$100-200 folding hunting knife?

[pinkfloyd101]

I was wondering was you guys recommend for a folding knife in the $100-200 range for a hunting knife. It would be mostly for deer and grouse, but also bigger game like elk. Blade needs to be 3-3.5 inches. Thumb studs or disc. Handle can be anything except metal and around 4 inches in length. Metal is cold in the winter. And of course blade material should be high quality. I was thinking s30v, D2, ZDP-189, etc. The brands so far I was thinking of are benchmade and spyderco. THANKS!

 

[*jijoel*]

Spyderco chinook3 or big manix?

Both 30v and strong back lock folders with grippy g10 handles.
Read some stories about a chinook being a good skinner knife.
Both are full flat grind and are good cutters/slicers.

 

[Thalestin]

I can't reccomend a folder for this type of work. I suggest a small fixed blade. Great to have on your side plus doesnt get full of blood etc. I think you would find this much more helpful.

Rat cutlery Bark river etc would have lots of knives that would fit the bill

 

[TLR]

Honestly I'm not real sure as I would only use a knife that is super easy to take apart for cleaning purposes. My sebenza fits that bill but its a couple of bills to large for your budget. That's one of the reasons I use a fixed blade for that task.

My vote would be for one that has a framelock as they are the easiest to take apart and clean. That however would go against your no metal handle rule.

Coagulated blood and debris could/will clog up a linerlock or lockback and cause it to fail so I wouldn't trust them except in a pinch. (I've had a couple close on me for those exact reasons) Any of the ball-bearing or axis lock knives could/will get gummed up fast with blood in cold weather.

I know I'm not staying within your guidelines but I'd recommend a fixed blade. Sorry.

 

[DallasSTB]

I used a Buck 110 as a kid starting out hunting, and it still works for me. Cabelas has a nice 110 customized with S30V for about $70 that looks great. Unless you get to the higher end or custom knives, you can get a really good hunting knife for around $100. Knives of Alaska has a D-2 hunter that looks pretty good for about $120. The Leatherman Klamath and Nehalem are in there at $120 and $80, respectively. Remington has bunch of knives on AG Russells site that I'm sure work well.

I haven't used a BM or Spyderco for field cleaning but I'm sure either one would work fine. I would recommend sticking to simpler locking mechanisms due to the messy nature of the task at hand. You don't want something that will get sticky and not lock-up on you.

 

[DennisStrickland]

if you can do with a regular slippie get a gec mdl.23 in carbon with liner lock.i ca'nt imagine a cleaning situation requiring one hand opening. my 23 went thru 2 briskets & skinned 1 of the whitetails this last week. cleaned blade & still shave hair.it's always a good idea to clean knives immediately after processing.doing so insures no lock failures or spring gum up.