Eighth Electric Smoke:

½ hour pre-heat, NO water in pan, vent closed and smoker temperature set at 200*F.

Start the smoke at 13:00 (1:00) with a 10 pound Wild Merriam’s Turkey Tom coated in Yellow Mustard and Basic Seasoning. Also, I started 10 Hot Italian Sausage. Masterbuilt Digital Electric Smoker set at 200*F. I just set the time for 12 hours so it will be longer than the smoke time needed. I kept the vent closed, left the water pan in the smoker but left it empty and added Mesquite Wood Chips.

Basic Seasoning is Garlic Powder, Onion Powder and Black Pepper. Wild Turkey is older and therefore has firmer meat than the store bought young Commercial Turkeys. Wild Turkey is also completely fat free, very low in cholesterol and obviously free range. My son harvested this turkey with Non-Toxic Ammo. 

Notice there is no need to put the turkey on a special rack because the meat is being held off the walls of the smoker by the shelf rack rails.

At 14:00 (2:00) and at 15:00 (3:00) I added more Mesquite Wood.

At 5 hours into the smoke, at 18:00, both probes were at 166*F. I had one in the turkey and the other in the sausage. The sausage looked like they needed a little more time. The temp probes stayed at 166*F.

I checked the smoker at 19:00 (7:00) and pulled the sausage after smoking for 6 hours.

There is a fine line between cooking to tenderized and cooking to dry out non-fat meats. It is like bread rising. It is a little different every time based on environmental factors. A skinless wild turkey is still hard in an electric smoker and even harder a wood smoker.

I pulled the turkey at 20:45 (8:45pm) after 7 hours 45 minutes. The temp probes have been at 166*F for 2 hours 45 minutes.

The turkey meat is moist and tender. The mustard acted as a glaze to hold the moisture in, but did not stop the smoke flavor. 1 ½ cups of mesquite chips made the flavor was perfect.

The flavor of wild turkey is not gamey and has no strange aftertaste like domestic birds.