Need advice on a hunting knife

BRK Scagel Small Hunter (A2 steel & a little longer blade, though, at 4.5")
Hess Whitetail (1095 steel)

BRK has many, many hunting-centric models and frequently uses Elmax blade steel.

Good luck with your search!

 

I've had several Bark Rivers and they are well worth the money. I believe this one is the closest to what you want:
Bark River Knives: Classic Drop-Point Hunter - Elmax
Depending on handle material they run from the low $200s to a little over $300.

I would also check the exchange here daily for at least a week to see what pops up, there are many great hunters that can be had for under your $300 limit, with just the materials you specified.

 

Buck 103 is a solid choice and very well priced.

 

I really like Bark River. My personal choice for those tasks is the ext 2 however thats a little longer than you had specified. Fox River is very popular for game. Loveless style handled knives such as the drop point hunter or bobcat or featherweight hunter are good options. I also think the mini tundra (recent run just released) would be a good option. There is also a very nice clip point hunter just posted maybe yesterday for sale on the knife exchange. Hope that helps

 

Gollik knives ... a maker here on our forums uses Elmax and makes some nice knives ...

I'm not sure if Colin @ Shannon Labs uses Elmax but I think he does sometimes ...

LT Wright knives in AEB-L might check your boxes ...

With you wanting Elmax or similar steel limits my thoughts ... there are many good choices but the steel may not match Elmax ...

 

I haven't used the large hunter ... I have a few GNS and I really like my Outback ... the GNS I have 2 in AEB-L ... the Outback is 3V ... I'm not sure if they offer it in AEB-L yet or not ...

The large hunter is very similar to the Grohman belt knives and those handle well ...

LT Wright's 3V is good I love my Outback in 3V

here is a pic of my GNS knives and the LT Wright Outback ... and an LT Wright Rouge River in A2 ...

The top is a Battle Horse Big Jay ... the next 2 are Winklers ... then the LT Wright GNS knives 4 of those 2 in AEB-L and 2 in 01 ... then the Outback in 3V ... then an LT Wright Bushcrafter in 01 ... and then the bottom is an LT Wright Rouge River in A2 ...

 

My last 2 whitetails were field dressed (I'm 99% sure I'm remembering right) with my Cross Knives "Trapper" model with 3V steel and a burlap micarta handle.

Very well satisfied with the edge retention and "grippy-ness while bloody" qualities.

 

Bark river makes some knives that might work for you. You might try looking into Silver Stag too, they use the best D2 steel Ive ever seen. My skinning knife has never been resharpened actually, it just doesnt seem to dull. I strop it lightly after every deer or beaver or whatever but it never needs it. Plus theyre good looking knives and are unique.

 

My preferred hunting knife is the Loveless drop point at around 4" of blade. This W.C. Davis has been with me for many years and is my standard field knife. What I like about the pattern is that it's not too big, handles well, fits my hand, allows me to move up the blade when needed, has the point for fine work and slitting the skin while also having enough belly to allow skinning. The canvas micarta scales work well when wet, and it's easy to keep clean.



I usually carry a pocket knife also. I never was a trophy hunter, but that would be my choice for really fine work (around the ears, nose, etc). Likewise when I've gone upland hunting I tend to prefer a slimmer, thinner, blade for that.

This little Dunn Caping knife is a favorite of one of my cousin's who runs a trap line. He swears by it for taking a nice clean pelt.



There are a lot of choices out there for hunting knives, and as you can see, they tend to be specialist tools. Like a hammer, you're going to have to decide what's best for you. Good luck.

 

Take a look at the Bobcat model made by Bark River and exclusive to Knives Ship Free. It would be a great practical knife for hunting tasks. I have almost purchased it on a number of occasions when I was suffering a weak knife moment.

Bob Dozier makes some fantastic knives for hunting. Most are in D2.

 

That little Dunn caping knife is all anyone would need to field dress and skin a deer-sized animal. I like the bigger knives for collecting purposes but they are not necessary in the field for hunting. Guides do a little eye-roll when a client shows up with a knife with a four-inch blade. Nothing wrong with that particularly, just not necessary. When butchering meat a person does need a longer blade. Don't get me wrong; I am not dissing the bigger knives; I have some really big ones and a lot of them in the 4 to 6 inch range for blades. I rarely carry them, however. As far as steels go, it is good to lay in a supply of knives with all kinds, Elmax is one of the new kids on the block, of course. As for reasonable performance in the real world, 1095, 440C, 01, D2, 5160, ad nauseum are all fine, as well as the newer steels. Well, the bottom line: just can't have too many knives.

 

Since my previous post I remembered that before I got into customs for hunting, the Spyderco Southfork was the best knife I ever used on deer. CPM-S90V steel (even better than Elmax), micarta handles and great ergos made it the best factory hunter I ever used. Back when I had mine they were about $225 new. So I looked them up on the secondary markets (they're discontinued) and now they are going for $350 plus. If you could find one under $300, it would be hard to beat.

 

Actually, for hunting knives that do MORE than just field dress and skin a deer-sized animal, I love the very ordinary Buck knives in 102, 105, 118 and 121 iterations. They are just hard to beat and WAY less expensive than any Bark River.

 

Jeff, I done forgot to buy my Southfork like you told me to. I should have done that.