Hunting knife and bushcraft knife in one?

[Hesparus]

If you're really bent on the one-tool option, other people will give you better advice than I can. But I would strongly second the idea that others have floated of carrying two blades. I personally like to carry a 4-6" belt knife that's good for most tasks and a small, ~3" neck knife for delicate or special tasks. This gives maximum versatility and the neck knife is easy to carry and weighs almost nothing.

- Chris

 

[sodak]

Bark River Knives -- Gameskeeper II will meet your needs.


Mine's been slightly modified.

Modded Gameskeeper II




Big Mike

I love the patina on that one, it really sets it off nicely!

 

[Mack]

 

[Bailey Gleason]

esee 6..... however for hunting a 6"+ blade is to much an esee 3 does both, skin, gut and most of your bush craft needs

 

[Mastalerz]

I have the Becker BK2 and I paired it with the mora classic 1. The BK2 is 5 1/2 inches on the blade with a quarter inch thick blade. They are good for chopping, carving big chunks, and batoning wood. The mora is just under 3.75 inches I believe, I was thinking of modding the sheath to add the mora on it and see how comfortable/heavy it is. Either that or throw it in my pack if its too bulky.

The Becker isn't a very large knife by its thick and has a sharp edge. I mean I've never hunted so I'm not sure what works best but I've seen guys like Dave Canterbury skin and butcher animals with a sharp hand axe. So I don't see why a BK2 wouldn't be good for that too. I like having the smaller sharper more for finese things.

 

[Bo T]

I'm looking for a 6+" knife that is strong enough to split logs, but can do the precise cutting that a hunting knife should do. What is the ultimate compromise?

Can you be more specific? What are you hunting? What size and what type of wood?

 

[Mannlicher]

These two do a good job with both camp/bushcraft chores as well as processing dead hogs. No deer with these yet, but maybe this year. Oh, they do a fine job on squirrels. Blades are 6 inches. Micarta handle knife is A2 steel, and hefty. The Bocote handle knife is S30V, and a little bit thinner.

 

[Smeaton]

9 years later, but it's still a valid conversation.

As a 50 year old with a love of knives since I was a kid...I've owned a ton of knives. Everything from flea market crap to high end custom knives. And the smallest Swiss Army knife to big 'ole "survival knives" (I hate that phrase). I agree with most everyone here that for field dressing a whitetail, a 3"-4" blade is best. Heck, I've never used one, but maybe a 2" blade would be better. Why I'm chiming in is, handle size and knife weight should also be considered. A large handled knife is much easier to control for precision work as well for leverage, when you need to put some weight behind it.

On the other hand, not all knives are created equally. My Carter Cutlery Wide FS1 Outdoor Knife with its 6.18" blade is LIGHTER than an ESEE 4 with its 4" blade! Truth is, if I could only own one knife (gasp!), that's probably the one I'd keep. If you know what you're doing, you CAN choke up on it for more precision work. I'm glad I'm not forced to have only one knife though. I should mention that I only own 2 dedicated kitchen knives and 4 other knives.