When I was in survival school, we made our own jerky. We hung raw beef over 550 and left it in the sun all day. Between the flies and the sun, it was jerky by the end of the day. Nobody complained when they ate it.

Another method we used was to dig a Dakota fire pit. This is a U shaped hole with the fire in one side and the jerky in the other. Enough smoke would come out the jerky side to smoke it in a couple hours. This was probably a little healthier.

I don't eat jerky anymore.