What do you look for in a good hunting knife?

My votes go for 1, 3, 4, 6 and 8. The rest are secondary to those.

I make knives so I've done a littler research on what people like.

Assuming your main thing is white tail sized stuff.

1. Drop point and Clip Point blade shapes are the most popular. Just long enough that if you choke up your grip you can cover the back edge of the blade and protect the point with your index finger. Has to have some curve/belly to it also.
2. Handle should be something that offers a good grip when its wet/bloody and should be easy to clean. Because of that I like handle SHAPE that offers a good grip, and avoid coarse finishes or checkering because they are too hard to clean. Micarta is probably the easiest to take care of and is very easy to work with. Stabilized wood, or exotic hardwoods with a proper finish work too. The main thing is a shape that fits in your hand and doesn't go anywhere.
3. Blade steel is subjective. Some folks swear by carbon steel. Others want a good stainless, and debate whether you have to have S30V, ATS34, BG42 etc. I personally work with 440C because I can heat treat it myself and it offers a great balance of ease of sharpening and edge holding. Its also very tough, you won't mess the blade up if you get into some bone.
4. The sheath should be sturdy and offer a carry method that will keep you from getting cut if you fall or anything. Last thing you want to do is fall out of your tree stand or over a log and have the knife go right through the bottom of the sheath and into you. Kydex is popular for that, and its easy to clean. A well made leather sheath is good too.

Here's what I've come up with and have gotten some positive feedback on it. I used one to skin some racoons (just the tails actually, keepin score ) last summer and like it pretty well.

I look for a knife like the one redneck makes.....for about $30.
Seriously though...what are you asking for them?

A knife like that one with linen micarta handles and 440C is around 70$ depending on how much filework and stuff you want. Kydex sheaths start at $5 up to about $15 depending on what thickness kydex and the method of carry.

Art/Mods please feel free to edit my post if this isnt allowed on this forum. Only posted the knife to be in on the discussion, can take any other discussion to email if you want. Thanks

More than one for me

Knives are tools. Therefore, more than one is needed for the job of hunting and properly cleaning game.

I use a Gerber "zipper" knife to open up deer without opening up the guts by accident. It has two finger holes and a replaceable utility blade.

A 3.5-inch blade old Bucklite in stainless and zytel handel gets up inside and does the rest of the gutting. Since it is all plastic and stainless steel, maintenance is minimal.

I also use a tiny hatchet for splitting the pelvis of a deer in order to remove the rear of the entrails.

I make it a point of using different knives when inside doing final cutting and trimming of deer than for gutting out in the field. These knives are Wustof Trident and are longer and slice venison precisely.

Pheasants are quickly taken apart with a cleaver, game shears and the same Bucklite. Use cleaver or shears to hack off the head, wings and feet (if not transporting) and then run the blade down the back under the skin. The skin will pull off leaving the whole bird. Two slits on the side of the abdomen and the innards can be pulled out. Some trimming down below, and you have a whole pheasant suitable for roasting or smoking. Total time is less than 5 minutes per bird and no plucking.


Quality sharp knives are very important tools to hunters.

Nice knife redneck!

8 years ago I purchased a Cold Steel “Master Hunter†& haven’t looked back… no need to.

It has a carbon steel blade. The blade is best sharpened with a diamond stone & it will rust if not taken care of (not hard to do) properly, but it keeps its edge very, VERY well.

My field dressing technique incorporates cutting up the ribcage of all the whitetails I clean. (You also can’t help but hit the blade edge on the hip region while cutting around the pooper-shooter of an animal…) I sometimes ‘dress’ 3 or 4 deer before I re-sharpen my Cold Steel. I’ve never chipped the blade or flattened the edge even once & I’ve done some pretty knuckleheaded things with it along the way.

They come with a very nice sheath & I see them for as low as $40 sometimes. I gave $60 for mine back when, but see the average being around $50 currently.

I like them about the shape and size of Rednecks nice knife. Don't much care for the heavy blade thickness common on many knives now. I use it for cutting, if I want to pry something apart I can get a crowbar.

Thanks everybody!

Guyon
Those Bark River Knives look pretty nice. Surprised I haven't seen anything about them over on bladeforums.com . Did you look at their professional series knives? They weren't quite as fancy but were slightly thinner blade stock, might be a little more efficient cutters. Although, they're all supposed to be convex ground which I don't have much experience with but is supposed to cut like a demon. Good find!

I seem to recall that Bark River came about after some intrigues that resulted in some of the Marbles knife folks no longer being associated with that company. Possibly the Stewart family?? The concept, I think, was that Bark River would carry on the traditions of the old Marbles knives (which were outstanding) and even possibly improve on them. Sorry this is so hazy, but I think I've got the essentials correct.

1. Steel soft enough to sharpen easily with a stone but hard enough to hold its edge for a while.

2. Lock blade without any serrations. Serrations really make it difficult to skin with. Serrations are great for slicing oranges but I've never skint an orange. Also I prefer a thumb hole rather than a thumb notch as the former seems easier to clean.

3. Not too big, as the longer the blade, the less rounded it is and rounded makes a big difference when you are skinning. Not too small as the really small knives are hard to hold onto and their blades are too thin. A 3.5 inch blade is good for deer sized critters. If I hunted squirrels this would be a different story. A knife with a 2 inch blade is right for a squirrel.

4. Plastic grips with good checkering so it won't slip when its bloody.

5. No "gut hook". This is just a gizmo. Slip two fingers in under the skin when you're skinning the belly and you won't puncture the rumin.


Dr. Rob. with chronic wasting disease and Jacob Kreutzfeld disease loose in the world I much prefer to debone rather than pop vertebrae apart and cut bones.

I used a large lockblade model Swiss Army Knife (Trailmaster) for field dressing this year. It worked very well. Blade sharpens good and the saw blade is great, I used it to split ribs and pelvic bone. The design does allow the knife to hold blood, fat and hair inside. For cleaning I opened it up and ran it through the dishwasher. Overall it is a very suited for field dressing deer and multipurpose tool.

For skinning and butchering I like the Forschner (swiss made) skinning and boning knives with Fibrox handles.

I do see a mini Pendleton Hunter in my future as a small game knife.
Keep your knife Sharp!

My wife just got me this little beauty for Hanukkah.

.....hmmmm....

For actual work, field dressing, skinning, etc....I look for a cheapo (read disposable) knife that I can throw away if it gets messed up. I don't do a lot of hunting. And knives used for such don't see much action.

Oddly....since you brought this up. I was wondering around the Wally Martinez Sporting Goods & Grocery store this weekend waiting for the wife to get the heck out of there, and stumbled across my ideal hunting knife. Its a chinese made fixed blade knife about 3.5" long with Winchester printed on the blade. They were $8 apiece. I bought 3.

Use it. Abuse it. Throw it away.

Smoke

I used a large lockblade model Swiss Army Knife (Trailmaster) for field dressing this year

Click to expand...

Ditto. Been using one since the late 80's. Excellent knife and not too pricey. The locking models were the best idea in SAK's since the corkscrew.