 respectful of landowners and to always ask permission before hunting on private property.
Unit 39 harvest and success rates were stable in 2020. The general spring season should offer some good opportunities, turkeys follow the spring green up to higher elevations as the weather conditions warm, and should be available on public lands by opener.
Unit 33 harvest and success rates increased in 2020. Early season turkey opportunity is typically limited to private lands along the Middle Fork of the Payette. As the weather improves, birds will move up in elevation onto public ground.
The Magic Valley has limited turkey hunting opportunities and only controlled hunts are available for turkey hunting in Unit 54. Turkeys are primarily found on or near Big Cottonwood WMA. Turkeys follow the snow line as spring progresses and are more widely distributed later in the season. We anticipate above average winter survival this year, but the overall population is likely depressed from a recent hard winter and poor nesting conditions several of the past years.
Winter conditions were slightly below average this year, and as such, overwinter survival is expected to be high again. Hunters should expect similar to slightly increased turkey numbers compared to last spring. Many of the valley bottoms experienced earlier snow melt compared to last year, so hunters might expect slightly different distributions of birds this spring.
Other portions of the region have more sporadic and patchy distributions of turkey. Many of the turkeys in the Southeast Region are associated with private lands, and hunters are urged to be respectful of private properties and landowners when pursuing turkey.
The Upper Snake Region has a small population of turkeys, mainly along the Henry’s Fork and South Fork of the Snake River. Turkeys are limited to controlled hunts only in the region.
Winter 2020-21 was normal to slightly below average for most of the region. Hunters will likely find most turkey hunting opportunities at lower elevations at the beginning of the season, but expand as snow recedes and as spring progresses.
Hunters should anticipate stable to slightly increasing turkey populations in the region, with anticipated success rates being stable. The region has a lot of private property along the Henry’s Fork and South Fork of the Snake River, so be sure to ask first to hunt on private land.
With average winter conditions, the Salmon region is seeing good overwinter turkey survival. Winter population counts showed stable populations in the Challis area and significant growth in in the Salmon area. In fact, 2021 winter surveys in units 21A and 28 showed a 52 percent increase in wild turkey numbers from the 2020 survey. This population continues to grow and will hopefully result in increased hunter opportunity in years to come.
Currently, all turkey hunting in the Salmon Region is regulated through controlled hunts for both the spring and fall seasons. At this point, the vast majority of birds will be found on private lands and hunters are encouraged to get permission from landowners prior to applying for hunts. With this expansion in turkey populations and the rise in private land depredations, we hope to be able to offer more liberal seasons in upcoming years.
Ever since the brutal slaughter of her parents, Justine has lived the solitude of those who become virtually invisible. But the early release of the killer stirs up both fear and pain. She nevertheless succeeds in finding support and compassion in Louis Schneider, a Crime Squad cop in Marseille, where particularly savage and vicious murders remain without explanation, casting discredit on the police. Schneider, an incorruptible individualist, decides to go against the opinion of his superiors and begins an investigation which will lead him to the gates of hell. Will helping Justine enable him to reach some form of redemption?Larry Rankin enjoys giving honest assessments of products he uses. He especially enjoys promoting products he believes are of quality.
Why an Electric Meat Smoker?
Before I begin with the product review, I first wanted to address the topic of why electric smokers have become so popular of late.
For starters, smoked food is delicious, whether it be meats, veggies, cheeses or even desserts. Pretty much any food you can think of, there is a way to make it taste better with smoke. Yet despite the wonderful taste, most folks shy away from doing the actual smoking process themselves. One of the reasons for this is that traditional smokers can be tricky. When we’re working with a fire we stoke, we constantly have to monitor the temperature, and this can be downright demanding when you consider that some foods, like brisket for example, are traditionally cooked in excess of 12 hours.
 Do you really want to spend 12 to 24 hours preparing a meal only to have a flare-up 15 hours in ruin it? Or let’s say you smoke some ribs for 15 hours and they turn out perfect, are you going to be able to replicate that same dish later?
For the purest, the answer to all the above questions is, Well, that’s the heart and soul of the process, the art of smoking. Though that is an attitude I can respect in principle, I’ve never been an artful cook, and I prefer consistency, and so do many others.
And that’s where the electric smoker comes in. I’ve heard folks go as far as to call the electric smoker “cheating.” I don’t know about that, but I do know in the inconsistent world of cooking, the electric smoker offers an absolute stability that is reassuring for even the timidest chef.
A good electric smoker will flare up very little. The temperature in an electric smoker is monitored constantly by the machine, so let’s say you set it at 225 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature will likely not vary more than 5 degrees up or down throughout the entire cooking process.
With an electric smoker, it’s all just so dang foolproof and consistent. Let’s say, for instance, you smoke some prime rib on an electric smoker and it turns out perfect: do the exact same thing next time and it will be perfect again. Let’s say it didn’t turn out quite how you like. You have the reassurance of knowing you can easily adjust the cooking process in a way that is exact until you find the perfect formula.
Over the course of the day, you don’t have to monitor the food constantly. You never even have to open the smoker unless it is a food you need to turn halfway through. Just have a meat thermometer fed through the vent and wait for it to read the desired temperature. The only part of the process that requires a bit of vigilance is making sure the heating mechanism is fed with wood chips as needed, but if you splurge for a smoker that has a timed electronic hopper, you don’t even have to do that.
And even if you forget to add wood chips as often as necessary, the electric smoker still continues to cook the food as a traditional oven would. Really, even if you’re quite absentminded about adding wood chips, as long as they are present for at least an hour or so during the cooking process, the difference in the end result regarding smokiness will be fairly negligible.
In addition, traditional smokers are more of a fire hazard than their electronic counterparts. A good electric smoker doesn’t even get very hot to the touch on the outside.
I know I’m not going to change the mind of any of you traditionalists out there, but for the rest of us, these are just a few of the reasons for the recent electric smoker craze.
Why the Masterbuilt 30” Electric Smoker?
The short and sweet answer to the above heading is that it’s the “cheapest” and that’s what people want, the best bang for their buck. Now if we want to get technical, the actual connotation of the word “cheap” is negative, so the better alternative word is “value.” Is the Masterbuilt 30” Electric Smoker a value? The short answer to that is definitely!
It is not without fault, though, and over the course of this review I will point out the shortcomings of this particular model, but in doing so, it should be understood that this Masterbuilt smoker costs anywhere from $180-220, depending on how good of a sale you can find. Many of the smokers that correct the insufficiencies of this Masterbuilt are in excess of $1,000.
I don’t know about you, but though I’d love to have a $1,000 model, a version for less than $200 that is almost as good is more in line with what my budget will bear.
In addition, the few electronic smokers that are in the price range of this Masterbuilt, at least the ones I’ve had the opportunity to look at, aren’t as good or quite as well priced.
The Masterbuilt 30” Electric Smoker comes almost completely assembled. Just add a few screws, remove some packaging materials, go through the seasoning process, and you’re ready to go.
The unit looks almost exactly like a mini-fridge, so much so that one could easily mistake it for one. There is a small pipe in the lower rear of the unit where excess fat drippings can escape into a catch pan and an inconspicuous vent on top where excess smoke is released. With the exception of these two outlets, the unit is entirely sealed while it smokes.
The wood chip feeding system is on the side. 
The removal of this chip scoop also provides the hole to monitor your wood chips and determine if more are needed. At first, I thought this would be difficult, but it is actually quite easy to monitor your wood chip levels through this opening.
The inside of the unit has several food racks that can be adjusted, a pan that can