Knife for defence against wild critters ?

A spear would be my first choice in terms of hand-held self defense weapons. After that, long, sharp, and pointy will have to do. A khukuri seems like an intriguing idea, how well can one thrust with one of those?

A 4" blade strikes me as being hopelessly impractical as a self defense knife against a wild animal. A bear can have several inches of fat under it's thick hide. 4" will only piss it off more. I'm thinking 12-14" blade length minimum. Even 7" sounds a bit short.


762 -- Ardbeg is my favorite whisky. Nice touch.
 
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what about a stouct staff with a steel spike on the end? it would be a handy walking stick and i'd rather be 5 feet away from anything that was trying to attack me than 18 inches
 
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Himalayan Imports Chunk Munk, that'll do me fine for not having a gun.
 
Knowing how tough bear hide and muscle is, and I do not know from actual experience, some of you will know better. If you are engaged by a bear, and lets say he is against your body bringing the fight to you, could you muster enough leverage and strength to push a 7" plus blade through his meat to his vitals? I am suggesting that in order to get the long blade pointy side into him, you are going to have to really get your arm out away or behind you, and then, I don't think it is possible to drive it through that muscle. I think the only hope with a long bladed knife is that he impales himself on it using his own energy. The big knife might work on a hog, and maybe a med size cat, but I don't see much hope against a bear. What do you big hunters think?
 
I can't sit this one out as I live in a place where there are plently of dangerous critters and this is just my personal perspective. There are three dangerous animals where I live, specifically, black bears, brown bears and polar bears. Having been exposed to all of these in Alaska many times and seeing how large and powerful they are I will make the following comments: 1) If a brown bear or a polar bear wants you, nothing short of a shotgun or bear spray will help. Just think of something 800-1500 pounds running at 20-30 miles per hour at you. Any knife will only give you a very short term false sense of security. Maybe if there were several people with knives/spears/etc it would eventally be effective if the person attacked were not already dead. 2) Black bears are a little different as they are smaller (but generally can be more problematic). I have never personally heard of anyone up here taking one on with a knife. 3) The biggest problem with these types of dangerous animals interacting with humans is the very short time you would have before an attack. Most bear maulings on hunters/hikers happen because they walk up on a bear and they have no time to react. There was a very experienced alaskan hunter that experienced this just a couple months ago in SE Alaska.

In Alaska we are fortunate that we can legally carry firearms just about anywhere. Its generally foolish to go hiking up here without a shotgun or large caliber handgun. I have to admit that one of my larger knives will give me some feeling of security but I get more from my 4" chest mounted S&W 500 that I hike with here and /or a 12 guage pump shotgun.
 
kdebjr said:
I can't sit this one out as I live in a place where there are plently of dangerous critters and this is just my personal perspective. There are three dangerous animals where I live, specifically, black bears, brown bears and polar bears. Having been exposed to all of these in Alaska many times and seeing how large and powerful they are I will make the following comments: 1) If a brown bear or a polar bear wants you, nothing short of a shotgun or bear spray will help. Just think of something 800-1500 pounds running at 20-30 miles per hour at you. Any knife will only give you a very short term false sense of security. Maybe if there were several people with knives/spears/etc it would eventally be effective if the person attacked were not already dead. 2) Black bears are a little different as they are smaller (but generally can be more problematic). I have never personally heard of anyone up here taking one on with a knife. 3) The biggest problem with these types of dangerous animals interacting with humans is the very short time you would have before an attack. Most bear maulings on hunters/hikers happen because they walk up on a bear and they have no time to react. There was a very experienced alaskan hunter that experienced this just a couple months ago in SE Alaska.

In Alaska we are fortunate that we can legally carry firearms just about anywhere. Its generally foolish to go hiking up here without a shotgun or large caliber handgun. I have to admit that one of my larger knives will give me some feeling of security but I get more from my 4" chest mounted S&W 500 that I hike with here and /or a 12 guage pump shotgun.
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Well said. It seems a fairly ludicrous concept. However, there are stories of people successfully defending themselves with a knife. Maybe they are just stories, but with the same breath I'd also add: never give up.
 
Rotte said:
Well said. It seems a fairly ludicrous concept. However, there are stories of people successfully defending themselves with a knife. Maybe they are just stories, but with the same breath I'd also add: never give up.
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Rotte, agreed and always be prepared!
 
kdebjr is very much on point with that- and I'm not advocating going up against bear with a knife, spear, or even (by preference) solo with any artillery.

There are smaller animals, however- and we've all seen enough 'animals attack' videos to gauge the ranges and suddenness.

Honestly, the most likely scenario is a dog or a wounded animal when hunting- and I'd generally prefer a bit more knife - as the OP suggested.
 
Of course, if one is a Rogatchik (Russian bear hunter) the spear becomes a necessity...but I bet he still has a knife.
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koyote said:
kdebjr is very much on point with that- and I'm not advocating going up against bear with a knife, spear, or even (by preference) solo with any artillery.

There are smaller animals, however- and we've all seen enough 'animals attack' videos to gauge the ranges and suddenness.

Honestly, the most likely scenario is a dog or a wounded animal when hunting- and I'd generally prefer a bit more knife - as the OP suggested.
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Koyote, now we're talking (regarding dogs, wounded animals, etc.) I actually forgot that we have alot of wolves in AK, mainly because I've never seen one unless from a plane. BTW, has anyone ever seen a really pissed off wolverine? Scarry!
 
kdebjr said:
Koyote, now we're talking (regarding dogs, wounded animals, etc.) I actually forgot that we have alot of wolves in AK, mainly because I've never seen one unless from a plane. BTW, has anyone ever seen a really pissed off wolverine? Scarry!
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That's really where I cam up with the trail knife design to begin with- cougar would be a bit on the extreme side, but I'm thinking of a suprised javelina, feral dogs, a crazy bobcat, - nearly anything except a bunny will attack if the right brain trigger gets pulled.
 
Rotte said:
Well said. It seems a fairly ludicrous concept. However, there are stories of people successfully defending themselves with a knife. Maybe they are just stories, but with the same breath I'd also add: never give up.
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I met a guy that killed a female grizzly that attacked him. He had a buck knife. This attack happened over 15 years ago and was in the papers. He was a regular at the sporting goods store that my brother used to work at
 
Just reading this old article I'm interested in knowing which blade length would be necessary anyhow to reach the vitals of a bear.
 
A 4" knife is much more effective. That way you have to use that mass of fat between your eyes. When I worked in Alaska, yes you carry a side arm or a shotgun. If you don't use your head, you're on the menu.
 
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