Knife for Pig hunting

Joined
Jul 30, 2012
Messages
575
An employee of mine came back from a pig hunting trip in Georgia. They put GPS on dogs and send them into the brush to flush out the pigs and wait for them with spears and knives. Anyway, he said you gotta make me a knife. So, what kind of knife do you hunt wild pigs with? I'm thinking a big Bowie. What do you think?
 
Yes, I like a Bowie. So far my favorite has been the Cold Steel Laredo Bowie. The only thing I would change would be to have a snag proof transition from the edge to the ricasso.
 
SKTSBA_400px_72dpi-01-01-01.jpg
 
Cold Steel Carbon v trailmaster Bowie, 9.5 inch blade, custom kydex sheath.
 
This one:

fixed-bayonet.jpg


...and not really kidding. When I first read your post I was thinking a long Bowie similar to the middle three Wheeler knives below

orig.jpg
 
The knife dispatching the animal, is usually in the 7-9" blade range, not terribly wide profile, and often double edged or atleast having a swedge. It is inserted between the ribs to puncture the lungs and heart then slide towards the animals feet to create an incision approx 4-5" long bisecting as many vitals as possible to terminate the animal.

A search for "pig sticker" "hog hunting knife" "pig hunting bowie" should yield some good ideas on what's common. I remember a maker on here doing some thorough design work and testing of some hog hunting knives for a friend/guide, also a pretty thorough post on the subject. I *think* it was RyanW?


-Xander
 
From a hunter in Argentina who's done it often - 8-12""blade, substantial cross guard, and a strong point.These knives are for large European or Russian types.. Most of the "pig knives " I've seen don't have the strong point. Thin points can break against bone.
 
View attachment 344236
Many of the pigs dispatched down here are killed with a 5 inch hunter. I used a Cold Steel boar spear to get mine a couple of years back. i quick stab to the heart did the trick. The hog dropped like a rock.
 
I've seen a few knives used by the local boys here when they took me pig hunting with them. The wildest incident was my first hunt with guys on my farm in Kona. (We had a lot the buggas running around there, what with the macadamia nut farm next door and avocados galore on our place.) Anyway it took two guys, a few dogs and a small slip-joint folder (opened with his teeth) to finish the animal off. They used the throat slitting method. The other guys used more substantial stabbing knives that looked basically like something between a bayonet and a bowie. One guy doubled using his a bit as a machete when in thick brush.

Here's a couple of threads on the subject.
One of two Pig stickers
Any input on custom pig sticker??

I have always like the looks of the blade on this Linder...
6235373330346136.jpg
 
I remember ones that knife maker Larry Harley made. They were big blades I remember being say 10" long, perhaps as much as 2" wide and a thickness of 3/16" or more. These were used very successfully as I understood. Frank
 
this is a debate for us knife hunters.some people love big knives some like smaller blades..i think using a smaller blade comes with experience.i like my blade slim with a 6" blade..i like to see what you come up with.please post pics..by the way this is my hunting knife i been using for the past five years,here is a pic when i first got it..i have killed more pigs with my old kabar then any other knife.
 
Don't forget the Great Dane. They were originally bred to be boar hunters. I have had two of them, and suspect they hunted the boars by being so goofy the pigs died of a heart attack from laughing so hard. :)
 
Back
Top