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What is your preferred blade length for a deer hunting knife and why?
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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What is your preferred blade length for a deer hunting knife and why? 3" Just short enough for me to get my index fingertip over the tip of the blade so when I "zip" the gut cavity open I do not puncture intestines,without cutting myself. 3" is not ideal to me to cut in around the anus to free that up ,too,but it's close enough to do the job. To me all other cuts besides these are short,trimming cuts.
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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2 3/4" to 3 1/4" with a slim profile. I like a small blade.
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Joined: Jan 2008
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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2 3/4" to 3 1/4" with a slim profile. I like a small blade. That'll work,lol
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Campfire Kahuna
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Campfire Kahuna
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never more than 4 inches, with something around 3 1/2 being best suited for me.
Sam......
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Joined: Jun 2008
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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I can get it done with 2 to 3 inches...give or take a little on either end. I've even used those Micro Canadians from Bark River and did just fine. I've found over the years that I can get done what I need doin' with less than what I once thought necessary. Our ancestors did it with chipped prices of obsidian and chert. It ain't rocket science. Now, regarding doing it with a fine handmade custom fixed, drop point blade...that's an enjoyable experience altogether different...like drinkin' a real good bourbon
Every day on this side of the ground is a win.
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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About 3.25" with a fairly slim profile...
Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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3.25 give or take. I have done em with more but it sure is not needed
It�s a magazine not a clip......
Advice is seldom welcome, and those who need it the most, like it the least.� - Lord Chesterfield. 1750
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 369
Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
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3" is about right for me. I can handle a 5", but that is just about tops on length. The knife needs to allow a lot of dexterity and control. For me, over 5" gets kind of clumsy. But if I were heading to the woods and staying there a long time, I would go with the longer blade and struggle through any dexterity issues I might have.
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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2 3/4" to 3 1/4" with a slim profile. I like a small blade. Yup
Eat Fish, Wear Grundens, Drink Alaskan.
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Joined: Feb 2005
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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3.5" - 5".
A 5" blade doesn't bother me a bit, as long as it isn't too wide....
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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Holy Smokes. I am just learning to get close enough for an archery shot.... I haven't started deer wrasslin' an stabbin' yet.
Have Dog
Will Travel
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Joined: Dec 2005
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Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
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You do the wrassling and stabbing with hogs, not deer.
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Campfire Regular
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Lately I've started carrying two. A Wyoming knife for gutting and a Schrade old timer in a sheath for anus work. No weight and they quickly get the job done. Use to carry a Buck 110 but this combo works better for me.
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Outfitter
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Eat Fish, Wear Grundens, Drink Alaskan.
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Campfire Member
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Campfire Member
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Nice Phil Wilson's. I have been after one of his for a while.
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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Phil's well worth the wait. Stay after it.
Eat Fish, Wear Grundens, Drink Alaskan.
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Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
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Montana what is that bottom one on the first set of pics, maybe brown micarta, looks like a sweet little knife thanks.
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Joined: Jun 2008
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Campfire Outfitter
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Campfire Outfitter
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Eat Fish, Wear Grundens, Drink Alaskan.
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Joined: Dec 2012
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Campfire Regular
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Campfire Regular
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Thank you, looks like a very ergo friendly hunter.
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Joined: Feb 2001
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
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I've used skinning knives with blades from 3" to 5", from old Western's to modern Randall's - I like 3-1/2" to 4" the best and prefer a Buck 118 over all others.
One of the sanest, surest, and most generous joys of life comes from being happy over the good fortune of others. Archibald Rutledge
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
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I've used skinning knives with blades from 3" to 5", from old Western's to modern Randall's - I like 3-1/2" to 4" the best and prefer a Buck 118 over all others. Good call. ^^^^ I got by with this old Estwing and a little Buck 102 for over forty years before someone told me I needed a custom knife. (Estwing on the outside, Buck on the inside.) But I also did one a couple of weeks ago with an old carbon steel B&T knife so what do I know?
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
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When hunting I always carry a belt knife. For antelope to elk, I prefer a 3 7/8" to 4 1/8" semi drop point blade, bevel ground, .125" thick and slightly less than 1" width. With this I can zip, open up, split, core bung hole, gut, skin, quarter, bone out and reduce cuts as the situation requires. I carry a smaller fixed blade (3" or so) for back up in my back pack . I don't put any part of my hands/fingers as far up as the cutting edge when working on game. I usually have a knife with some restriction in design such as a applied or integral guard or at least a finger notch----but not always.
But I still have a pile of knives to field test, so I could move off of center as time passes.
There are more "small" things you can do well with a bigger knife than there are "big" things you can do well with a smaller knife. Not considering the extremes here. Just my current opinions. Tim
"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." Albert Einstein
At Khe Sanh a sign read "For those who fight for it, life has a flavor the protected never knew".
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
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What is your preferred blade length for a deer hunting knife and why? I like a small knife, max maybe 4 inch blade. Why? Because you only use the tip 90% of the time and a big knife is awkward cutting inside the chest cavity, cutting the diaphragm...etc. Don't need a thick heavy blade either....a pocket knife or a small fixed blade sold as a "bird and trout" knife or for "small game" is about right.
"Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants". --- William Penn
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
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I've historically carried a 3 - 3 1/4" drop point of some design or other. I've used a bunch and the only trouble I've ever encountered was hand fatigue when boning out an elk single handily with too small of a handle. Seems of late one of Tim's B&Ts is most often found in my pack.
I most commonly carry a folder, 3 5/8 overall, and a fixed blade in my pack. For deer and antelope I grab one and do the entire job. Elk get to see all my knives - one cuts hide and the other meat.
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
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Just about perfect I would say.
Last edited by michiganroadkill; 12/23/14.
"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." Albert Einstein
At Khe Sanh a sign read "For those who fight for it, life has a flavor the protected never knew".
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Campfire Tracker
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Campfire Tracker
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I find a blade from 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 inches ideal. My personal favourite for the last few years is Charlie May's Slitter. It has a 3 1/4 in blade, mine is Scandi ground. Makes darn quick work of deer. Haven't had the opportunity to try it out on an elk but I suspect it will be up to the task.
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Campfire Ranger
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Campfire Ranger
Joined: Nov 2010
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I like a thin 3 1/2" blade.
Like a Spyderco Moran drop point.
Dave
�The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely to be the one who dropped it.� Lou Holtz
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