Choosing the right hunting knife

Before you settle for the new hunting knife, there are a few things to consider. What kind of animal do you hunt? How do you dress an animal to make it a butcher? Are you planning to make a mount? How do you want to carry your knife? Is size or weight a factor? All of this may seem insignificant at first glance, but suddenly becomes apparent as you enter the Elk Forest with a knife that is not well suited for peeling, covering, and watering.

Small gamers and highland birds are often easy to handle with an average pocket knife. However, there are knives specially designed for small games. Biggers like deer, elks, bears, mousses, caribou are just that … big names. As the size and weight of the animal increases, the toughness of the skin increases. Body size and weight are clearly an issue when animals need to be quartered or watered to be taken home or delivered to a meat processor. The pocket knife you use for rabbits and quails may get the job done with a bear, but it’s neither easy nor fun. You don’t even dress cottontail rabbits outdoors with a large fixed-blade sheath knife.

Let’s take a look at the basic tasks of asking a knife

We stick to the big guys. The first thing to consider after the killing is field dressing or gutting. Any experienced hunter knows that, right? But are there any particular types of knives that are better at gutting than others? Is it possible to incorporate deer and elk with the same knife used to peel? You can certainly do it, but …

A dedicated gut hook, or a knife with a built-in gut hook, does a cleaner and cleaner field dressing job than a skinning knife, much like a skinning knife peels elk more easily and efficiently than watering. Consider that the knife has ever been made. And speaking of watering … Someday, try it with a special gut hook. And what if the elk you just shot is your “lifelong trophy”? You want a mount, right? At least a full head or shoulder mount. That is, someone needs to properly cape the elk, so your taxi driver can handle something other than a shabby skin full of scratches and holes. I need a capping knife.

The point here is that there are different types of knives for each task. As the saying goes, a tool suitable for work.

Let’s compare the types mentioned so far

Dedicated gut hook

This knife (called a knife for our purposes) actually has only one purpose … without making cuts in the internal organs or causing huge, odorous, contaminated confusion. Cut open or punch. The upside-down “U” -shaped zipper opens the belly slick like a whistle, so the blunt tip won’t hurt your intestines! It’s like one of those flashy letter openers. I think it could go through as a pencil sharpener with a pinch, but that’s not very good for anything else.

Knife with built-in gut hook

This is a regular knife, a blade of almost all styles, but with a built-in gut hook. Double duty, two-in-one, if needed. (Various blade styles will be discussed later on the page.)

Skinning knife

Skinning knives usually have a round blade and are not very sharp. The rounded cutting edge makes it easy for animals to cut the membrane that holds the skin. Use in sort or “swipe” or “locking” motions instead of “slices”. The blunt tip helps avoid skin and flesh punctures as you progress. Like other knives, it has variations and adaptations, but skinners most often have this rounded, blunt-tipped appearance.

Boneless knife

Often thought of as a “butcher knife” or simply a “boneless knife”. This type of knife is ideal for cutting meat from bone. The relatively thin blade facilitates a clean cut nearby so as not to waste meat. There is a risk of offending or offending purists, but to be honest, this is probably something you can do without it. There are many common all-purpose hunting knives that can properly water large animals. And again, the watering knife can serve as a good general all-purpose hunting knife.

Capping knife

Capping involves fine-grained skinning work around the trophy’s horns, eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. A good capping knife is usually slim and thin … but not too flexible … with a blade and a fairly small, slightly ergonomic handle. Control and delicacy are of paramount importance in capping knives. Some capping knives have sharp blades and some are rounded. Some carry extremely rounded edges. This is a matter of taste above all else. The rounded version helps prevent accidental puncturing in unwanted places, while the sharp version can reach tight spaces for more delicate cuts. Remember … control and delicacy. Unwanted holes need to be patched by the taxi driver (perhaps at an additional cost), and “missing” skins cannot be replaced easily or cheaply.

It’s possible to decorate a nice trophy with that popular all-purpose hunting knife, but keep in mind the old saying about the right tools for your job. I don’t want to use a sledgehammer to drive a finishing nail.

Blade style

As far as hunting knives are concerned, there are three basic blade styles Drop point , Clip point And Skinning ..

The· Drop point The best blade design for big games. The blades are generally heavy and thick, making it a sturdy and sturdy knife that can split the sternum and all ribs except the largest and toughest big animals. The gentle curve from the handle to the point allows you to maximize your overall length, not just the first inch from the point. Drop points are a great choice for hunting.

Clip point The blade is slightly thinner than the drop point, and the point is emphasized. It’s also a bit flat from the edge to the back and set aside, making it an excellent all-purpose knife. Most hunters agree that clip points aren’t as good as drop points if you have only one hunting knife. It doesn’t work very efficiently in many situations.

many Skinning knife The drop point and design are very similar. However, “typical” and “modern” skinners do not have a gentle curve associated with drop points. Skinner’s curve usually starts in the center of the handle and is steeper, and the curve tends to be larger than the radius of the drop point. A good skinner can also be a good camping knife. Slices are better than the other two types. Some very old Skinner designs are less produced than modern hunting knives, are almost crescent-shaped and often have much longer blades. They are still seeing use in commercial activities, but they are not very “convenient” to tote bags around camping and hunting forests.

Fixed or foldable?

Fixed-blade knives usually have no moving parts. However, some have replaceable blades, while others have two blades, one protruding from each end of the handle by “sliding” the handle back and forth. For our purposes, these are still fixed blade knives.

Fixed blades require a sheath to protect the cutting edge and hunter. They are clearly longer than folders of the same blade size, so they are not very compact for storage and portability. Everything except the minimum / shortest is necessarily carried by belt or pack. Fixed blades are very sturdy, easy to keep clean and tend to last very long.

Folding knives work as the name implies. The blade is not itself, but it folds into the handle when not in use. Safety first, everyone. Folders are more compact. Everything except the largest fits in your pocket, but most hunting folders come with a belt sheath. Folding knives used in big games require a mechanism to open and lock the blade. Folders are not as powerful as fixed blades and do not last long. The pivot will eventually wear out and in some cases the locking mechanism will fail. They are also a bit difficult to keep clean. Debris, blood, gravel, dirt, animal hair, etc., if you name it, will always go under the blade storage slot, pivot, and even the locking bar. It’s not a big deal and it’s not too difficult to clean.

Overview

There are knives for every task you encounter in hunting. Each task requires a suitable knife. Does this mean I have to carry 3, 4 or 5 knives every time I leave the camp? of course not. You can perform any of these tasks with one well-designed, well-made knife, perhaps two. There are options, you know what they are. Now you only make your decision based on what you know and the amount you can spend.

Good luck and hunt!