I carry a Gränsfors Bruk hatchet for taking skull plates off and getting wood together for a warming fire. Breaking branches only works so well, and if they're wet (when a fire is most useful) it is really frustrating to break branches for firewood. The hatchet makes things much easier. Other than the skull plate and banging the handle on elk ivories, I don't use the hatchet for breaking the critter down at all. Just a knife.
The hatchet is extra weight, but less weight than packing a full skull and brains out of the back country. I used to carry a saw for the skull plate, but the hatchet works better for what I need.
