Hunting knives

Best blade length and shape for field dressing is a clip pointed, fairly narrow, blade at least 4" long, fixed (not folding- those are a PITA to clean blood out of) blade ..... sturdy enough to whack through the pelvic bone with the back of a hatchet.

Mine's a "Utica Sportsman", available on E-bay for next to nothing. I got mine for less than that out out of G-pa's kitchen junk drawer. I've been gutting deer with it nearly every year that I was not deployed to BFE since I was about 15.


http://www.ebay.com/itm/UTICA-Sport...705?pt=Collectible_Knives&hash=item48647c7a61

For skinning, I like a wide knife with a lot of belly. I could not find what i wanted, so I made my own from a 10" heavy duty miter saw blade.
 
what steel is it made of?
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You know, I do not know. It is not stainless ..... from the way blood "blues" it, I'd guess a high carbon tool steel.

I never worried about it all that much: it will take a shaving sharp edge and hold it through several field dressings .....

I think folks today put far too much stock in the abilities of their equipment and not enough investment in their own ...... I imagine I could field dress a deer with just about any knife in a pinch ........
 
A drop point is better for skinning. Having said that I use an old Shrade Old Timer skinner with a gut hook. The gut hook makes unzipping a deer hide a breeze. Mine has a carbon steel blade, the newer ones are stainless. I do not like stainless knives. The blade is 3 1/2". Once the deer is skinned you can use almost any knife you want to for butchering but shorter is better.
 
Older (discontinued model) Wyoming chrome metal knife along with a folding lock blade EKA wood handled fillet knife. Always carry both when I'm in the field. One may think I'm prepared for fish and deer with the carrying of two knives. Not so. Their intended purpose is for field dressing large game only. Just my preference is all.
 
I used the Kershaw blade trader a couple years. I like it.
Huge gut hook, razor sharp (I shaved my face with it), big skinning blade and a kinda flimsy saw blade.
Works great, but the way its connected is a weak point.

Last year I used the Wyoming knife that the kids got me for one of the holidays.
I really like it for field dressing. Really fast and easy. Thats what I'll stick with now. You do need a seperate handsaw, which I have a nice one compliments of the wife. The bad thing is this knife is ONLY good for field dressing.

You can get replacement blades for the knife or sharpen them on a Lansky type sharpener.
 
A drop point is better for skinning.
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....it has more belly than the clip point ....that said, I use my clip point hunting knife to "unzip" the backs of the legs- the unsharpened back of the clip point will slide right along under the hide with the edge cutting it as it as it rides up the blade...... if you are carefull, you won't nick the meat at all.


Once the deer is skinned you can use almost any knife you want to for butchering but shorter is better.
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I use quite a variety for the butchering part- everything from a 18" sawzall blade (quartering) to a 16" slicer for steaking the rounds to a 3" paring knife for boning out the shoulder blades .....
 
I've been using a Kershaw blade trader for the last 10 or so years and used Gerber products prior to that. My favorite Gerber was a folder that you could switch the blades on. I believe both of those knives use stainless steel.
 
I use my clip point hunting knife to "unzip" the backs of the legs- the unsharpened back of the clip point will slide right along under the hide with the edge cutting it as it as it rides up the blade...... if you are carefull, you won't nick the meat at all.
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That's how a drop point works but many clip points have a curve and the point wants to dig in while skinning. With a drop point you don't have to worry about nicking meat.
 
but many clip points have a curve and the point wants to dig in while skinning.
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Hawg, I'm seeing the curve on the spine of the drop point ......


http://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/hu...between-drop-point-knife-and-clip-point-knife

The clip points I'm familiar with have a straight, unsharpened portion from 3/4 of the way down the blade to the point ......

The goofy modern Bowie style, with the concave curve behind the point is not a clip point...... not sure what that is good for ...... not anything I can't do with the knife I have ......
 
My father brought back three pocket knives from WW II. Made in Solingen. 3-1/2" blade folders, wooden handles. Straight-backed blade; tip like the bottom half of a capital "D".

Between me, my father and my uncle, they've worked well for gutting and skinning over a hundred deer. :)
 
I've been using a Cold Steel Master Hunter for several years. My version has Carbon V steel, flat ground and drop point. 4.5" blade. The handle grips very well, especially when my hands get bloody. Came with a good Kydex sheath.
 
I have several hunting knives but my 2 favorites are an old Gerber 525 and a Cold Steel tanto that I had reground to a hunting knife shape.

I scored a deal on the Cold Steel tanto used and it was so cheap that I didn't feel bad about modifying it. It's seriously strong and would be a good survival knife if I needed such a thing...

The Gerber is like a razor and holds an edged exceptionally well

Tony
 
Before I got divorced from my first wife I had 30+ knives of different shapes and steel. She threw them all out in the first few days we were seperated. Bet you can't guess why we divorced.:D

The only one of those knives I miss is a Cutco hunter, drop point, about 5" long, 1 1/4" wide and 1/8" thick, surgical stainless. That blade dressed and skinned 2 deer and 1 1/2 elk before it showed any sign of loosing its edge. The handle was not slippery when bloody. Loved that knife......hate the ex. I will get another one someday. Just haven't taken the time to get on the website and order a new one.
 
anybody try survive knives? gso 4.1 sk4?
Today 09:37 PM
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No ....but what's that cost? Nice edge and all, but honestly, the type of steel in a huning knife is so afar down on the list of concerns .....
 
I use the same knife I started hunting with 42 years ago, a handmade, hollow ground clip point with a 4-1/2" blade with mesquite scales. It's made out of a piece of spring steel, and it holds a razor edge through several pigs being skinned.

I've tried other hunting knives over the years, but keep coming back to that one because it works. Only other one I still carry in my pack is a Solingen blade knife I put together about 30 years ago. Both carbon steel, both clip blades, both about the same size.
 
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