Deer hunting...with a Knife?

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pyro777

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Ok in all seriousness me a friend were discussing hunting in a more primitive fashion, using long bows and flintlocks, instead of the newest latest most accurate guns of today. The subject came up of hunting with just a knife and I really got to thinking about it. It sounds possible, plausible, and probably has been done before. What do you guys think. we also talked about what kind of knife would be used. the first thing that came to mind was a kabar, then the new kabar bacon maker designed for pig sticking, and a buck 119. What others would you think would be good at trying to deer hunt with a knife.
 
A gun.

I'm sure it could be done with a knife, but it's definately not a smart or safe idea. Those deer, are much bigger when you get up close to them. Plus, they can be very agressive if you back them into a corner. I remember this one time I was doing some night photogaphy of them and I got too close and ended up having to run very quickly from them when a younger buck got a little agitated and decided to charge. He didn't follow, but I got the picture (no pun intended). I wouldn't want to try to get close enough to stab one, at the risk of getting gored or just getting the crap kicked out of me. It's not the best idea. As for a knife, I don't know, a smatchet? It'd have to be something huge or else you're going to get hurt badly. I'm not going to try it, ever, but if you want to, go for it, let us know how it turns out.
 
I've dispatched a few wounded deer with knives, and it ain't something I would want to try on a healthy one. They don't die quick, they don't die easy, and they are damned dangerous. A machete through the spine would be my choice, not that I think you are ever going to get close enough to a wild deer to try it.
 
A large fixed blade used as a spear point would add some distance to the encounter. Not to throw but to stab with. My guess is you need to stab into the vital organs vs trying to slash like with a machete. Too much risk either way.

Back when I owned a little two seater convertible, I had a dear almost hit my car. I stopped in time and it just stood there, staring at me. At that distance, you realize how big they are, especially when you're not looking at it down the sights of a shotgun. Not something I want to go against hand to hand.
 
I don't think you could catch one. When people hunt wild hogs with knives, they have to first make the hog mad enough to charge, so that they can get close enough to it to stick it. Deer will just run away (most of the time).
 
I don't think that taking a deer with a knife is permitted in the lower 48. Bleeding one out after it has been incapacitated by a gun, bow or crossbow all legal methods of taking is a different story.

I've hunted deer since I was 9 and I'd paid good money to watch someone fool hearted enough to attempt to kill a nice mature 250+ buck during the pre rut when he's all full of piss and vinegar. One that is sporting about 130+ inches of antler with a knife, machete, sword, battle axe, whatever.

People that kill hogs with knives use hounds to bay the pig up so they can sneak in an stab it. Without the hounds the chance of getting close enough to one to stab it probably ain't going to happen.

That crap about making a hog mad to charge, I have no idea where that came from, but I hunted and trapped hogs and trained hog dogs with Bruce and Sissy Hall of Boar Busters in Ville Platte, LA for 10 years. Ran hogs, trapped hogs and killed hogs in eight (8) states and never heard of that before.
 
I have killed one with a throwing spear. Hell jared Allen Killed an Elk with a throwing spear. Still....a knife? You gotta get ahold of one first, thats hard enough, then you gotta go after it with a knife without it beating you to hell. Sure there are stories of men killing bears with a knife, but thats usually after they are attacked and they are normally torn to shreds in the process.
 
MikeC said:
That crap about making a hog mad to charge, I have no idea where that came from, but I hunted and trapped hogs and trained hog dogs with Bruce and Sissy Hall of Boar Busters in Ville Platte, LA for 10 years. Ran hogs, trapped hogs and killed hogs in eight (8) states and never heard of that before.
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Didn't mean for you to think that I'm spouting crap, just repeating what a college buddy told me about how his uncles do it in Texas.
 
Maybe he is right and has experience with it that way, but have never heard of that and I've hunted hogs with some redneck hillbilly mother fu**ers. I've hunted with some people in the panhandle area of Florida around Tallahassee that made me wonder what planet I was from and if I was still in the United States.

My experience is if they smell you which their sense of smell is very good their gone, that is why you use dogs. The hounds bay em up and you run to the spot where the hog is bayed and shot it, stab it, because the dogs are going crazy on teh pig and the pig usually has several dogs literally attached to mostly around its head. The hounds like to bite the pigs ear and its neck and just hang on. 3 or 4 good hounds hanging onto a hog keep it plenty occupied so someone can slip in close and stab it without too much risk.
 
Even if I could somehow manage to get close enough to a deer to poke it with a knife, I still wouldn't. Growing up in rural Iowa you see some big bucks and good sized does as well. Either one can rear up and clobber you with their hooves--something I'd rather avoid.

If you have no other choice, I guess I'd use a knife to sharpen a spear and have a go at it that way. At least the knife is being put to good use.:D

Best,

Heekma
 
Ferral hogs are also extremely dangerous and will gore and trample you given the chance. But look how many people today still use pigsticking as their primary method of hunting them. It works... how many primative societies along the arctic circle still use spears and knives to hunt caribou? My anthropology professor said he observed women with kitchen knives wildly stabbing caribou that walked right through their village in Siberia... Is it practical by society's standards? Definitely not. Possible? Sure.
 
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