Large chopper vs. Axe/hatchet

T

Tinbanger

Joined
Jan 27, 2013
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I'm starting this thread wondering what you guys all prefer and why? I personally have a wide verity of knives choppers and axes, but I haven't had the chance to use them all. Most of the time when I am it in the woods I take just a 4 to 5" blade, because I'm hiking and there isn't a bit chance of getting lost of l or needing to proses a lot of fire wood. So my question is, what do you carry worth you most of the time in the woods? Knife? Axe? Large chopper? Or just a SAK? Thanks
 
Just last week when I was scouting the property I hunt, I had my 5.1, my Lunghunter Hawk and a very light folding saw. I dont really seem to like to carry a big chopper knife. I just love a hawk or hatchet for some reason.
 
Yep. The property I hunt most is right along the potomac and is very flat. I has a good bit of flooded timber, swampy stuff and there are many soy bean and corn fields. The state sharecrops the property. They also plant sunflower and there are 3 or four large fields that are for dove hunting. There are also two very large areas for conducting field trials with dogs. Most of the growth is hardwood timber with areas of heavy underbrush and more friggen briars than you can imagine. There are turkey, quail, squirrell, rabbit, deer and a ton of waterfowl. You cant camp and you arent supposed to have fires, but I carry the tools for a fire everytime I go. Never know when you may need one. Plus I get used to carrying them that way. The last time I went I took the hawk out for the first time and was surprised how light it is. You couldnt even feel it on the pack. I used the folding saw to cut big branch off a wind blown tree to make a wading staff for the duck hunt the next day. I used the hawk to limb the small stuff off of the staff. Then did a little test chopping. A staff is a must in the swampy area. There are tons of sunken logs, holes and creek beds that are hidden under the water. A few years ago my dad and I were wading into the middle of the swamp and he tripped on a log. The water was only knee deep, but he went face first and dropped his 870 right in the water. Somehow he managed to pop right back up and really his rain jacket and waders kept him dry. His face hit the water and water went up his sleeves to his elbows. It was about 35 degrees out. He wasnt happy. We were able to find his shotgun and had to field strip it in the swamp and drain all the mud and duckweed out of it. From that day on, we always cut a staff to feel ahead of us. Luckily we were about a ten minute walk from the truck, so even if he was soaked we woulda made it out without needing a fire. I imagine a situation where one of us hurts an ankle or knee and cant walk. A fire may be a must in that type of scenario.
 
Im currently on the fence on this topic. I have a large hatchet small axe that I use for processing large stuff into small stuff, but it sucks for de-limbing a fallen tree. That is where a larger knife (GSO-20??????) would come in handy, but I am not sure that a knife trying to chop a tree down will ever be as efficient.. I like the idea of some sort of hawk or small hatchet (for hiking)... Right now, unless I am backpacking, I just bring it all... ha
 
I've been there too across from Harper's Ferry on the VA side. -10 in 4' of water breaking up ice for a duck/goose hunt. We blanked out in the water blind. So we moved up river to another blind. Unfortunately the one shot I got, I managed to hit a goose at 40 to 50 yards out and wounded it (I should have used my 3" mag.). My buddy's dog jumped in front of me after my first shot, I was shooting down hill, and I couldn't finish the bird without shooting the dog. It made it to the river and died 200 yards from me, just past where the dog could safely swim. We watched it float down river. Oh well....

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I am a fan of the smaller big knives, like my 7/7. You can really do a lot with them, they weigh less than a hand axe and I feel that batoning is safer than chopping. Anything bigger and heavier gets cumbersome.
 
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Dang I'm not sure if I'd go outside having to deal with temps like that. I've been trying to get into back country/backpack hunting. I've looked at some gear lists,and those guys will go a week with only a havalon to me that's crazy.
 
Tinbanger said:
Dang I'm not sure if I'd go outside having to deal with temps like that. I've been trying to get into back country/backpack hunting. I've looked at some gear lists,and those guys will go a week with only a havalon to me that's crazy.
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To me it all kind of depends on how long you can go without a good night's sleep. I'm good for a couple of weeks under rough conditions but beyond that I go a bit loopy. So, if you can stand a week or two of shivering at night you don't need as much gear. You can always stay warm during the day by moving about, but at night that is a different matter altogether.
 
redwood22 said:
Im currently on the fence on this topic. I have a large hatchet small axe that I use for processing large stuff into small stuff, but it sucks for de-limbing a fallen tree. That is where a larger knife (GSO-20??????) would come in handy, but I am not sure that a knife trying to chop a tree down will ever be as efficient.. I like the idea of some sort of hawk or small hatchet (for hiking)... Right now, unless I am backpacking, I just bring it all... ha
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The limbing axe needs a thin profile to get through branches in a single swing. The tree chopping axe needs a thicker profile to bust loose chips. Most large knives fall somewhere in between the two, but they often don't have enough of their weight behind the cutting edge.
 
Great waterfowl stories. I used to hunt the Potomac near Winchester, on the WV side... Had tremendous success late season in bitter cold, icy conditions... My Chesapeake Bay retriever loved every minute. But back then, all I knew was a Buck folder and a machete. And that worked. But today I have better tools. For brushing in blinds, and covering the Canoe
 
I love my Gransfors Bruks Hunters Axe really thin bit not to heavy and a nice short handle it just makes sense to me so many tools in one. and really not that heavy.combined with a couple good knifes but i could see where a large might be better in certain locals for brush clearing but most of the time i end up building something and for that the Axe is king IMHO
 
I don't carry huge choppers anymore honestly. I ordered the 12 because I don't own a chopper since I sold my pair of Junglas, not because I have use for it. I find that a Silky saw (best folding saw on the planet IMO), a camp size knife (GSO 6), and a belt knife like the 4.1 are the ultimate combo for me. The saw will take a small tree down with less calories spent and will definitely buck logs down to size more efficiently. The larger knife can split whatever you cut if you aren't afraid to baton. I don't find myself EVER needing to cut wood thicker than 4-5" when I'm camping so I don't need a 10-12" blade to split it, and anything thicker that I plan on throwing on before I go to bed doesn't need to be split. I used to pack my Velvicut Hudson Bay because it's the perfect size for a pack axe but I found myself carrying a bigger fixed blade in the pack and one on my hip so I was able to eliminate the axe altogether unless I'm truck camping or it's the dead of winter and I want to be able to split a ton of wood at warp speed.
 
OBX351 said:
I've been there too across from Harper's Ferry on the VA side. -10 in 4' of water breaking up ice for a duck/goose hunt. We blanked out in the water blind. So we moved up river to another blind. Unfortunately the one shot I got, I managed to hit a goose at 40 to 50 yards out and wounded it (I should have used my 3" mag.). My buddy's dog jumped in front of me after my first shot, I was shooting down hill, and I couldn't finish the bird without shooting the dog. It made it to the river and died 200 yards from me, just past where the dog could safely swim. We watched it float down river. Oh well....

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I am a fan of the smaller big knives, like my 7/7. You can really do a lot with them, they weigh less than a hand axe and I feel that batoning is safer than chopping. Anything bigger and heavier gets cumbersome.
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Thats why I like the 5.1. By the way... Your links/attachments arent working.
 
MoS89 - I carry just about the same config: Silky saw, 7/7 and my 4.1 on my hip. When I go out just with one knife I take my 5.1.

Riz - I'll just get a photobucket account and repost. But they were pics of my 7/7 taking apart a big knotty piece of seasoned oak. I am going to break up some more wood today and I'll take more pics.
 
Guys, thank you for all of your great responses stories and experience. I enjoy reading what other guys take to the wilderness. I understand there are too many variables to list, so every climate region will be different. This last deer season I carried my 3.5 on my hip, a Leatherman wave in my pack and my small forest axe back at the quad. I shot my buck at 625 yards, he dropped right away even watched him for another 20 minutes with no movement. So we got over to him and as we approached him I could see he was still breathing. So I gave my buddy the 3.5 and I walked up with the rifle on him so if he got up he didn't fly down the steep hill. My buddy grabbed the antlers and went to slit is throat, he didn't realize how sharp the knife was and almost took its head off. Haha. We hunt a lot in the high desert here, so an axe isn't really needed to often. I should probably start learning how to use it anyway!
 
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