Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Good knife to field dress a deer?

I see a couple post about the bone saw.. Well,,,, Let me tell you, the best bone saw I ever used was a pruning saw.. Mine is a folder, plastic handle, some dura coat of some type on the blade, saw so fast I can smell it...
And those gut hooks... I guess I do not know how to use them, it is faster to make a small cut, and run my finger next to the blade,, like a zipper...



Favorite Knife,,,, A PH1 Schrade, re contoured the cutting edge to a sharper angle, couple swipes on a stone, done.. Couple swipes to the hone, razor...



I wish I had two of those darn things.. My Cold steal,, well to darn thick and wide.. Got a buck, not bad, not great..



I have been looking for something close to the shape of the PH1, but with some sharper curves. Looking at PETE E, knife me thinks that would be a sweety.Linder in 440C steel...



Later..

If you want to be different and have a custom made knife at low price, (40-50 bucks), go to EBay and type in custom knife Ken Richardson. You will see a bunch of really nice knives to choose from, stag horn, tusk, turquoise, you name it. There will be a picture of Ken standing outside his shop in Alaska (good'ol boy). I have several and they work great ! Boys at the hunting camp ask where I get them and I lie like h*&^ !

Tacksmacker

I don't think that there is any medium game animal that you can't handle pretty well with a $5 Victorinox serrated paring knife and a $20 Sagan Saw. I carry a pocket knife on a lanyard, but my fixed blade knive and Sagan Saw are carried in a day pack.

Jeff

And sometimes you don't even need the saw.

You beat me to it, Youp. Mine is exactly like yours (but probably sharper).

My next favorite is my Buck Vanguard.

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For gutting, I don't need to split the pelvis or rip the ribs open. Just me.

I use a Havels Piranta with 3 inch replaceable blades. No need to carry a stone etc.. new blades are easy, they are SHARP too.

I carry plastic handle in orange so its not lost.

I use a saw if needed later on the ribs, and I generally just dejoint everything but the ribs, and if no saw I dejoint them too. Doesn't take more than a 30 seconds for each leg and maybe a minute to take each hip joint apart. Head comes off easy etc...

Jeff

I use a Puma Duke, I bought it back in 1970. Its the only job it dose is field dress big game that I shoot. I have used a Puma Hunters Pal, but it grew legs one day. Before I got the Duke, I use to use a 4 inch Rapella trout knife. It works very well and easy to keep sharp, and its not a bad boning knife either. I been looking at a Wyoming Knife of late, I like the idea of just replacing a blade when dull. Never used one so I don't know if they are worth the trouble. And Alaskan Ulu I use one out in Bethel some years back, never did buy one of my own for some odd reason.

I carry an old Western with knife and saw blade. No problems for 31 years.

stumpy

I'm with Rost! For these little Texas deer I don't even like to gut them! You can remove the quarters without ever opening the body cavity. If you're real careful, you can remove the tenderloins from outside as well without making a mess. Pretty much everything can be de-jointed if you just take your time!

Whoops! Forgot to add my knives..

Knives of Alaska Cub Bear
Buck Caper (same profile as KOA)
Gerber Gator
Gerber exchange blade
Rapala 6" filet knife

Mostly I agree, but my hands are so large I find Victorinox boning knives better. My favorite is a five inch Russel carbon steel boning knife. It has a wood handle that is just right for me and holds a good edge and easy to sharpen. miles

boning knife

+1. This year I took apart three elk with my Piranta and its replaceable blades. Just don't put a lot of lateral stress on the blade (they do break) and one blade will quarter, bone, and cape an entire elk. Probably the best piece of gear I have added in the past four years.

I've used a Remmington 4" rubber handled two blade for about ten years. One blade is half smooth & half serrated the other blade is a gut hook with a saw blade. I find that I REALLY like the gut hook as it can be used on a LOT more than just the guts. The serrated half goes through brisket just dandy & makes field dressing much easier than a regular flat blade. No need to carry anything else.

Being a total knife freak I own a bunch and like a high quality blade. But truth be told there no better for gutting a deer than a 29 dollar buck. But that being said the knife I had on my hip this year was a Treeman with a stag handle and a 3 3/4 inch blade. No need to go any bigger for WT deer IMO.

Here is what it looks like


But Im a HUGE fan of these guys too, its a father and son who make super high quality stuff.
http://www.rjhandcraftedknives.com/


If you have never gutted a deer go smaller than bigger on size, this includes the handle not just the blade. A Marbles Fieldcraft that is just over 7 1/2 inch OAL is another perfect knife that will last a life time with proper care.

Just start killin deer and try diferent knives, its nothin but fun!

The old Schrade PH1 was one of the best hunting knives ever sold. I bought mine for $20 at WalMart on closeout. It has been on every hunt I have done in the past 15 years. Sharp,rugged and handy. A great knife.
I'm a knife collector and have probably 300 custom knives I could choose from. The PH1 is a Loveless authorized copy and they did it right. It's the one I always carry.
For a folder, the Queen "Mountain Man" in 1095 is the pick of the litter.

Most any knife will do the job I use a single edged razor blade myself

For 33 years a Buck 110 has worked just fine.

Would love to see a pic of that..What type of steel do they use? I'm guessing something like a 440A or 440C?

http://www.jaga.nu/downloads/3.jpg

Link to Schrade PH1

personally I use Victorinox Butchers.

rost495 and BigFin; Thanks to your info on the Piranta I just ordered two of them. I've been wanting something of that nature for some time and didn't know someone actually made them. Thanks.

For deer: a Swiss Army knife, a 3-3.5 in drop point and a saw of some kind. I don't use the saw a lot but I have it.

For elk I add a slightly larger knife 4in or so and a 1 lb hatchet sharpened so I can use it to skin with. The three to
3.5 inch knife tends to become a folder. The Swiss Army knife still gets used a lot.

You asked for some pics and since you have a Kershaw you could stay with that. They make some great AUS-8 Fixed blade knives that sell for next to nothing. Here is a link:

http://www.knifeworks.com/kershawfixblades.aspx

FB for Deer: Antelope Hunter II
FB for Elk: Kershaw Bear Hunter II
FB for Elk if you like a Guthook: Kershaw Elk Hunter II
Hatchet: They only make one and it takes some thinning and sharpening to be good but it has a real steel handle and good steel.
Saw: They make a dandy little 7 in folding saw.

Until this year I used mostly Gerber's. Their headquarters are here.

This year I went for it and bought a couple of Bark River Knives a Bravo 1 and a Mikro Canadian II. With the Bravo-1 I can do without the hatchet pretty easily.