Traeger Grill: The Ultimate Outdoorsman's Grill and Smoker

The Traeger Pro 34 Series Grill is by far the best thing to ever touch my wild game after my broadhead.

If you're on the fence about buying a Traeger Grill, I'll sum this entire article up for you: Buy one.

There was so much hype about the Traeger Grill last year, I had to get my hands on one. I needed to know if this was a great marketing scheme or if it was the real deal. An avid outdoorsman is what I consider myself, and one who spends more time fishing and hunting than most other activities combined. I am very blessed to have the opportunity to hunt so many different animals and process my own meat, thanks to my father teaching me at a very young age.

With that, I have a freezer full of venison, wild turkey, duck, goose and more that I love to cook. My favorite thing to make is jerky, and yes, the Traeger makes a mean jerky.

My wife and I are expecting our first child in September, and we love to cook. With everything being electric or propane, the cost to run the oven or continually cook on the grill got expensive. We also often found that the food cooked over propane just tasted bland. When we wanted a good steak or chicken, we would end up at the restaurant spending money we didn't have.

That was when we made the decision to get a Traeger. Of course, at first the price tag was a bit much for what we thought we could afford. As a guy who likes numbers I looked at the overall picture rather than just the initial price tag. I figured it would save us money as we would want to cook from home more rather than go out to eat. I also figured if it was truly as good as everyone said it was, I would want to try to make my own jerky and sausage this year.

My first meal on the Traeger was two venison inner loins and corn on the cob, don't laugh as the size they were tasty. I got the Traeger Pro 34 which has a great deal of room and I can cook for two or cook for an entire group of people, which I did just last week at our annual wild game feast.

#wildgame feast time! All the meat we cooked on the @traegergrills with their Wild Game Pellet Blend #duck #moose #elk #goose #venison #turkey 100% organic. #goodeats

A post shared by Top Pin Outdoors™ (@toppinoutdoors) on Jul 22, 2017 at 4:35pm PDT

All of the meat you see in this photo was completed on the Traeger Pro 34. We had wild turkey, moose burgers, elk sausage, venison, venison hot dogs, duck and goose. Each placed on the grill at different times but all complete at the same time.

The Traeger Grill not only provided us with great, moist, true wood smoked flavored meat, it also doubled as a dehydrator. I was able to make venison jerky the week before. While I was making the jerky I was still able to cook my chicken dinner as well.

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The jerky was made with my Grandfather's Secret Recipe and I used the directions to smoke it with directions I found on the Traeger website. Traeger does offer a jerky rack that I don't own, but it allows more space to make more during each cycle.

The best part about hunting for sure is the memories you create with people you love to spend time with. When you are all said and done and you enjoy the most organic food you can possibly get your hands on, you want to make sure you do right by all your hard work. It's not just about cooking the meat, you literally feel as though you have become your own personal chef. There are countless recipes on the Traeger website and you can even add their Wild Game Rub to your meat along with all of their barbecue sauces. What you can do is endless with the Traeger.

My favorite part of using my Traeger is that initial start-up. It runs off wood pellets and you can match the type of wood to the type of meat you are using. The pellets easily go into the hopper that holds hours worth of pellets for cooking and smoking. From there, you can set the temperature at which you want your Traeger to operate and you are all done. It really is that simple. You can now walk away, enjoy your company and the Traeger does all the work for you.

Inside the Traeger is an auger that works with the thermometer to maintain the temperature you desire. As it burns the wood pellets it releases the heat inside and surrounds your meat, no direct flame contact. Direct flame can dry out game meat so with the Traeger you never have that issue. I like to reverse sear my backstraps by cooking it at a low temperature, then turning it up to sear the outside.

I recently did a pork shoulder and made pulled pork for my wife and I. As I pulled it apart, my wife and I began to pick at the pieces and were overcome with flavor. "This is the best meal you have ever cooked." she said and I didn't know if that was a good thing or bad until I tried it. I love to grill and normally I'm not very good at it. The Traeger offers thermometer prongs that you can stick in the meat and you can check the internal temperature without ever opening up the lid. This was perfect for me as I often over cook all of my meats and end up drying everything out.

You can cook everything on the Traeger and even bake with it. All your old recipes that require you to cook in the oven in bakeware or want you to pan fry, you can do all of that on your Traeger.

Traeger offers an entire line of different wood pellets and recipes for various meats and flavors. You can mix your old recipes with some of Traeger's recipes and become a barbecue, baking, grilling master overnight, or at least that's what I now call myself.

As I mentioned before, if you are on the fence about it, you should do it. This is in no way connected directly to Traeger, these are my true opinions. Since I got my Traeger I know five other people who have got one. They all also bought the Traeger Pro 34 and we now send photos back and forth everyday while cooking. They truly are the ultimate outdoorsman's grill and I look forward to sharing some of my recipes in the future.

For more information on the Traeger Pro 34 Series and how it works, you can visit their website. They also offer a great outdoors section with recipes and tips and tricks to get you started. If you like to smoke jerky and sausage and cook wild game. And if you would rather enjoy company than stand at the grill, you'll want a Traeger.

Like what you see here? You can read more articles by Dustin Prievo here. Follow him and his hunting team, Top Pin Outdoors, on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

NEXT: THE BEST INNER TENDERLOIN RECIPE...THAT'S ALSO HEALTHY