Opinions wanted on best knife for deer hunters?

D

DaveT63

Joined
Feb 26, 2007
Messages
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I have a guy in my office looking for a new knife to use when hunting/skinning deer. I'm not a hunter, so i thought I'd as for recommendations here. His requirements are it's got to take AND hold a good edge for cleaning more than one or two deer before needing sharpened again.

Obviously not about to recommend a Taylor Schrade to him. Good old USA made only.

So, the 152OT? 158OT with the guthook? Or maybe a folder like the LB7, 7OT, 9OT, or even a 49OT?

And what about the steel? Stainless, or carbon?

Any recommendations would be appreciated. Even if you don't recommend a Schrade.

Thanks,

Dave
 
Always been a Towny so never really got into hunting that much, so in turn never dressed a Deer, I think I would want to grab a 15OT to start with and move down to a 152OT, just a guess. I think I have heard some say they have dressed a whole Deer using nothing but a 152OT.

Russell
 
I have an old 2941 Schrade Heritage trapper that is my go to knife every hunting season. It has stainless steel but sharpens very easily and holds it's edge through a couple of deer. The shield is long gone and it is rough looking but it stills does everything I ask of it. I actually just got it out and sharpened for the upcoming season.:D
 
:thumbup:I would say the 152OT Sharp Finger is a favorite but 125OT Mustang is a good choice also I personally prefer carbon also another perinal favorite 153UH Golden Spike older carbon model, seems the schrade+ is more common in this model. There are other fixed blade options 150OT Deerslayer, 165OT Woodsman, 158OT Guthook, 154OT, etc etc, also lots of deer have been cleaned using a slippy 8OT,34,77,61,98,etc etc. One thing to be SURE of you can't go wrong suggesting a good OLE USA made Schrade product. :D;)
 
165OT does a great job, i prefer the Schrade Walden era knives myself. 152OT is also a great choice.The 15OT if your used to a larger knife., good luck. G.M
 
Personally, I have 3 or 4 knives that I choose from. I don't care for a big cumbersome one. Generally I'll use my pocket knife to gut them then i go to my drop tine fixed blade to do the rest of the skinning and quartering. A drop tined blade 4 inch blade works best for my needs. My favorite Schrade is my 150 OT. That knife has broke down a lot of deer and elk the last 31 years. In "91" i shot a nice fat spike bull elk late in the day and was up against time and used my pocket knife for the whole job. I keep a small dressing stone in my daypack, kept the edge touched up and it did a great job. I guess what I'm saying is, you know your knife, and if it's comfortable in your hand, you started out with a good edge, keep your dressing stone handy,your field dressing and butchering should go smoothly. Keep the edge on, Dale H.
 
i have hunted a lot and for about the last 25 years have always brought along and usually used, my 152OT. however if your friend's desire is for a steel that can do more than 1 big game field dressing without any requirement for touch ups, no Schrade steel really fills the bill.
my suggestion is to visit the Fixed Blade for sale Custom knife forum here and spend a few weeks viewing all the knives presented. there are many very talanted makers who post here and an excellent Hunter can be had for under $200. i have bought quite a few of these in various steels:including S30V, ATS-34, D2, 154CM, CMP-3V. i think these last 3 perform the best and with a good edge bevel of 20 degrees or less per side, will do more than 1 animal.
440-C works very well too but does not quite have the same edge holding ability.
pm me if you want specific recommendations. roland
 
Thanks for all the input everybody! I think he is opting for either a 152OT, 158OT, or 125OT, preferably carbon steel.

Thanks again,

Dave
 
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