Hunter's knives

shortwinger

shortwinger

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Apr 7, 2010
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If you are a serious hunter share some of your favorite blades and what makes them special. Also include any new knives you will be giving a try this year.

For me I've been using the same Outdoor Edge knife for over 10 years, traditional favorites such as Buck 110 (or similar) folders and a Cold Steel Master Hunter that I foolishly sold.

This year while waiting over 6 months for a Puma Hunter's Pal to arrive I ran across the Grohmann Army and Original Pattern Canadian Belt knife along with the CS version. I also got a Buck 119 over the holidays. I am really excited to see if anything can keep up with the Grohmann, I've already processed a bunch of small and big game with it and I can't be more impressed. This knife has kind of stolen some of the thunder from the Hunter's Pal but it will get plenty of chances to find a place on the team!
 
Like many guys here, I have a lotta knives. So, some of them don’t get as much carry time as they deserve. I recently pulled out my Buck 105 and 119 knives. They are moderately priced, have that excellent Bos heat treat, and are a pleasure to hold and use. They definitely get the job done.

While I like the Buck 110 in many ways, I don’t like it as a hunting knife. I’ve cleaned game with one, and don’t like the clean up chore of the knife afterwards. Strictly fixed blade hunting, fishing, and outdoors knives for me !
 
I love hunting/skinning type knives. I have several Busses ideally suited to the task, as well as a Ruana, a Dozier Whitetail Skinner, and a Arno Bernard Rhino. I think that I like these because when I was a kid I broke the tip off a boy scout fixed-blade knife while throwing it, and my dad reground it into a perfect semi-skinner pattern. I loved that knife, used it for everything in my teenage years until the leather washers fell off.

All that being said, almost all of my deer have been field-dressed with whatever EDC folder I had at the time. An Uncle Henry Trapper,
a small Cold Steel Clipmate, a classic stockman, a Spyderco Native, etc. It seemed that when dressing to go hunting, I just dropped my current folder in my pocket and didn't bother to strap on a fixed blade. None of these ever proved inadequate for the job.

It is in skinning where the fixed blade designed for the task shines. The search for your ideal can be lots of fun.

At age 72 and very limited now by permanent nerve damage in my left leg and foot, it is iffy whether I will ever get to deer hunt again. IF I do, the Dozier is going with me. It would be a sin not to use it at least once.
 
i have to dig my stuff out tonight for opening day tomorrow.l

buck paclite skinner is my go to. I added a cord wrap to the handle to give me a little better ergos.

don't particularly like folding knives for the dirty work as Pointshoot noted above. but i will break out the OT25 for some skinning or quartering and small game
 
I have used a Case and Remington slipjoint for hunting chores more than any other. Never had a problem cleaning them afterwards. Carried my Schrade 250T a few years and it did just fine. Doesn't take a spectacular knife for hunting, just a sharp one. In recent years, I have been carrying a small fixed blade along with a slipjoint. But I have not been hunting much over the last 5 years. With deer, I always took them to a butcher for processing versus doing it myself. So, the knife was only used for field dressing and anything else that came up while hunting. I skinned small game.

I don't really have a favorite to be honest about it.
 
For many years a Buck Vanguard was my deer knife ... I still use it ... but I got an LT Wright Outback and used it on deer and wild hogs ... I passed that Outback to a friend that I thought would enjoy it and I knew it would get used and appreciated ... and it has :thumbsup:

I also got a CPK EDC2 that a fellow forum member and friend put some beautiful Koa scales on for me and another member made the sheath ... it will be one of my hunting knives this season ... and I got a Pike Co. Skinner from Carl Colson one of our custom makers here that does beautiful work ... that will be the another ... these two are a bit smaller and will cover small game and maybe some deer hunting ...
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and then I have skinning knives and use Becker BK15s and BK5s for most of my butchering along with some flexable boning knives ...

and have a couple capers one new White River Backpacker Pro to update an old Knives of Alaska caper that has seen alot of use.
 
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A Buck Vanguard and a CRK Nyala are my go to hunting blades. I also carry a Leatherman Wave as it makes saw8ng through ribs or pelvic bones a breeze. Also takes care of any branches that needs trimmed.
 
W. Anderson said:
I've used an older (80's) sharpfinger for dressing when I regularly hunted. It works. It is a great design.
Click to expand...

The Sharpfinger from Schrade USA was one of the finest examples of a hunting knife I ever had the pleasure of using.

Used a bunch of stuff since then, but nothing that equals it in my book.
 
Svord again. Sorry.
Dedicated skinners, inc Sharpfinger types. Drop points are available.
http://www.svord.com/index.php?cont...rway=desc&search_query=skinner&submit_search=
timthumb.php

  • Blade Length: 3.50"
  • Handle Length: 4.0"
  • Overall Length: 7.50"
  • Blade Material: 15N20 High Carbon Steel
  • Blade Thickness: 0.087"
  • Blade Style: Upswept Skinner
  • Blade Grind: Convex
  • Blade Finish: Natural
  • Handle Material: Gray Polypropylene
  • Sheath Material: Triple Layer PVC
  • Weight: 2.7 oz.
  • Weight with Sheath: 7.0 oz.
$29.95 knifecenter
 
I forgot to mention the CRK Nyala ... another very good hunting knife :thumbsup:

Kreyzhorse said:
A Buck Vanguard and a CRK Nyala are my go to hunting blades. I also carry a Leatherman Wave as it makes saw8ng through ribs or pelvic bones a breeze. Also takes care of any branches that needs trimmed.
Click to expand...
 
I like a Gerber Gatorblade with guthook. do most of the gutting, a lot of deer cutting with it and skinning as well. The 154CM version does a great job at it. I also got other around 4" hunting knives and of course the Buck 110 also works great! But the folding lock backs get down to the gutting and skinning done usually. I can and do use them for butchery as well but I keep a stream of knives going as one gets dull grab another.
 
Like many, my favorites have changed over the years. In my teens it was a Schrade Sharpfinger, during my 20's it was a Cold Steel Master Hunter and then beginning through offerings from A.G. Russell I discovered several custom makers which have been tried over the years like Steve Mullin, Gene Ingram, Charles May, Gil Hibben, Dan Crotts and Bob Dozier.

Here are my current favorites, two from the Dozier shop, a K-2 General Purpose and a K-13 Whittler.
Coming down to these two has been through a lot of trial and error.
Between the two of them almost any task can be taken care of in the field.
Kodiak Doziers cropped.jpg
 

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I use the Spyderco Bill Moran Drop Point. Not to big. Not to heavy. Not to expensive. Great gripping in the wet. Good steel blade. Designed by the knife king. Here is a video about it.


 
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