Do you know how to cook a turkey over a campfire using an inverted bucket? We would like to cook our turkey this way when we go camping for Thanksgiving.

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Please, don't attempt to cook a turkey (or a chicken) over a campfire. Doing so could be dangerous to your health.

Here's why: Poultry can be contaminated with salmonella, a bacteria that will do very bad things to your intestinal system. Proper cooking kills salmonella, but you will not be able to cook a turkey properly over a campfire. Even if you could, you'd be handling the uncooked meat, so you could get bacteria on your hands and onto other food. It's not worth the risk. Food poisoning is bad enough at home, but on trail it is excruciating.

If you want turkey meat for your Thanksgiving hike, roast the turkey ahead of time and keep the meat in the refrigerator. Slice off what you want to take with you and place it in a cooler with a source of cold (such as a milk jug with ice in it, or several of those commercial freezer"blocks") until you start your hike. Eat your turkey the first night out.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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