Could you field dress a deer with a Case Peanut if you had to?

I reckon so......

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I know of one man who field dressed a deer with a Victorinox Classic. He didn't have his 'real' knife with him, and it was slow and PITA, but it got done. A peanut would be a walk in the park compared.

On the same note, in 1997 when the better half and I were on a 5 week around the country ramble, we stopped at Mesa Verde Natioanl Park, I wanted to tour the old cliff dwellings. I have an interest in archeology, and if I had to live my life over again, I may have went there. But while we were there, I signed up for a demo/lesson in the ancient culture. A park ranger had a rear haunch of antelope that had been killed that morning by a car, and was showing how easy a flake of obsidian could skin and slice meat. He had a large chunk, and with a stick, he used the percussion method to knock off a large single flake of the Obsidian, about an inch and a half to 2 inches long.

That stone flake sliced right through the hide, meat, and tissue like a razor sharp knife. Maybe a bit better! It made a believer out of me on what a small sharp blade can do. Then of course, you have Otzi. His knife is only a 2 inch blade, but he skinned out game and maybe even the bearskin cloak he was wearing. Hours before his death, he was in one heck of a fight, with DNA blood samples from a few different people on his clothing and knife. The knife must have done the job., because he did get away, with an arrow in his back that later was the cause of his death.

A two inch blade will do if the user is up to the job.
 
I think I could do it, but would prefer not to. I like a little more reach on my knife for that job. Keeps my knife hand and knife handle clean and in better control.
 
If you can do it with a piece of flint you should be able to do it with a knife.
 
^^The question at hand concerns size. Could you do it with a a flint flake the size of your thumbnail or would you prefer something bigger?
 
Over the years I have cleaned about half dozen road-struck deer with a SAK Spartan, and even spent better part of a day peeling the hide off a hung moose, once. This is only a consequence of not having anything else on me at the time. It is slow going if you want to be thorough and these days I don't bother with dressing an entire deer anymore if there isn't a belt knife in the glovebox. Fishing around inside to remove entrails, heart, lungs and liver is not fun with a pocket knife. Once you've removed the tenderloin and hind legs (which only takes about 10 minutes with a pocket knife) you've still got room in the car and you've got 2/3-3/4 of all the meat. And you're not covered in gore up to your armpits!
Those of you that figure on trying it just the once (hey a fresh dead deer at the side of the road is a freebie, organic and tasty and exempts you from having to buy a hunting license) make sure the knife is sharp and that you have a rain suit or some such with you (to wear over your good clothes while you're getting your hands dirty) and clean plastic bags to wrap and transport the meat.
 
I haven't done it, but I imagine as long as it's sharp you could use just about anything. Would it be my first choice? No. If I was in a bad spot and that's all I had, you betcha.
 
While I normally carry a 5" fixed blade for deer I've done a dozen or so with a
3.5" slipjoint, while not a peanut nontheless a small blade,with no problems.
This usually happens when " I don't think I'll see anything today" and then
"today" happens. When I was a kid I've done more than one squirrel with busted
glass while pellet gun hunting.
Ken.
 
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Dressed out my hunting partner's deer one year with a strider pt because my main knife was in the truck a couple miles away and it was almost dark so made use of what I had on me.
 
I have field dressed numerous deer with a Case Trapper. It's not hard field dressing a deer. The only issue would be the handle size of the Peanut. The blade size is insignificant, and plenty big on a Peanut. Once bloody, holding on to the smaller handle of the Peanut would be a bit tricky. But, other than that, I believe it would be no problem field dressing a deer with a Peanut.
 
I remember reading an account several years ago by a gentleman (Ed Fowler??) in which he field-dressed a bear with a small, two-blade pen knife. He said at the time, there was a sort of one-upmanship going on among some hunters as to who could field dress what with the smallest knife. In a nutshell, he was able to do it, but it took a long time, was very difficult and the main blade broke, and he finished up with the pen blade. On the ride back, he threw the remains of his knife out the window and decided never to do that again. I'm betting some small knives are better than others for that type of task.

I've heard of a woman field-dressing a bear with her Spyderco Ladybug.

Jim
 
I guess you could but why. Personally I want a knife that gives me something good to grip onto. I don't want my blade to get away from me.
Last years buck was done by my Case hunter trapper.
 
hunterjrg said:
I guess you could but why. Personally I want a knife that gives me something good to grip onto. I don't want my blade to get away from me.
Last years buck was done by my Case hunter trapper.
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I just like to think of different scenarios instead of having something perfect for field dressing a deer. Kind of a what if type situation with only a Peanut in your pocket. I guess you can do almost anything if the blade is sharp and that's the key.
 
OF COURSE it can be done, fairly easily matter of fact. I saw my Daddy clean a big buck for a fellow with pocketknife and hardly got his fingers wet. Of course my Daddy had been a butcher and a state meat inspector. When I get done cleaning a deer I look like I'd been in a fight with an axe murderer.
 
I couldn't. Theoretically I guess I should be able to, but since I don't own a peanut and never will, the answer for me is no. Now if you had asked me if I could field dress a deer with a GEC 73...

- Christian
 
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