I make my own marinate with several liquids such as soy sauce, w-sauce, etc and use turbinado sugar, sweet red pepper (crushed), red pepper flakes and garlic powder. I then mix in something like persimmon pulp, blackberries, blueberries, or even paw paw pulp.
I cut my deer into strips about 1/4 inch thick and soak in the marinate from 4-12 hours. It really depends on the time of day and how much time I have because....
I dry mine on top of the wood heater. Drying time varies from 5-6 hours to 12 hours, depending on the temp above the heater and the thickness of the meat, as well as how much of the marinate I got off when patting it dry.
I make a variety and after they cool, I store them in half gallon Mason jars and label them (plain, persimmon, blackberry, spicy,etc.)
We are relying more on jerky and canned meats since we cut the cord and live with no form of electricity at all.
My fav seems to be the blackberry with crushed red pepper. It has a wonderful flavor with a bit of an after bite. I am fond of the persimmon as well.