Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Favorite Hunting Knife

Living in Colorado, Western Knives was to knives what Redfield was to rifle scopes. As soon as I came of big game hunting age I saved my pennies and bought a Western Skinner. Which of course is a mistake for taking apart a critter or deboning. I struggled with that for years until I bought a more reasonable Western.

In the late 80's I received a Bucklite folder as part of a tip. The handle was blaze orange. I didn't think much of it and tossed it into my box of knives. The following year my daypack was getting heavy and I dumped everything out and began to evaluate weight of items I deemed essential. I decided to try the Bucklite. A few days later I killed a bull in 15+ inches of powder snow from the day before. The dang bull died in a snowdrift that has to be two feet deep. I accidently dropped that blaze orange knife in the snow and it went right to the ground in the powder. Right then I realized the advantage of a bright handle.

In the late 90's I received as a tip from a Gulf War I vet a brand new Bucklite in a plain white box except for serial/model numbers that had been issued to troops by Buck leaving for the Middle East. Supposedly it has an exclusive camo on the handle, and I have never seen that camo style on a Buck since.

Not only are the Bucklites exceedingly light but I can sharpen it well and it holds an edge for me. I like that it's a folder and takes less room. I now own five Bucklites from the late 80's to the mid 90's, and have been using them for ~35 years. I have three custom fixed blades knives that I paid good money for, but just can't justify the extra weight.

Mora I found in an old logging road in southern Oklahoma over 15 years ago. A lab I owned chewed the original sheath so I found this one at a garage sale a few years later. I is ugly but works well and takes a razor edge easily. I used it this morning to gut a late season doe.

+1.

That things huge looking (mass and body size )

An Old Timer I got for Xmas. It was from my sister and one of her husband's.

My first sheath knife as a kid in the late 60's/early 70's was a Western with 4-ish" blade.

Various Buck, Cold Steel SRK, KA BAR, etc., all favorite. All in rotation.

Me too, about the same time frame. I used it to cut the strings when feeding square baled alfalfa to the milk cows, hauled 15-20 bales twice a day to the racks up on the hill. One day I got back to the house and it wasn't in the sheath. Spent hours up there looking for it, never found it. It's a wonder one of the cows or a tractor tire didn't find it.

OP asked for my favorite - I’ll offer my current but only has a few seasons under its belt. I changed knives when I started hunting VT thinking it would bring me luck - which I was desperately in need of…it’s a Robert Sutton. Nothing fancy really just a solid working tool with a plain handle.





Beautiful knife collections fellas!

Pints

I wind up with the sharp finger I got for my B.D. in 1974 . have a small duffel bag of blades 35/40 of store bought with 4 to 6 I made and 5 or so old hickory blades from my MIL that was a meat cutter for 40 + years . but the old sharp finger gets used every year

Depending on my mood:

Spyderco Bill Moran FB02 drop point hunter, 3.8" VG-10 fixed blade.

Cold Steel Master Hunter with 4.5" Carbon V blade.

Brad that’s a great pic! Always been curious about Opinel knives but never pulled the trigger

Pints, thanks!

The Opinel no.6 is my favorite, and what accompanies me on summer backpacks when I'm going to fish. It can easily handle elk too - the no.8 just has a slightly bigger handle so I took it along the day I took that bull.

Your Sutton is a nice copy of the DH Russell Canadian Belt Knife!

Opinels are good knives for a low cost tool
I've got a few different sizes, and prefer the 8's or 10's

I can attest that even though they're wooden
handled, they do not float if accidentally dropped
when fishing

Gutted and skinned 3 deer this year with an Opinel #6. Broke down a total of 7 deer and helped with a moose with a Mora Companion. No fuss.

And Ranger99 is correct, Opinel don’t float

I'm sold on the replaceable blade knives too, mine is a Gerber Big Game.

Back when CRKT was new to the market I found a semi soft plastic handled skinner with a nice deep belly for under $25.
I have several “nicer” knives but to this day that knife is always in my pack. Takes a nice edge that lasts well.

Whatever is readily available. No matter what I use, it’s going to be sharp.

The Cold Steel is as close to my favorite that I have been able to find.

Pachmayr sheath knife was my favorite. We used to buy em for about $20 then they went to $50 or so and then they quit making them.

Stainless, sharpened pretty easy and stayed sharp for the gutting, skinning and deboning of 3-4 deer. This included sternum splitting.

I have lots of customs: Doziers, Crotts, Randall and the like.
But my CS Master Hunter can be honed so sharp it scares me. Amazing blade.

Cold steel is the real deal. I took an srk and changed the bevel to 20 deg., and that is a great knife. I like how you can touch them up so fast and they have edge retention like no other. I have a few customs and they do great, but for 40 bucks, that srk is awesome. I may order the San Mai version to see what it's all about.