KNIVES FOR HUNTING

[black bear 84]

Hi guys,
I have a couple of tactical knives, a SOG Flash II and a Ken Onion's Leek, if I don't count my old Blackhawk mamba.
As I am not in the streets or in an enviroment that I need to fight often, it seem that those is all I will need.

However I am crazy about my hunting knives and I own quite a few nice blades.
I don't know if this post will be well received here in this section, but for any value that it may have, here it is.


KNIVES FOR HUNTING

Many of us hunters of long have a love affair with the tool of a successful hunt; the knife.
In our minds, we have this idea of the perfect knife that will fit our hand like a glove; that will perform surgery like a scalpel; that will not need to be sharpened ever, and will remove a cape as well as field dress and skin anything from a deer to a moose.

In our search for the perfect blade, we accumulate many of them that are probably as good as the best knife ever made, but in our search for Nirvana we keep adding new blades and hoping to do enough hunting to test all of them on game.

On the other hand, some hunters are not interested at all in the tool. My friend Frank that has probably field dressed at least fifty deer with the same Buck hunter knife in the last 20 years removes it from the pack once every year in hunting season to field dress a deer or two, and the blade goes back into the same pack to wait for next year’s job.
Perhaps his father being a butcher has something to do with it. He was taught how to field dress a deer early in life, and to him it is just a necessary job that has to be performed. To others like me it is a culmination of all our efforts and should be done as elegantly and as clean and bloodless as possible and with the most effective of tools.

I have found in my long search for the perfect blade that many of today’s knives in the market qualify as superb blades for the job. A good knife blade of 3 ½ to 4 inches will be plenty for most chores. Preferences in my case are for the drop-point blades, but I have had good service from clip points or other shapes.

Some of us like a fancy wood or antler handle or perhaps some engraving on the blade. Those I label dress knives and are a great way to stir a conversation between fellow hunters. I am one with that type of taste and will always appear at camp with a fancy blade. The truth is that I perform all of my field dressings with a plain one that I keep hidden in my pack.

Here is one of my fancy blades, the Browning model 122 one of one thousand, and the one that does the actual field dressing, a Buck 192 Vanguard.



Best wishes

Black Bear

[bushmasterar15]

My hunting knives consist of CRKT M-16, and a few of their fixed blade designs. I'm hoping to try out the Ontario Rat-3 D2.

[TWR]

I prefer a smaller knife with a blade of about 2.5-3" with a combonation of a little "belly" for skinning and a sharp point for fine work. Even though I skin a few bobcats and fewer coyotes most of the fur buyers are paying more or as much for cats in the round and deer are merely gutted and taken to the processer, I still am searching for the "perfect" knife.

These 2 are from the same maker Mike Clerc, the top one has undone a few critters, the bottom one will be broken in soon enough. Both are D2 steel and the longest blade is 2.5".

This one is due in March of 2009, it's a Gene Ingram #1 semi in S30V, the blade is no longer than 3" but I can't remember exactly. Will it make it to perfection? I don't know but it might.

[PacoM4]

My favorite choice of a hunting knife is the Gerber Gator in a simple folding non-serrated blade. Its just the right size blade for field dressing, keeps an incredible edge, easy to sharpen, and it has the rubber handle on it which is aweseome for keeping a grip on it even when it gets bloody and it has nice ergo finger grooves. Plus the price is very affordable. I also carry it with me at work for when I need to cut stuff up.

My biggest problem with this knife and all my hunting gear, is that I have a terrible habit of leaving gear in the woods. I've replaced this knife 2x so far because of this reason.

[White Horse]

I have been carrying and using the Victorinox "Trailmaster" for years now. I have tried the smaller skinning knives and even a Randall skinning knife. They are nice, but simply don't have an advantage over my "pocket" knife other than they clean up easier.

I have cleaned more hogs and deer than I can remember with this knife and here is why I like it:

1. Pointy enough and straight enough to carve out the anus. Yep, that's kinda gross but it's worth mentioning. The drop points are too curvy and some of the skinners aren't pointy enough to get a good, long straight cut along the tube.

2. It fits my hand. This becomes important when you are working hard for a long time with a very slippery tool. Too small and your hand will cramp or the handle will dig in. Too big and you are working too hard, plus it won't "fit" into tight spaces. Getting into the ribcage to carve out the tenderloins is tricky enough without having a Crockodile Dundee knife to contend with.

3. The blade sharpens up easily and stays sharp. This cannot be stressed enough. When the skeeters are coming to get you and the sun is going down and you are elbows deep into carving up a deer is NOT the time to have to stop and go to work on your blade to finish the job. I do, however, keep a diamond hone in my dressing kit if I need it. Keep your blade off of the bone if you can and this will lengthen your blades life when working. This leads me to the 4th point.

4. The "wood saw" goes through bone very well. If you don't have the time or inclination to cut through those pesky joints, just cut around the bone and start sawing. I once raced my uncle to a tie doing this when he was cutting through the joint. Good times.

5. The blade and the can opener/large screw driver lock. This is very important when working with the blade and even more when trying to torque a flathead screw or bolt. They use a liner lock.

6. It has other useful stuff. I use the phillips head to work on computers; the can opener for, uh, opening cans, and the bottle opener for beer emergencies. Hey, you never know. The wood saw has been used numerous times to clear branches from tree stands. Having a clear field of fire is a good thing.

I hope this has helped. My hunting mentor and uncle carried a sod buster for many years and now carries one of these after handling mine for some time. This is worth mentioning as he is a man of habit.

Here is a link to the website: http://www.victorinox.ch/index.cfm?s...age=182&lang=E

Here is a pic of it in use, don't click if you are squeamish:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v9...g/Skinning.jpg

Btw, I just love to lend it out a work when they bring in bagels.

-White Horse