I don't think the knife matters that much. I've skinned deer, antelope and elk will all sorts of blades including a Swiss army knife. Elk hair will dull any knife fast in my experience, regardless of steel. If I have it with me, I'll use a gut hook for cutting the hide. After that, every steel does just fine. Bucks 440 and 420 works just fine. I think Swiss Army knives use something similar. Also used ATS34, 1095, CPM Cru-wear (whatever that is), 154CM, and CPM-D2. The Benchmade Anonimus is my current goto and that's got the fancy CPM Cru-wear.
I always have a diamond rod or small diamond flat stone with me. One huge drawback to me is that the newer steels need diamond stones for sharpening. Gone is the Arkansas wet stone.
