First de-bone the venison ham. (See how to de-bone a venison ham in my video "Blackened Venison Broil", on the recipe page for "Blackend Venison Broil". Or you can

After you have de-boned the ham, tie it together with cotton string. Place the ham on a deepsided platter or even better yet, a foil pan.

Make The Marinade:

Mix together, and blend well the Italian salad dressing, teriyaki or soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, and Italian seasoning.

Place alternating sprigs of fresh herbs into the folds of the de-boned roast. I you wish, you can do this as you roll the roast up when you tie it together.

Using a sharp paring knife, pierce the roast in various places, and insert one peeled garlic clove into each of the pierced slots in the roast until you have used all the garlic cloves.

Now pour some of the marinade over the entire roast. Place some more of the fresh herb sprigs on top of the roast, and cover with the onion slices. Drizzle overtop more of the marinade. Reserve some of the marinade for basting during the smoking process. Finally, cover the onion covered roast, in a criss cross, basket weve fashion with the applewood smoked bacon slices. Wrap tightly with almuninum foil and refrigerater for severl hours, or even better yet, overnight.

Remove the marinated ham from the refrigerator several hours prior to smoking to allow the meat to warm to room temperature.

Prepare the smoker:

I prefer to use a smoker equipped with a water pan for this recipe.

Water soak your wood chips, or chunks, depending on the type of smoker you are using. My prefered wood for smoking venison is Mesquite. Line the water pan with aluminum foil for easier cleanup.

Pre-heat the smoker by bringing the temperature up to a range of 210 to 250 degrees F. Spray the rack with a cooking spray and the place the uncovered ham directly on the rack. Add pre-soaked wood chips/chunks to the appropriate pan. Your total smoking time will be approximately 5-6 hours, depending on how well you are able to regulate the temperature. After about three hours, bast the ham by pouring over some more of the reserved marinade. Add pre-soaked wood as necessary to keep the desired amount of smoke going. For a rare roast, you will want to continue the smoking process until the internal temperature of the ham has reached 130 degrees F, when an instant read thermometer is inserted into the thickest part of the meat. For medium rare, continue to 135-140 degrees F. A roast that is cooked in an oven at a higher temperature, say 325-375 degrees F, will continue to cook from it's own ambient heat upon removal from the oven. This is not the case with a roast, especially one as large as a whole venison ham, that is cooked at a lower temperature such as your smoker. This is why it is neccessary to continue to cook until the desired level of doneness. Because when the roast is removed from the smoker, the cooking process pretty much ceases. Allow the ham to relax for twenty minutes before slicing. I like to serve a nice horseradish sauce, BBQ sauce, or even a honey mustard and horseradish sauce with the sliced, smoked venison ham. Even just plain mayo with a little salt and pepper, on a fresh baked yeast roll will make you slap Grandma! Serves a bunch!