Buck 119 steel selection

I’ve been to Alaska 3 times to visit my family up there and most of the hunters and outdoorsman including the native Alaskan carry a 3.5 to 4 inch with some 4.5 inch blade for all their hunting including brown bear and moose. I saw a lot of buck 110s, jumbo trappers and some 4 inch belt knives. I asked them why they didn’t use a larger knife and they said they prefer the 3.5 to 4 inch for all outdoor activities, that was plenty sufficient and the long blades for kitchen and meat processing duty. Some of them live and work in the wilderness in a semi-primitive lifestyle where their knife is an essential tool for everything. So I learned a lot visiting with them about how they did things.
 
For less than the price of the 119 Pro you could get a standard 119 and a 105.
I can't decide which is better touch it up more frequently easier or less often but more effort. In the end it's probably a wash. But I think I'm leaning toward easier.
 
Blade steel is only part of the equation. I absolutely hate the phenolic handles. The micarta on the Pro series is a serious upgrade in my opinion.
 
The steel, ---. In sharpening the vanadium steel, you can start a edge reset with a SiC stone. Then remove the burr and finish off on the fine diamond or cbn plate. I've noticed it requires a little more care to get that last step done. Whereas, with the 420 steel you can finish it off on a fine India. DM
 
Not really answering your which steel question (which has already been well answered) but I thought I would share my thoughts (FWIW) on hunting knives. Been an upland game hunter for 56 years and a deer hunter for 46 years now, but I mostly think in terms of Whitetail when thinking about a “hunting knife”. I hunt big game, upland game, waterfowl, and wild turkey - each of those have hunting knives that suit their unique requirements as well. For many years I simply used the Buck 105 Pathfinder I had bought as an Army field knife in 1976. That knife has a nice handle, a 5” blade and a clip point blade that isn’t too wide - it actually can do a good job cleaning all of the above types of game (except small birds) but as a knife guy I like to specialize on each game animal. For me the best whitetail knife is the Buck 118 Personal, perfect size handle (same as the Buck 105) 4” blade, enough blade belly to skin, but with a point and an upswept tip for rough butchering too (by that I mean removing the meat in large pieces off the carcass, but before fine butchering to freeze the meat). For waterfowl and some larger upland species I use the Buck 102, smaller handle, nice small 4” clip blade - just right for duck or pheasant. For wild turkey I really like the old version of the Buck 121 Fisherman - the thin width coupled with good length does a terrific job of breasting the meat without losing any of it along the curved rib cage. For little upland birds a Muskrat blade on a Muskrat or Bird Knife (Buck 321) works very well - most of that cleaning is using your hands anyway. The Buck 110 Folding Hunter is my favorite back-up knife - always handy in the pouch and the right size and shape to work good enough to do the other jobs. I like a backup in case I soil a knife without hot water and soap nearby to sterilize it - sometimes you get stuff on a blade you don’t want to cut the meat with. I like Buck’s - why? - because they are stainless steel, take and hold a good edge, are well designed, American made, and economically priced. Most of my users are older 440C or 425MOD but the current steels work as well. OH
 
Yes, you can definitely use a larger knife for deer.......many do. But I'd go with the 118 and a 110 for backup.

And you can get along just fine with just the 110.

For processing, add an old 121 Fisherman or the newer version called the 121 Guide.

The 121 Guide turns out to be another great all around knife if you can find one.
 
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