty easy to pull off.

You can do the same with a bird, start a tiny fire in the corner with a piece of wood for flavor, meat at the opposite end of course. Then rake the coals out under the bird to get some lovely crispy skin. Emphasis on spacing those coals wayy out depending on the size of the bird. This one is not too bad, just have to learn how to space the coals depending on the bird.

If I had to smoke say a brisket in the field... Hrm, then I'd probably build a mini smokey mountain (https://imgur.com/a/eEE0F), not that you could fit more than a chicken on it haha! Sorry if that's not exactly the question you asked for, just what I know works.
 
Out of curiosity, are you looking for some proper low and slow cookery, or just something to get some of that wood flavor on the meat?

The little portaweber def has it's limitations. For red meat, it does well with a short smoke for flavor, then pull the meat off to cool and build a big fire for the final sear. Pretty easy to pull off.

You can do the same with a bird, start a tiny fire in the corner with a piece of wood for flavor, meat at the opposite end of course. Then rake the coals out under the bird to get some lovely crispy skin. Emphasis on spacing those coals wayy out depending on the size of the bird. This one is not too bad, just have to learn how to space the coals depending on the bird.

If I had to smoke say a brisket in the field... Hrm, then I'd probably build a mini smokey mountain (https://imgur.com/a/eEE0F), not that you could fit more than a chicken on it haha! Sorry if that's not exactly the question you asked for, just what I know works.
For the portable grill or smoker I know it's got a lot of limitations, I'd like something I can use when we get some fish that day fishing and cook up or some fresh tenderloins off a deer. Fitting in a car trunk with all are year or on a spare car seat would be nice. The smoker is really would like is the gmg Davy Crockett( now the trek) but there $350. Maybe I can come up with the rest of the cash for it,but for money t hats in my pocket I've got $250.

I do like that Weber I see guys make little kits to fit in the grill.

I should really get a offset for home, I help my buddy with his fire wood business and can get all the wood I want.
 
Skill and ingenuity meter is pegged for sure.

Some of the best engineers I’ve ever worked with didn’t have an engineering degree
I know a bunch of College educated people that are dumb as they come, old man that used to live down the road had to sign his name with a x that man built several air planes and ran a manual lathe like it was cnc.
 
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