New Hunting Knife: Help Me Pick

bratch

bratch

Gold Member
Joined
Jan 10, 2005
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50
I came into a little extra money as a gift and would like to buy a new quality fixed blade. Use will be almost exclusively for white tails.

What are I’ve narrowed down to so far is:

Bark River Classic Drop Hunter in Magnacut
White River Sendero Pack in S35VN
LT Wright Small Northern Hunter in Aeb-l

Any opinions on these three or suggestion for other options?
 
I don't have any experience with the ones you mentioned, but I reckon they'll all work. Here's some more inspiration:

Attention deer hunters

I'm on the never ending search for the perfect deer knife. Obviously something that works for skinning and gutting is most important. However, given we are on a knife forum, aesthetics, steel, history/maker, pretty much anything you would value come into play. I've spent a bunch of bored nights...
www.bladeforums.com www.bladeforums.com

Lots of good options shown and discussed here too:

Hawaii Knife Life - daily use for work and play

Just got home from the farm and thought I’d share some of my daily knife usage. I hope to share more pics as the year goes on. Here is my son is cutting up some deer meat he harvested using my old Rapala filet knife. We plan to dry some for jerky. Used my SAK to attach lay-flat to the...
www.bladeforums.com www.bladeforums.com
 
I just can't recommend a Bark River knife.

The White River and LTW Small Northern Hunter are handy little knives that cut great. If I were to pick one of those two for me I would lean slightly to the White River Sendero Pack it just felt better in my hand.

That being said personally I would choose the White River M1/M1 Pro over either of those. I've used them to field dress 2 deer and skinned 3 deer with them. The Sendero Pack Knife and the Small Northern Hunter would be better slicers, but the design of the M1 and M1 pro just work better in those roles ... just my opinion.

A picture to compare for you. The LTW Small Northern Hunter on top ... White River M1 & an M1 Pro bottom is a knife from Dave Ferry one of our forum knife makers (his BF nic is Horsewright) he makes nice small working knives and looks and handles more like a traditional hunting knife.

20240211_025237.jpg
 
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One more to consider in that same price range is the ESEE Ashley Game Knife in S35VN.

1BvSlpB.jpeg
 
I use a Case XX 365-5 with the stacked leather-washer handle, which helps you keep a grip on it when your hands get greasy while skinning...seems to be good steel that holds an edge.
 
I'm strongly biased, but I consider my Michigan Utility Knife (MUK) to be very good for whitetail.

The MUKs are on the right. The bushcamp on the left would be good as well, but the tip on the MUK makes it easier for getting through the skin and gutting.
https://imgur.com/VNznr27


Of the ones you mentioned, I find the white river sendero to be stunning. I like the Canadian Belt Knife style blade of the LT quite a bit as long as the handle on it works for you. For hunting, I prefer something flatter on the side or it has some contouring so the knife doesn't roll around in your hand when they're gooey.

As for bark river, they're just not a brand I like much anymore as the owner hasn't been the "friendliest" with his business practices and customer service.

I think the Buck vanguard would be a stellar knife, as would the 105. The 105 is longer than ideal, for me for whitetail, but the belly right near the tip does make it a really nice hunting knife while being pretty versatile for other tasks. The 113 would likely be the one I would pick to field carry if it's main use was field dressing. If you're also going to be processing the dear with the same knife, I would probably go for something larger than the 113 and that's where the 105 plays well, IMO. Where I've always hunted, we only needed to field dress and drag to a place we could load them into a vehicle, so quartering to carry them in a backpack and such like out west isn't needed so much.

deerrockknives deerrockknives does some really good hunting knives and has a ton of experiencing field dressing animals, if memory serves me right. He should be able to offer a lot of input on this subject.
 
Thanks for all the replies so far guys, I’m not sure if I should be proud or concerned I have most of the other mentioned knives already🤣 Either way I’ll still be getting a new one…

Alberta Ed said:
CS Master Hunter. Available in 3V.
Click to expand...

I’m still mad I didn’t buy one a couple months ago when they were under $100.

Creaky Bones said:
One more to consider in that same price range is the ESEE Ashley Game Knife in S35VN.

1BvSlpB.jpeg
Click to expand...

This one has been on my too buy list for a while, not sure why just didn’t include it for this look.

I’ve been looking at LionSteel M2M as well.
 
Thanks bikerector bikerector those look like some winners for sure for field dressing.

I wouldn’t recommend bark river as others have mentioned above. It seems to me when someone mentions a “hunting knife” it’s big and robust and perhaps meant for all the things you could encounter on a hunt…which makes sense. In my eyes though I like very thin, very light knives as it’s going to be used for field dressing and cutting efficiency.

In terms of steel I prefer something with a higher carbide content, not so much for the edge retention but for the cutting characteristics. I dressed out 12 elk and 6 deer this fall (guiding) and compared closely 14c28n (aeb-l), magnacut, and 10v. 10v was a noticeably more aggressive cutter and that can be advantageous on tenacious parts of game like muscle, tissue, hide, etc. s35 would be a good choice for this, I actually like s35 even though some may consider it more old school.

I think of the 3 I would also choose the white river. The deep finger choil might be a little excessive but allows you more finger clearance to attain more of the edge and the s35 steel might be slightly better suited for game than Aeb-l. Although aeb-l is still a solid choice (my gf shot an elk last fall and I used a near zero ground knife I made in aeb-l at 62 hrc and it was still shaving at the end).

I’ll also say personally I prefer offset handles and Canadian belt knife designs. Also a 4” blade. I’ll thrown in a pic of my belt knife pattern, it’s a very versatile hunting knife and would be great for all around dressing of big game, small game, birds, etc. I also have a slimmed down one that’s been pretty popular. This is all to say yes you can field dress with damn near any knife, but dissecting every minute detail of what makes a good knife for a task is part of the fun of the knife hobby.
IMG_1229.jpeg
 
deerrockknives said:
Thanks bikerector bikerector those look like some winners for sure for field dressing.

I wouldn’t recommend bark river as others have mentioned above. It seems to me when someone mentions a “hunting knife” it’s big and robust and perhaps meant for all the things you could encounter on a hunt…which makes sense. In my eyes though I like very thin, very light knives as it’s going to be used for field dressing and cutting efficiency.

In terms of steel I prefer something with a higher carbide content, not so much for the edge retention but for the cutting characteristics. I dressed out 12 elk and 6 deer this fall (guiding) and compared closely 14c28n (aeb-l), magnacut, and 10v. 10v was a noticeably more aggressive cutter and that can be advantageous on tenacious parts of game like muscle, tissue, hide, etc. s35 would be a good choice for this, I actually like s35 even though some may consider it more old school.

I think of the 3 I would also choose the white river. The deep finger choil might be a little excessive but allows you more finger clearance to attain more of the edge and the s35 steel might be slightly better suited for game than Aeb-l. Although aeb-l is still a solid choice (my gf shot an elk last fall and I used a near zero ground knife I made in aeb-l at 62 hrc and it was still shaving at the end).

I’ll also say personally I prefer offset handles and Canadian belt knife designs. Also a 4” blade. I’ll thrown in a pic of my belt knife pattern, it’s a very versatile hunting knife and would be great for all around dressing of big game, small game, birds, etc. I also have a slimmed down one that’s been pretty popular. This is all to say yes you can field dress with damn near any knife, but dissecting every minute detail of what makes a good knife for a task is part of the fun of the knife hobby.
View attachment 2491695
Click to expand...

Great design...
 
deerrockknives said:
Thanks bikerector bikerector those look like some winners for sure for field dressing.

I wouldn’t recommend bark river as others have mentioned above. It seems to me when someone mentions a “hunting knife” it’s big and robust and perhaps meant for all the things you could encounter on a hunt…which makes sense. In my eyes though I like very thin, very light knives as it’s going to be used for field dressing and cutting efficiency.

In terms of steel I prefer something with a higher carbide content, not so much for the edge retention but for the cutting characteristics. I dressed out 12 elk and 6 deer this fall (guiding) and compared closely 14c28n (aeb-l), magnacut, and 10v. 10v was a noticeably more aggressive cutter and that can be advantageous on tenacious parts of game like muscle, tissue, hide, etc. s35 would be a good choice for this, I actually like s35 even though some may consider it more old school.

I think of the 3 I would also choose the white river. The deep finger choil might be a little excessive but allows you more finger clearance to attain more of the edge and the s35 steel might be slightly better suited for game than Aeb-l. Although aeb-l is still a solid choice (my gf shot an elk last fall and I used a near zero ground knife I made in aeb-l at 62 hrc and it was still shaving at the end).

I’ll also say personally I prefer offset handles and Canadian belt knife designs. Also a 4” blade. I’ll thrown in a pic of my belt knife pattern, it’s a very versatile hunting knife and would be great for all around dressing of big game, small game, birds, etc. I also have a slimmed down one that’s been pretty popular. This is all to say yes you can field dress with damn near any knife, but dissecting every minute detail of what makes a good knife for a task is part of the fun of the knife hobby.
View attachment 2491695
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback, this is a pure game knife. I just day hunt so no need for camp chores or anything else. I use a small game saw to open up the chest so it won’t even need to do that.

If I was a normal person I’d just use one of the many I already have but like all of us looking for the perfect option is part of the fun and all of the expense.
Alone said:
https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bird-and-trout.1973411/
Click to expand...

That’s too pretty to use but right up my alley.

I had this built last year using CPM154
 
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