Are any of you Hardcore Hunters?What are your favorite tools for dissecting lg game?

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Funny thing you should mention dogs Tim. I have my pitbull of 14+ yrs laying right beside me as I type. His name is Mr. Wilson.
My best buddy purchsed him for me for Xmas well 14 yrs ago. He is a black and tan and left natural. No bobbing of ears or tail. All I can say about him is he is the dog of "Velvet and Steel". Still loves to play with his frisbee, parking cone, and tennis ball. He too when we lived in the hood has saved my tail a couple of times and even prevented a bunch of car breakins one night. What a hoot. I have seen the Ridgebacks and have read about them. Great dogs and was even thinking of owning one at some point. I was at a county fair more years ago than I care to remember and a fella there had a male and female that he was breeding. Great dogs with great tempermants.
Anyways Vlad, as I call Mr. Wilson is definetly in his twilight years and mostly sleeps now. His back end isn't the greatest from arthritis but man we had some times. He used to love to hunt woodchucks with me, when I would go after them in the spring and summer with my longbow. He is about the best behaved animal I have ever seen. Never jumped on anyone comming into the house, never bit anyone without permission, and was even a social dog. He is part Carver/Ruffian. Carver is the side bred for fighting(and no I never even "rolled" him, and the ruffian is the hunting side or catch dog breed from Carolina). There was a fella in my home town who was world famous for his Am. Staffs. by the name of Homer Ormsby. Least I think his first name was Homer, a railroad man that bred Am. Staffs for show. One his dogs won best in breed I believe at the Westminster Show at the Garden. Anyways he lived right behind my brother and he saw me with Willy out there one day and came over and looked him over and said if it wasn't for just a slight east/west legs in the rear he would've liked to breed him with one of his bitches. He said he would have given great brindles. Anyways I know how attached one can become to an animal in particular a dog...
 
wyoming gut hook and small Russell belt knife
Lived in Montana[born,not raised returned for a spell]used almost daily to clean and skin
every thing.Deer,elk,antelope,mountain goat,
beef,swine,on to coyote,badger,or what have you.still my fav.


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P.J. I've seen your Uluchet! You did a Gun show in Boise a couple of years ago and I got your brochure and card (can't find it now, looks like someone cleaned up in here again!). I was impressed on the use of ATS-34 and titanium, if I'm not mistaken. A novel idea.
 
I'm a hunting beginner and have only taken small game thus far. The knowledge I've picked up so far has led me to the Knives of Alaska "Cub Bear".
 
Its been a few years since I worked in a butcher shop, but I'd like to think that I still remember some of the things I learned there.
I usually work on the 'layered' system. For field dressing deer size game I normally just use an old henckel's folding hunter I picked up some 25 years ago. Its wore down to the point that what is left is about a 3 1/4" drop point blade that is radically tapered from hilt to tip, and with a very thin bevel and final edge. I always carry one of my sheath knives too, but the folder is always handy, and it will serve until I can make one of my own I like as much. You're only making a few cuts, but its nice to have something that you know exactly how it works when you've got your arm up to the elbow inside a deer trying to cut the windpipe and diaphram.

Once I get something back to camp, I usually skin and bone out everything. No cutting bone involved, except perhaps to crack the pelvis and breastbone to help things cool quicker. For that I use a 4-5" fixed blade. Usually a semi-skinner, or slight trailing point design with a lot of sweeping curve to the edge, but not too wide. That way it serves in place of a traditional boning knife and skinner blade. If I was trying to preserve a hide in better shape I'd go to more of a dedicated skinner, but I like a more pointed design that I can use for everyhting if need be.

About the only chopping I usually do is breaking up the carcass into several pieces for easier disposal. For that I use an old butchers cleaver I keep here.

One point in particular that the butchers and game processors have right is that if you're intending to use the knife for a lot of cutting, make sure that that the blade is thin and tapered, and the handle is big and comfortable. 1/4" thick blades and square contoured handles don't cut it when it comes to actually using a knife for game processing chores.

madpoet
 
Hi there Mr Wegner, welcome to the forums! To answer your question, I have used everything under the sun. We usually harvest between 4 and 6 Whitetail a year and an Elk if I get off my but. The very sharpest thing I have ever used was a piece of Obsidian, it was way sharper than any knife I ever used to gut a deer. My current favoite hunting type knife is Bob Allmans Wambli in Talonite that I field tested for him last fall. I field dressed, skinned, be headed, de legged 2 deer with it last fall after I had done a bunch of other cutting tests with it and it was a great field blade if I do say so myself! (shameless plug) I expect I will be packing a similar blade next fall..........

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www.simonichknives.com

[This message has been edited by Rob Simonich (edited 07 March 1999).]
 
Bruce
Yes, that was a couple of years ago. The Uluchet has changed since then, D-2 head, Zytel handles, and a good bit sharper than what you handled. It also lost a half a pound in weight, swings much nicer and carries a whole lot easier.
P.J.

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P.J.
YES,it is sharp, just keep your fingers out of the way!
www.silverstar.com/turnermfg


 
I use carbon & Damascus blades of drop point design....been using them around 10 years and will always use them as I feel that are the best! Previous to that, I used stainless steel custom blades and I was never happy with them....when I de-boned a couple of deer I would have to re-sharpen the blades and that just took up too much time for me.
Welcome to the forums!
 
CS Master Hunter for deer, moose, bear works great altho I too would like to see something a bit smaller (say, a CS version of the puukko). Buddy of mine uses the CS Elk Skinner I gave him, and it works like it was named. I don't know of any blade design that is totally all-around; what works great for skinning large animals probably wouldn't do that well for caping and small detail stuff. Roselli puukko hunting knife has a very good all-round design, sweeping edge for skinning, sharp upswept point for utility work, but you have to take a bit more care than with a drop-point when opening game.
 
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