Let's talk deer knives....

hunterjrg said:
I too am having a hard time visioning this.
Click to expand...

Once you have slpit the hind quarters, skin out a ring around the "rear exit." I usually leave about 1/2" of hide around the anus just to be sure and sanitary. Once this is done everything can be pulled out as one piece, without having to cut the intestines in any way.
 
hunterjrg said:
I too am having a hard time visioning this.
Click to expand...

Personal opinion is that people make too big a deal about cutting around the anus or being ultra sanitary when field dressing a deer. Get the thing home and wash it down with water.... Of course, you don't want to empty the contents of the stomach or intestines inside the deer, which is common sense.
 
I don't split the pelvis. 1st cut while on the ground is ring the anal vent. Pull this out and I bring a short string, with that, tie it off. Then go on about gutting him. Pull everything out thru the cavity. I don't need to bring any additional tool to split that bone. DM
 
New version of the Browning Big Game Featherweight. Has a great locking main blade and a really nice gut blade with a good 1-2 inches of blade on it as well. You can unzip them from anus to throat quickly and cleanly. Has a decent saw that I never use. Sharpens easily and not terribly expensive. The main blade does good cleaning and skinning work. undressed 4 deer with it this year after switching from the Case XX changer. The Case feels like knife. The Browning feels like it was made for undressing whitetail deer. It just works really well. I'm speaking more from the hunter side than the knife guy side on this. fwiw.
 
I used my spyderco dragonfly zdp189 with 20 degree inclusive edge to gut this years buck, worked great! A few passes on the strop and it was back to scary sharp.
 
It doesn't take a large knife for deer chores. I went for years using a single traditional for both small and large game as well as skinning many furbearers with the same knife.
 
22-rimfire said:
Personal opinion is that people make too big a deal about cutting around the anus or being ultra sanitary when field dressing a deer. Get the thing home and wash it down with water.... Of course, you don't want to empty the contents of the stomach or intestines inside the deer, which is common sense.
Click to expand...

I want it as clean as possible. My fathers land has water in which every deer was cleaned. Land I just purchased in western WI has no water yet. I'll take that trade off though for the big buck country I'm in now. :)
 
A third knife I used that I like is the Case Hunter Trapper. It's a nice 3 blade knife well suited to this chore
 
Droptyne already hit on this but once you have the deer hanging and pelvis split the anus can be cut around and pulled out and away without letting poop out. Some guys use string or zip ties to keep it closed up, I mainly just hold it and pull it away and into a large bucket under where my deer is hanging.


I use my neighbors processing equipment these days so hanging the deer on hooks and rolling it from one spot to another is easy, they also have a commercial band saw and grinder. In the shop the pelvis is split with a dewalt sawzall , for me this entire process is very fast and easy because of all the equipment and experience.


I've done deer in my garage too and used knives to cut steaks and process the whole deer. I much prefer a well stocked processing shop.:D

Hope that helps...
Poeschel said:
Can you explain this a little more? I'm having a hard time visualizing. I usually cut around the anus from the outside while he deer is on the ground during the gutting process. Then pull the poop shoot from the inside out. And by the way, that winkler is sweet. Reminds me of a schrade pattern on steroids. Not fond of the sheath though. Hard to get a belt through and when I have kydex, I like a solid click to let me know I'm in. Great knife though
Click to expand...

hunterjrg said:
I too am having a hard time visioning this.
Click to expand...
 
Buck 118 in D2 steel has worked great for deer, turkey, small game, and some fish the last 2 seasons. I haven't tried many steels but D2 is my favorite so far for cutting meat and hide. The upswept blade could be difficult during gutting but if you're familiar with your knife and with the gutting process, it's not a problem at all.
IMG_20141106_164856272_zpsf2b7662e.jpg
 
These look interesting:
03312.jpg


Unfortunately none of the selller's "buy" buttons work, and there is no price listed that I can see. But I like the idea behind the form and features for a skinner. I am thinking that the 5th one down looks the most practical to me.
 
Last edited:
Have used Opinel, Mora, Buck, green river, all with good results.
Now use Bark river drop point Hunter, North Star, Scandi because they are good AND pretty to look at.
 
JK Handmade Knives "Improved Bowie" did the field dressing, skinning and deboning duties very nicely on this Shawnee National Forest , buck.photo.jpg
 
I'm not talented enough to do it all with one knife. So I use Otter's Sailor's knife for skinning then Opinel's #122 Boning and a Mora #2 for the actual break down.
IMG_2777_zpssrmwhrof.jpg
[/URL][/IMG]
 
UAB89 said:
Whitetail caper by silver stag knives is my favorite hunting knife I have found! Made d2 steel hand finished and made in the USA plus it's not to expensive

e5252b85e00c432d28b2a3907f567a00.jpg
Click to expand...
Drool! Glad you posted it, I didn't know about these knives. I now know what I'm buying before next season!
 
I've used everything from a SAK to a 110, Sebenza to a Dozier. Reamed the anus, pulled it through and tied it with a zip tie, pulled and through and dropped the guts. If you don't cut hair they all work great. However,Dozier K4 or K2 are my fav
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top