I got turned around in an unfamiliar swamp years ago while bowhunting. I was hunting alone and got caught out a bit late as I was listening to a critter moving more or less in my direction. Before I realized it, the sun was down and the light was fading fast. There was no way I was going to be able to navigate my way out of that swamp and I wasn't ready to take a misstep in a "bath" of water that was cold. I realized then that I was screwed until daylight. I was in my early 20's then, (I'm 58). I can honestly say that I learned a lot of things about myself that night and having a fire made all the difference in the world. After I settled down and finished calling myself every name in the book, I got to a high spot and went to work on a fire. The small roll of toilet paper, Bic lighter (which were fairly new back then), a Schrade-Walden hunting knife, and a tube of Chapstick that I had in my pocket turned the trick. I got a fire started. I sat up all night feeding that fire with what dry wood that I could forage. I also taught myself how to make feather sticks, even though (at the time), I'd never known of such a thing. Necessity is the mother of invention, I guess. That fire had to burn all night with me crouched around it. That fire saw me through that night. It pushed back the panic. I thought I was invincible.
This was in Northern Wisconsin in early November. I can still remember it like it happened yesterday. That knife saved my life, though (in all honesty) what bowhunter is going to go out without one?
I still have the knife, though I'm told by the guys on the Schrade thread that it's a very rare collectible. Only one of three or four known to exist. It's a Schrade-Walden Uncle Henry 153.
After having used this blade to field dress/skin many whitetails, coons and a few hogs, as well as general camping and back packing trips too numerous to list, it has been retired. I've owned and used this knife heavily since 1973. Is it my favorite knife? Yes, but not because of its rarity (which I had no clue of before joining this forum). It's my favorite because of how well it has served me over the decades. It has a place in my life that no other knife (and I've got plenty of others since I've gotten "bit"), can ever replace.
I really wish this knife could talk after I'm gone.
