Gear help for long hunting/backpacking trip

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baconslimjim

Joined
Dec 23, 2016
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Need some help with gear .
If you plan to take a good quality axe with you on a extended trip in the woods is a large knife like the falkniven a1 really necessary?
All I can see that knife ,and ones like it being useful for is batoning, and hacking through wood. Seems like if you've got a nice quality axe these knives really aren't worth carrying.

This is what I think would be good and cover all my bases while out:

1. Victoronix huntsman for general use ,gear repair , food prep.
2. Case trapper for smaller game and maybe some food prep.
3. Gransfors bruk hatchet for all the wood cutting .
4. Falkniven f1 or esee 4 for a nice fixed blade for larger game cleaning and any "bushcraft" tasks that may arise.

What do guys think? Does this seem to cover all aspects or is there something else useful about those huge fixed blades other than hammering them through logs that I've missed?
 
I find a 6" - 7" easier to use for delimbing branches up to finger thick than a hatchet or axe.

I also prefer to use a knife to take firewood down from about 2" to pencil thickness when making kindling. After about 2" thick, using an axe or hatchet gets trickier for me.

Couple of of thoughts...

We don't have many places around where we backpack (New England) where fires can be had totally unrestricted. I never carry an axe into the woods and restrict my fire making to what can be done using a small folding saw (e.g. Silky or Opinel) and a knife. I often use a folding stove, which further reduces wood harvesting, processing and impact even more.

I like the convenience of a folding knife for general use a LOT more than a fixed blade. I keep mine in my fanny pack worn at the 12 o'clock position. But I'm too old to carry extra weight, so I only carry a single knife and make it work for everything. The only exception is if I carry a 7" knife for splitting wood, in which case I carry a very light (2 oz) folder for easier food prep. More clearly, I either carry a 3.5" folder (Opinel), 4" fixed blade (Mora) or a large battoning knife combined with an Opinel.

Lastly, since I already have a knife food prep, I've traded my SAKs for a pliers based multitool, typically the tiniest ones. I find the pliers useful for sewing and zipper repair and the scissors useful for first aid.

End of the day though, it's your pack so carry whatever makes the trip the most fun for you. If you're not sure and you have the gumption, take em all and experiment. What works for you is more important than stuff that we type.
 
Late to the party here, but . . . I second the folding saw suggestion vs. a hatchet, unless you just don't care about the weight and bulk of the hatchet. I've found myself wishing I'd brought a folding saw instead of a hatchet, never the other way around. I do have a SAK Huntsman myself, but once I got a Leatherman Sidekick, it's sort of a coin toss as to which I'll take.
 
I think you're "over knifed" for a long trip on foot. I would take two knives max (folder and fixed blade) and the hatchet IF you want to carry that. Add a folding saw.
 
I agree you are over knifed. I came up in the early gram counting era of Colin Fletcher's first edition, breaking the file off an SAK SD Classic and cutting the handle off my toothbrush, so my gut says, "Too much." But I get the desire to have the extra tool. Still, there's little bushcraft you can't do with a Huntsman (much loved--it was my first SAK) and an axe. I say leave it at that. Not even the Case.

Post pics!

Zieg
 
Gotta throw in my 2 cents worth and say I really have come to appreciate having a saw available.
 
I have seen several people mention a folding saw. I myself am trying to get out hiking and camping more. I like the idea of a folding saw, is there a specific one that y'all recommend?
 
Size of the saw depends on the size of the wood you're going to process. I like the small Opinel saw for feeding a folding wood stove. The 170 Silky works well for small open fires. That's as big as I go.
 
How far are you going to be hiking? Extra weight is no good when hiking long distances. If you're hiking a few miles in to set up a base camp, it's still better to go light but you can deal with a bit extra if you have to.

To be honest, as a backpacker and hunter, for the most part any more at maximum I carry a Swisstool and a folding knife when on a hiking trip. For true efficient firemaking, take a saw, its' way better than bucking up wood with a hatchet. If you expect to be doing a lot of splitting, a small hatchet is better to me than any knife. If you are going to be cutting up deer sized game or larger, it's good to take along whatever hunting knife you're comfortable with. For me, if I'm hunting, it's a 4 inch or less light fixed blade.

So, were I doing this kind of trip, I would take:
1) Folding saw
2) Swisstool
3) short, light fixed blade

If I was going to be at a base camp and planning to split a lot of wood, I'd add a small hatchet.

I could probably get away with just the Swisstool, but for dressing game, a fixed blade is so much nicer, but there's no need for a big knife for field dressing game. I've gotten away without having to baton a knife through anything for years now.

And really, if you're out for the purpose of an extended hunting trip, it's probably good to trade out cutlery for things that will make your hunt better, such as a good shelter, binoculars, proper clothing, and good food to keep you going during the hunt, things like that.
 
On a trip like that I would carry a Spydie Manix 2 lightweight, ESEE 6 and a Sven Saw. The Spydie Sprig is also a great knife for small game and food prep.
 
I've used a Sven before and really liked it. (lost it or something) Now I use a Silky Gomboy if weight is a concern but my usual go-to is definitely my Bob Dustrude Quick Buck setup. I think it's the 30" version. This thing is a machine. You can buck up a nice pile of good size rounds right quick. A little bulky but super lightweight for it's size and cutting capacity. Great one for raft/canoe camping or when every extra ounce isn't critical.

armytxn said:
I have seen several people mention a folding saw. I myself am trying to get out hiking and camping more. I like the idea of a folding saw, is there a specific one that y'all recommend?
Click to expand...
 
I go long range backpack hunting for Elk every year. What are you hunting and where? Depending on what you're hunting and the terrain you'll be in, extra ounces will feel like poundsover time. You might burn that deck of cards or book you brought on the third day! My current edged selection is a SAK hunter, which has a locking blade, gut hook, and a small saw; a Fallkniven S1, and a Bahco Laplander saw. These are all super proven for me. The SAK is for food prep, and the gut hook and saw blade are be used in field dressing. The S1 is my preference for prepping big game. The Bahco is a staple, though a lot of people swear by Silky saws.

With my rifle included I can usually keep my pack weight down to about 35 lbs by exercising some discipline and eliminating as much redundancy as possible. Knowing some bushcraft can save some weight too - do stuff like make some chopsticks in camp rather than lug silverware around, cook everything in one mug or pot, etc. I'd only bring an axe if I was planning on felling trees for a more permanent structure than my tent. Have fun, good luck!
 
An axe or hatchet is never going with me on a backpacking trip. Most any popular backpacking destinations don't allow open ground fires, or long since have had every burnable stick burned up.

I would take a Mora no 1, and if I had to have something to cut wood it would be a Laplander saw.

I have never needed a larger knife or a saw or hatchet, I have needed extra layers of clothing to deal with cold or wet. Backpacking is not the time to play with new toys, it's about surviving the weight of your necessities.

I loved it when I was younger and in scouts. I wouldn't do it now.


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On our DIY backcountry hunt, we had a mantra. "Ounces add up to pounds, and pounds add up to pain." Being our first time out, we ALL overpacked, carrying needlesly redundant and/or unnecessary supplies. After 5 miles, we had a "come to Jesus" pow wow and buried much of out unneeded items (to be recovered on the way out). Those items included extra knives and hatchets. I always had a good folder on me and almost always had my 5 inch hunter. As a group, we shared a single Fiskars X7 hatchet. In retrospect, I'd rather had a folding pruning saw.
 
I carry the 21" sven saw, a knife like the BK4, 9 or 7 and the BK11 for small knife tasks. Its a great combo for me, if I were to change anything it would be to replace the sven with a silky bigboy to get through bigger pieces of wood but then any of those three knives aren't splitting that wood so...

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