Heath Wood
“Your pies are ready, sugar!” I can still hear my grandma saying those words to me every year when the firearms season was about to begin. A couple of days before the opening of firearms season, my grandma would call my brother, dad, and myself to come to pick up a variety of baked pies that she had made as an annual tradition of deer hunting snack foods. My grandma is still with us today; however, she cannot cook her favorite recipes anymore due to health reasons.
I love that some of the most treasured memories of deer season are not about shooting a buck. Instead, it’s the little things, like my grandma always fixing us the same snacks each year. That’s a memory that I will treasure for years to come.
Many deer hunters will agree that snack selections to take along to the stand while hunting can be an important decision. Every hunter has their favorite go-to snack that they take along with them while hunting. Below are three of my favorite treestand snacks that I like to cook on my Traeger Grill and pack away inside my hunting bag to take along during the hunt. One of those snacks is smoked apple pies, inspired by my sweet grandma.
Baked Apple Pies
When preparing small apple pies for a deer season snack, you can prepare the pie filling, as well as the crust. However, I usually choose a store-bought pie filling and a package of sheet crescent rolls for this recipe to make a quick version of apple pies. The smoked apple pies make for an incredible snack while in the stand with a hot cup of coffee or when the hunt is over and you need a quick warm-up.
Ingredients:
- 1 package of sheet crescent rolls
- 1 can of apple pie filling (or whatever flavor of pie filling you choose)
- Sugar
- Melted Butter
Prepare:
- Open crescent roll dough and lay flat on a sheet of parchment paper.
- Cut dough into even sheets to make small pies, approximately 4 to 5” square.
- After the dough is cut into even sheets, place 1 ½” tablespoons of pie filling on one half of the dough.
- Fold the other side of the dough over so that it covers the pie filling.
- Using a fork, create a seam on all four sides of the dough.
- Spread ½ teaspoon of melted butter onto the top of the pie.
- Sprinkle top of the pie with ½ teaspoon of sugar.
Cook:
- On a Traeger Grills pellet smoker, preheat grill to 350 degrees using Traeger pecan flavored pellets.
- Place pies on a flat, greased cookie sheet.
- Cook pies at 350 degrees for approximately 20 minutes or until pies are golden brown.
Trail Mix
Another one of my all-time favorite deer stand snack foods is smoked trail mix. Trail mix is an excellent snack to munch on throughout the day when times get slow in the stand. This snack also comes in handy if you need a quick something to keep the hunger pains away and keep you in the stand longer.
Ingredients:
- 1 - teaspoon olive oil
- 1 – 12.4 oz box of Cheese snack crackers
- 1 - teaspoon Traeger Grills Traeger Rub
- 2 - 15 oz bags of Bold Party Blend Savory Chex Mix
- 1 – tablespoon bbq rub
Cook:
- Place a mixture of both bags of Chex mix in a large cast-iron skillet along with an entire box of cheese snack crackers.
- Spread one teaspoon of olive oil on top. A bit of olive oil helps soak up smoke flavor when cooking on a pellet grill.
- Sprinkle BBQ rub into the trail mix
- At 225 degrees, using Traeger hickory pellets, smoke for one hour.
Elk Jerky
No deer stand snack collection is complete without some type of jerky. /our-obsession/blogs/recipes/pellet-smoker-venison-jerky Jerky is the perfect snack to reach in your pocket and get when you need food. Jerky is also simple to make, healthy, and it simply tastes good. When you add wild game meat to the smoker, you create the perfect snack.
Ingredients:
1 - pound of ground venison or elk
1 - package of Mossy Oak GameKeeper Jerky mix and cure
1 - teaspoon of Traeger Jerky Rub
Prepare:
When mixing my latest batch of smoked jerky on the Traeger Grill, I used a one-pound package of ground elk from the GameKeeper Butchery.
- Combine ground elk, seasoning, and cure it by covering it in a bowl with foil and refrigerating it overnight.
- Mix in the suggested amount of GameKeeper Jerky Seasoning and cure.
Cook:
- Preheat Traeger Grills pellet smoker to 225 degrees using Hickory flavored pellets.
- Using a LEM Jerky Cannon, press out 6” links directly onto the open grates of the grill.
- Smoke jerky at 225 degrees for two and half hours.
- Let rest for twenty to thirty minutes, then bag up jerky to take with you on your next hunt.
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