Hunting Knife?
Sunday, April 4th, 2010 at
2:35 am
What is the best kind of hunting knife to get? Any good experiences. I am thinking of the Gerber Infantry II…
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Tagged with: experiences • gerber • Hunting Knife • infantry • knives of alaska bird cleaning
Filed under: Hunting Knife
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usmc k-bar
I like pretty much anything made by Gerber. Their type of stainless steel is always easy to sharpen and holds an edge well.
Gerbers are great knives. It should do fine. My suggestion would be the Buck Zipper. It runs about $80 and is a great knife. Matter of fact, it was reccomended to me by others on this site. Great knife in my opinion.
Go to cheaper than dirt .com you’ll find all kinds ,, you want a survival knife where the end screws off w& has fishing line hooks dry matches & a compas ,for around 40 dollars,,or less 440 stainless steel and a good grip, The back of the knife even saws bones when hunting.. good deals,, I sell them my self..
Tom aka hawkeye51957@yahoo.com
I have dozens of knives but the one I carry hunting is a Buck 3" lock blade. I have one with and one without a gut hook. I also have a couple of Case XX 3" folding I carry.
Once hanging I use a larger fixed blade to cut it up.
I have umpteem knives and some are good but I think that one of the best is the new utility one by Home Hardware,no need for sharpeners .Edit-Uncle Frosty have U ever hit the nail on the head little kids and big knives (movie stuff) Apart from the utility knife I have a little Russel 4 inch knife I found at a garage sale for $5.00 and it has cleaned up many moose and caribou pluss. Small cleaned out chain saw does a good job on the hocks ,chest etc, using Palm oil.Saw comes in handy in getting at the kill on a quad too .Try doing some of that with a Rambo tooth pick. However Nate that knife U mentioned in your Que. looks good on GOOGLE. Good que.
Gerber makes good knives and if you like that style, you won’t be disappointed with a Gerber. My personal preference is the Master Hunter by Cold Steel. It is a fixed blade knife. I also have a folding knife made by SOG that I like to carry. The folder is great in the field for filed dressing but I prefer the Cold Steel for cutting the deer up into quarters. Both have nice non-slip handles.
My hunting knives are two knives of Alaska knives. A little pricey but good knives only have to be bought once and a dull blade is worthless.
I would NEVER pick the knife you have for hunting. I might for a knife fight but not for hunting. Get a small knife. I am talking like a 2 inch blade. This is great for cleaning and skinning. If you are going to butcher you need a filet knife or something similar in shape.
You can leave a saw in your vehicle for joints and the head.
Little kids and newbies get large knives. People who tag out carry small knives because they plan on using them
Knives are not made for cutting wood. The angle on the knife is so slim that a good wack on wood will dull it. Occasionally you will need to open up your sight path because of limbs in the way. Just reach out break the limb and keep your knife sharp. If you are cutting more brush than that you are not going to have a large enough kill zone and you are making too much comotion
If you want wood to start a fire find it on the ground and break it over your leg. If you find a piece to hard too break stick it in the fire and push it as it burns. It occassionally helps to "shave" the wood to get something that will start easier. that requires 1 cm of blade to do.
Most modern lightweight tents do not need stakes if you forget them. If you have one of the old canvas tents you aren’t carrying it so far that you can’t go back to your car and get your hatchet or whatever (tire iron etc) to get a tent stake.
Try this experiment: go to the dollar store and buy a knife then borrow a knife with good steel. Have you and a friend shoot 12 squirrels. Clean 6 with the good knife and clean 6 with the $1 knife. You will be able to tell the difference. When a knife gets dull you start using increasing pressure. This is dangerous you will end up cutting guts, yourself and meat that you don’t want to cut. By the way Gerber makes good knives.
When you try to skin and clean with a large knife you end up holding the knife by the blade. Think about trying to open up the cavity to pull the guts out. You need to make sure you have plenty of force on the blade and you need to make sure you do not stab the digestive organs. Does a small knife make sense now? Does not cutting wood with your knife make sense ?
I am biased towards small sharp knives because I clean animals with my knives. If you want to do gardening with your knife you can buy whatever randkl suggests
The Gerber LMF II isn’t a "hunting knife". It’s sold as a "survival knife", Nate.
In response to Uncle Frosty above….UF, a "skinning knife" isn’t a "hunting knife", either.
A "hunting knife" is the one you carry on your belt that does everything from clear brush, to chop kindling, to whittle tent pegs to replace the ones you left in the garage etc. It helps you "hunt". You won’t be doing that with your 2" skinning knife.
I know from experience that most knives are so close to the same as to be practically identical. Anyone that buys "expensive" thinking that translates to "quality" needs to get off the couch more.
Me, I’d suggest a stacked leather handle Kabar bowie as a great hunting knife. You can find them for half the Gerber LMF and you’ll never regret it.
You didn’t say for what kind of game. I prefer a non-folding knife with a drop-point about five inches long for big game. A drop point is one that curves down on top toward the point. A clip point is the tradition Bowie knife shape and turns up on the end. I find that I make fewer mistakes with the drop point. Also, although impressive, big, heavy knives will wear you out. My favorite is the Puma Hunter’s Pal. Don’t get fooled by knives with a saw blade, they are hard to use. Get a full-sized inexpensive bone saw.
For small game, like rabbits, I use a pocket model folding knife, also with a drop point.
For birds, there is nothing like a traditional bird knife. They are folders and have a clip blade and a gut hook. The hook is used for quick field-dressing so that you don’t need to cut the bird open but will retard spoilage. I prefer the European ones as they have smaller hooks than the American-made ones and are more convenient.
Price-wise, get the best you can afford. In knives, you do tend to get what you pay for. If you choose wisely you can consider this as a life-time investment and then the higher prices aren’t so bad. I am partial to European knives like Puma and Boker as they show more craftsmanship and use excellent steels so that they hold an edge very well. In American knives, it’s hard to go wrong with a Buck but anything in the same price range is likely to be pretty good. There is no point in paying extra for custom knives unless you are a collector.
Even though a knife may be a European or American brand, it may be made in Asia. Some of these are Chinese-made and are getting better.
Also, take a look at Browning, Beretta, Case, Camillus, etc.
Learn how to sharpen properly by hand, and NEVER use anything with a motor. You can overheat and ruin the blade.