Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game What knife do you use?

Greetings,

I have a delima. I cannot find my hunting knife and as a result, I am shopping for a new one. I would like to hear from those of you on this forum as to your preferences of knife. (type, brand, style, stainless, vs. carbon or ceramic, ..... etc).

I have been looking at Boker, Kershaw, and Gerber knives that Cabelas has in their catalog. Does anyone here have any experience with either of these knives?

Thanks.

Mark

Mark, For a decent price you can't do better than a Boker model 2000 drop point folder. I've used one for almost 20 years. 440C steel, and a great shape, it seems alive in the hand. If you watch on Ebay, you can pick one up for around $35. Like this one... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2164158657&category=475

For knife steels, 440C and ATS34 seem to work about the best. 440V is harder, but MUCH more expensive. I've got, and have had, several custom knives but still seem to reach for the Boker when I head for the bush.

i have limited experience w/ the boker and find them to be pretty nice.

my own preference for a knife is a 3-4" folder. i used to use a fixed blade, but found it too cumbersome to hunt w/, and the blade was just too long...

If you put your knives through alot of work i suggest the benchmade nimravus cub. It comes with M-2 or CM154 steel. The M-2 is in my mind the undisputed king of all production steels. Only problem is it's hard to sharpen once it gets dull. Oh yeah it comes at a price... $150. Can be had on Ebay for $80-90 though.

Gundog , go down to the knives forum and look up the thread " Do you want a good knife"

I have been using a "carpet blade" in my dry wall knife for cutting the hide. It provides nice clean and straight cuts. But in answer to your question, I prefer a drop point and have been happy with my Kershaw Elk Spring. Rick

Hi Mark,
For deer and bear I use 5" folding Bucks with black plastic handles. The blades are quite wide as compared to the others in the drawer, Remington, Gerber, etc but work real well. They weigh alot less than the bone or wood handled ones and are less likely to lose as the straight ones. They hold an edge for about three deer including gutting and removing the jammies. Down to 2 if you cape them as well. It takes awhile to get a good edge but stays a long while. I would suggest a Lansky to get it there. The blades are 446C stainless. I undress about a dozen deer a year so the holding of the edge is most important in my book. The remington is dull before the end of one and the bone saw thing on it is a joke. Gerber would be a close second choice to the Buck. Very similar but as you can see I've grown partial.
Shummy

3-3.5-inch sheath knife, but not too thick on the back. i've used gerber and crkt folders but the viscera and other parts gum up the action. impossible to properly clean in the woods. a trip to the dishwasher back home is the only way to clean one up really well. i'll go back to a sheath again next season. carbon or stainless makes no nevermind to me. the scandinavians and finns make dandy working sheath knives (moiras, etc.) that are not costly at all ($10-$30). i like a couple of the old green river/russell designs, too, that run about 4 inches on the blade length. get a bunch of blanks (maybe $6-$8 apiece) and work up your own handles. these carbon-steel blades sharpen like greased teflon, and are just soft enough for workbench grinding to get just the shape you like. i like the "camp" blade with some of the clip ground off. for upscale stuff, benchmade is making some real nice smaller sheath knives, as is bear/mgc. they'll run $80-$150.

Of all the knives I have ever used the Victronix paring knives are the ones I use the most. They cost about 3-5 bucks each and are the best caping and skinning knives I have ever worked with. I buy them by the dozen and never worry about the loss of one.

As far as a good skinning knike with all the attributes I need and look for in a non-disposable or "quality" caping and skinning knife. I have not found one I like better then the Schrade Sharp finger.

My priority in a knife is the ability to cape a hide well around the eys, nose, ears and lips. Mistakes made anyplace else are easliy fixed. However the face is critical. It's a knife I often pack around and use on a regular basis for caping. I like the victronix becasue I never have to break to sharpen a knife. I just toss the used one aside and get another one from the bag. I usually carry 4-6 of them because I am usually the one doing the caping when in the USA. In Africa I have a staff of skinners so I'm not the one doing it.

I doubt you will find a better over all knife for caping then the sharp finger by schrade or the victronix paring knives.

Check out Marble's Knives www.marblesarms.com.
I'm a sucker for their knives and through some gifts, trades, and extra cash I've ended up collecting them instead of using them.
From everything I've heard I should use them because they are excellent out in the field and have been for over a 100 years.
The fact that they are made just down the road from my deer camp doesn't help either.
My hunting knife is a custom a friend of mine made me, I also carry and old BlackJack TrailGuide and a Western Drop Point. I've had to many folders close on my fingers to even trust another one, give me a nice fixed blade anyday.
Here's my collection of Marbles, as you can see there are some nice hunting knives here.

Here are my two everyday carry during deer season, all you lefties, notice the left handed sheath for the Western Drop Point, for a few bucks you can have one custom made so you don't have to live in a right handed world.

Then this is the custom a good friend of mine made me, again I had the sheath done in a left hand style. Grips are made from elephant ivory and I only haul this one out when I head west for elk or mule deer. In the past I have been know to have left a knife stuck in a tree after field dressing game.

I use a Buck... whats-it-called. Its in Cabelas, 3-function-or-other. It is Advantage camo with two blades. A blade and a saw with a gut-hook. The blades are Ion Fusion coated. I wish I could remember the name. ANyways, me and my friend (him using a Kershaw Blade-Trader... I think its Kershaw) gutted a doe in under 2 minutes. And we skinned a that deer later that day. I had to sharpen my knife at the end of skinning the deer. I has a kind of one sided edge. Like they only ground the edge from one side. Both sides of the blade have the same hollow ground slope, but the edge itself is off-center. It gets sharp and it is a good knife.

i have two -

the buck cocobola woodsman



with burgundy saddle-leather sheath



and

the schrade old timer sharpfinger -

Ubejane from Chris Reeve

Thanks to all for your suggestions. This gives me a lot to consider. Thanks to those who have posted pitures as well. I will continue to mull this over. I have come to the conclusion that I deffinitely want a knife that will hold its edge, is well balanced and comfortable in my hand. Although I thought I wanted a folding knife, having seen many photos of the fixed blade variety, I am not so sure anymore.

Thanks again.

Mark.

I use the Elk knife made by these guys - www1.iwvisp.com/mccroskey/. It was a present from my parents a while back. I absolutely love it. This thing is scary sharp. They are worth looking at, and I know they are expensive but they are worth it. Plus you get free lifetime sharpening and service.

I love this knife



I have one thet ain't handmade too, bigger for elk. The Bush knife makes short work of an elk.

I have numerous knives including Gerber, Buck and Marbles but I bought a Bob Dozier knife of D2 steel a few years ago and all my other knives are now obsolete....amazing knives...

I have to admit, the knife industry has gone just nuts in the last few years... There are more choices of knives then there are women's shoes... And that's saying a bunch.

For hunting I use a Buck sheath knife of about 6". Can't recall the exact length. I've had Buck knives for decades and no complaints yet. I may have to try some of these other wonder knives y'all are raving about, but anything over $35-40 bux each will stay on the store shelves...

For self-defense, I have a Cherokee 5" finger grip in a horizontal, self-opening belt slide sheath. Got it from a leather maker in a booth at the Sturgis rally 'bout 5 years ago... That sheath is SLICK. I can draw that faster than I can draw my P-9......

For general farm work, that old $5.00 Barlow is just the ticket..

Redneck

JBMI.

I have a thing for Marbles too.

I got my first one from my deer-hunting Uncle when he stopped going into the woods. It was made during WWII and has a black Bakelite-type pommel.

I used it hard for a camping knife for years, never suspecting it was becoming a collectors' item. The leather rings shrunk a bit and the pommel came loose so I sent it back to the factory for a little rehab. It came back looking like new and no bill! I called to see why and they said it was still on warrantee! 50 years later!

It is now put away for my grandson. I have two newer Marbles knives for my woods tools now. 1B

I use a folding 4" blade buck. It has skinned many elk out and really keeps a sharp edge. They are only about $40.