Decisions, decisions... What knives for Elk camp this year?

SpyderPhreak

SpyderPhreak

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I will be going up to the CO mountains for archery Deer and Elk hunting in a couple weeks with my brother and a friend or two. :D My brother and I have licenses for both Deer and Elk, either sex. I fully expect we'll get our Deer, and we have good odds for getting our Elk too. Camp will likely be about a 4-5 mile hike back from the parking area, and we'll be up there for about a week (unless we have to come down with meat). I'm trying to decide which knives to take, from the group pictured.





I'll likely take one of the three on the right (7.5" - 8"), and then an additional one or maybe two from the others on the left (5.25" - just under 3"). If it were you, and you had to choose one of the three larger blades and one or two of the smaller ones, which would you take and why? We have INFI, Elmax, and SR-101 in the lineup of 6 Busse, 3 Rats, and 3 Dogs. :cool:

Right now, I'm leaning toward the Basic 8 for the "big" knife, either the Mudd Mutt (2nd from top) or Trail Skinner (middle), and the either the HACKtive Duty (3rd from bottom) or HACK Warden (bottom) for a "small" knife. That gives me INFI, SR-101, and Elmax at my disposal for processing animals. The only time I'd be carrying all three is while hiking up to camp and back, so I'm not terribly concerned about weight.

Anyway, input appreciated. TIA! :thumbup:

Edited: SYKCO Elmax 460 in the running. Almost forgot that one. About the same size as the Trail Skinner.
 
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1. 411: offers more nice pointy drop point than Mud Mutt & will come in handy digging out fatwood or starting drill holes, plus choil > no choil in my bush experience, hard to lose in the bush with the orange Res-C, sr-101 easy to touch up in the field, coating will take the punishment & be easily cleaned & protect the steel, this blade will be your go-to tool for the down & dirty prying, digging ground work you would not want to expose your skinning edges to.

2. Muk: Elk will need processing & caping...nothing else in your lineup will come close for that utility-- no brainer, IMHO

3. Basic-8: will do everything the TGLB will do and some things the Regulator won't, the more upswept point & fore-ward belly will come in handy as a compliment to your Muk if you need more reach or leverage with cleaning/skinning, Res-C always good in the field, the top guards of the TGLB & Regulator may get in the way with a lot of camp chores
 
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It's a little embarrassing because I'm not well versed in the different models, but I would take the orange handled knife on the bottom, and the one that is two knives above the orange knife...
Reason being, I like my hunting knives on the smaller side. Always have. Both of those have a choil making it easy to chokeup on the knife which is something I automatically do when working on a deer or elk..

It gives me a better feel for what I am doing , and makes it easier to control the knife. It doesn't take a big knife to work on deer and elk. I know many people do, but it just makes it harder to control IMHO.

As far as the bigger knives go, I can't really suggest one because I don't have any actual field experience with knives of that size... Good luck on your hunt. Our archery season starts next Saturday.
 
PeteyTwoPointOne said:
1. Safety Mutt: offers more nice pointy drop point than Dump. Mutt & will come in handy digging out fatwood or starting drill holes, plus choil > no choil in my bush experience, hard to lose in the bush with the orange Res-C, sr-101 easy to touch up in the field, coating will take the punishment & be easily cleaned & protect the steel, this blade will be your go-to tool for the down & dirty prying, digging ground work you would not want to expose your skinning edges to.

2. Muk: Elk will need processing & caping...nothing else in your lineup will come close for that utility-- no brainer, IMHO

3. Basic-8: will do everything the TGLB will do and some things the Regulator won't, the more upswept point & fore-ward belly will come in handy as a compliment to your Muk if you need more reach or leverage with cleaning/skinning, Res-C always good in the field, the top guards of the TGLB & Regulator may get in the way with a lot of camp chores
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Petey, thanks for the response! :thumbup: Some excellent points! Your thoughts about the Basic 8 mirror exactly what I was thinking.

Surprisingly, the edge of the Howling Rat is very close in profile to the Muk. The main difference is the overall edge to handle angle. If it weren't for the straight portion of the edge on the Trail Skinner, it would be pretty similar too. Still a good skinning knife, but definitely not quite as good as the Muk.

Also, just FYI, the orange handled Dog is a 411 (Ganzaaa variant) and the OD Green one is the thin-bladed (0.15" iirc) Mudd Mutt. Your points about the 411 definitely have me re-thinking the medium/small knives.

Thanks!!! :cool:
 
SpyderPhreak said:
Surprisingly, the edge of the Howling Rat is very close in profile to the Muk. The main difference is the overall edge to handle angle. If it weren't for the straight portion of the edge on the Trail Skinner, it would be pretty similar too. Still a good skinning knife, but definitely not quite as good as the Muk.
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Shoot, no thanks needed, thank you for posting these load-out threads :)...I really enjoy gaming out the details vicariously...heck, packing hunting/fishing gear is at least 40% of the fun of the adventure, in my estimation...:cool:

As for the Muk v. SR TS choice, I was thinking the taller blade profile would steer more stable in long (straight) pushes & draws, plus I've found it will help as a more ergonomic thumb-rest & lever when scraping-- good for pinch grip for a big feller like you with large hands...just one greenhorn's experience :eek:
 
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338375 said:
It's a little embarrassing because I'm not well versed in the different models, but I would take the orange handled knife on the bottom, and the one that is two knives above the orange knife...
Reason being, I like my hunting knives on the smaller side. Always have. Both of those have a choil making it easy to chokeup on the knife which is something I automatically do when working on a deer or elk..

It gives me a better feel for what I am doing , and makes it easier to control the knife. It doesn't take a big knife to work on deer and elk. I know many people do, but it just makes it harder to control IMHO.

As far as the bigger knives go, I can't really suggest one because I don't have any actual field experience with knives of that size... Good luck on your hunt. Our archery season starts next Saturday.
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Thanks Mike! I suspected you would answer that way, and you make very valid points. No worries about not knowing the model names. ;)

I may take one of those two smaller ones (both are Elmax) no matter what, just because it would be so easy and unobtrusive (especially the smaller one). My brother is definitely taking his small one like my smaller one. The larger knife would be mostly for camp duty, and for heavier work on the Elk if needed (we'll quarter the Elk if we get any, and do most of the actual processing on those at home).

Our season also starts the 29th, but for various reasons none of our group can go until the following weekend. :( At least the season is a month long. As far back in as we'll be going, I'm not terribly concerned with not getting up there as soon as season starts, and it's certainly better than not going at all. A DOW statistic I saw a few years ago said that 75% - 90% of the big game hunters surveyed here in CO tend to stay within 3 miles of where they park their vehicles (archers probably tend to venture farther in), which explains the less than 50% success ratios for many of the game management units. :rolleyes:
 
PeteyTwoPointOne said:
Shoot, no thanks needed, thank you for posting these load-out threads :)...I really enjoy gaming out the details vicariously...heck, packing hunting/fishing gear is at least 40% of the fun of the adventure, in my estimation...:cool:

As for the Muk v. SR TS choice, I was thinking the taller blade profile would steer more stable in long (straight) pushes & draws, plus I've found it will help as a more ergonomic thumb-rest & lever when scraping-- good for pinch grip for a big feller like you with large hands...just one greenhorn's experience :eek:
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Indeed, the prep for a hunt like this is part of the fun! :D

No doubt, the Muk is the best skinner in the bunch. The continuous curve of the edge makes it so. :cool: That reason is also why I picked up this particular Howler, though it may not have been intentional from the factory (I'm pretty sure it wasn't).

ETA - The Muk IS much easier to use with a pinch grip, however (by design).
 
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Mud mut and tglb.

I like sr101 in blades < 6-7" long. And the tglb is a tglb. So. Yeah. There's that. Full tang, and probably right around the same weight as the basic 8? I've never held an 8 unfortunately. They look like pretty awesome blades.
 
D'oh!!! :eek: How could I forget about my SYKCO Elmax 460??? (and its sweet Leatherman pouch-style sheath from Dwayne) It was already loaded in with some of my gear from past seasons. Oops...





 
tinfoil hat timmy said:
Mud mut and tglb.

I like sr101 in blades < 6-7" long. And the tglb is a tglb. So. Yeah. There's that. Full tang, and probably right around the same weight as the basic 8? I've never held an 8 unfortunately. They look like pretty awesome blades.
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TGLB is significantly heavier than Basic 8 by 136g (37%; 364g vs. 500g), and Petey made some excellent points about the guard getting in the way if potentially needed for skinning / meat processing. But it IS full tang with exposed steel on the pommel.
 
SpyderPhreak said:
Thanks Mike! I suspected you would answer that way, and you make very valid points. No worries about not knowing the model names. ;)

I may take one of those two smaller ones (both are Elmax) no matter what, just because it would be so easy and unobtrusive (especially the smaller one). My brother is definitely taking his small one like my smaller one. The larger knife would be mostly for camp duty, and for heavier work on the Elk if needed (we'll quarter the Elk if we get any, and do most of the actual processing on those at home).

Our season also starts the 29th, but for various reasons none of our group can go until the following weekend. :( At least the season is a month long. As far back in as we'll be going, I'm not terribly concerned with not getting up there as soon as season starts, and it's certainly better than not going at all. A DOW statistic I saw a few years ago said that 75% - 90% of the big game hunters surveyed here in CO tend to stay within 3 miles of where they park their vehicles (archers probably tend to venture farther in), which explains the less than 50% success ratios for many of the game management units. :rolleyes:
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I hope you have a great season. That's the great thing about getting back in a few miles, you get away from 90% of the other hunters, and the animals aren't as worked up...
When I still rifle hunted, we had an area in N.E Oregon we went to. We were back into the Wilderness area about 5 miles, and most years we never saw anyone else.
Up there you either go in on foot or on horses. There were no roads for people to road hunt on, and motorcycles and ATV's were illegal in the Wilderness area. It was great.
 
338375 said:
I hope you have a great season. That's the great thing about getting back in a few miles, you get away from 90% of the other hunters, and the animals aren't as worked up...
When I still rifle hunted, we had an area in N.E Oregon we went to. We were back into the Wilderness area about 5 miles, and most years we never saw anyone else.
Up there you either go in on foot or on horses. There were no roads for people to road hunt on, and motorcycles and ATV's were illegal in the Wilderness area. It was great.
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Thanks Mike. Are you hunting this year? The area we'll be hunting is a public strip of land of about 20 square miles with rules very similar to a wilderness area (i.e. no motorized vehicles or bicycles, only foot or horse access). It is surrounded by several very large, very private ranches (40 - 70 mi^2 each) on the East and West, with only two limited access points, one North, and one South. We plan to hunt darn near the middle, so I doubt we'll be seeing anyone else. :thumbup: And hopefully plenty of animals. :D
 
B8 and Hack. I like the smaller blade for skinning. Muk will do very well too., but I like the Hack as is pointier.
 
I'd go with the b8 for the bigger blade for sure, it's lighter weight than the others in its category, will handle camp tasks and the post skin butchering easily and you have the rust resistance of infi. For the smaller blade I'm torn between the elmax hack and the sycko in elmax, I'd probably go with the sycko because it has a little more blade and once again the res c handle models save a little weight. It will handle your field dress nicely and any smaller more delicate tasks and there is definitely no corrosion concerns with elmax. The hack has a couple more cool points but I think the sycko takes it
 
Ooh! Great choices!!!!!

I'd take the B-8 for the large knife. Need to try her out and see how she works compared to a TGLB.
The SYKCO El Max 460 for the medium. Love the profile and I think she will work good covered in blood and not get slippery. El Max should hold it's edge through a lot of cutting and skinning maybe requiring less touch-ups.
Small knife the Hack El Max. I've never tried one, but it's got a great shape for finer work and I'd love to try it out.

Good hunting!!! :thumbup:
 
SpyderPhreak said:
Thanks Mike. Are you hunting this year? The area we'll be hunting is a public strip of land of about 20 square miles with rules very similar to a wilderness area (i.e. no motorized vehicles or bicycles, only foot or horse access). It is surrounded by several very large, very private ranches (40 - 70 mi^2 each) on the East and West, with only two limited access points, one North, and one South. We plan to hunt darn near the middle, so I doubt we'll be seeing anyone else. :thumbup: And hopefully plenty of animals. :D
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Yep, I will be hunting this year. We are heading up to camp on Thursday. We have been hunting the same area for about 12 years now. It is mostly BLM land, but there is one very large ranch that borders the Northern side of the area. There will be other people scattered around the area, but a lot of them only come up for opening weekend and then it clears out.
It's a great area. There are always deer and elk, and it is about 90 minutes from my house.

It sounds like you guys have a great spot :thumbup: Going into the middle should work great. If there are other people hunting the outside edges, you can let them push the animals to you :D
 
If I may ask, what is the model top of the column of smaller knives? Really like the looks of that one!
 
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