Question: Hunting Knifes

A

AfterTFD

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Oct 28, 2007
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This is probably a stupid question, but I suppose that just means that it'll get answered faster. :) It has been bugging me for a while.

What is the point of a "hunting knife"? I mean big ones like these:
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I know that to dress an animal even as large as an elk you only need a blade a few inches long. I've heard many hunters say that longer blades like bowie knives aren't even as useful for the task because they present a greater risk of cutting the guts accidentally if you aren't as careful as you should be.

If all you need is a little thing like that what's the point of a huge "hunting knife"? :confused: I know there has to be a reasonable intended use for them, but I can't figure it out. I should probably mention that I've never had the chance to go hunting.
 
I usually carry a 3-4 inch blade for field dressing. Its big enough to gut and skin a deer, or rabbit without being too much blade. Knives like the one pictured appeal to me, but I dont need one for hunting. Never cleaned an animal with a blade larger than 4 inches. Now, if you are trekking out to the field for a morning/afternoon of hunting, not much need in a knife like the ones you speak of, but if you are going to spend a week out...you might want a larger knife to tackle the chores of multiple days in the field. It really depends on what you expect to need a knife for, and some people prefer a longer blade/bigger blade because its easier to hold onto. Hope that helps
 
I think of it as a "jack of all trades but master of none" knife. It can can field dress game but not as easily as a smaller knife. It can clean fish but not as well as a fillet knife. It can be used for light baton work, etc..

If I was out roughing it for a week or two and could only have one knife, it might well be this one. But then again, when are we limited to one knife? One last reason to carry it? In my mind, it's the most beautiful design ever made.
 
I've used a 5 1/2" inch Kabar clip point - the short version with wood grips - to dress out a deer. It worked fine, and gave me good chopping performance on the pelvic bone. Short cuts were accomplished by choking up on the blade and using the fuller for grip. Hard to reach cuts were easier with the length.

I've used shorter blades, and have seen one done with a Case slipjoint, which got the job done. Most whitetail hunters don't quarter deer like elk hunters do, so smaller blades are ok, but in the field doing basically open air butchery, a longer knife works better.

Lots of hunters have used Buck, Ruana, Western, and others for decades in the 5-6 inch range. "Not needed" is a largely urban perception used by hunters who take everything to the processor - where the staff uses 5-8 inch butcher knives, cleavers, and the like.
 
Anything you can do with a small knife you can do with a big knife but not vice versa. A major custom Bowie maker [Ted Dowell I think but not sure} once skinned a mouse with a very large Bowie to prove this point. Or so the story goes. I normally carry a 4" R.J. Martin drop point for a day in the field but an extended camping trip warrants the extra weight of my C.S. Trailmaster to go along with it. A great chopper!
 
I don't own a Buck 119. I have found no need for a Buck 119 and I think Traker2 was right on in that it is a jack of all trades.... I have used a Buck 105 which has a 5" blade for 40 years. It has field dressed deer, elk, moose and antelope. Lately I have been using a Benchmade Griptillian 4 inch fixed blade drop point. Easy to sharpen, holds an edge and does most everything I want to do with a knife.
 
I've used big knives and small knives. For me, field dressing works better with blades less than 5.5". Anything longer is awkward up inside. Probably 3.5 to 4.5" is best for deer.
 
Depends what you mean by 'hunting'. The most common is a 4" blade which works for most things. If you are butchering a larger knife is better especially a large animal like elk or moose.Other camp uses do better with bigger knives also.The original Bowie knife was actually a large multi purpose "hunting" knife !!
 
Bill Bagwell wrote about bowie skinning a mouse in SOF in the '80's.
 
"Hunting Knife" is probably just a misnomer from days gone by. When people talk about a hunting knife as being large, they are most likely refering to a camp knife, generally more usefull to what is needed to support the hunt than just cleaning an animal.
 
Bumppo said:
"Hunting Knife" is probably just a misnomer from days gone by. When people talk about a hunting knife as being large, they are most likely refering to a camp knife, generally more usefull to what is needed to support the hunt than just cleaning an animal.
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Agreed. However, I took an elk last year (and, with a lot of luck, will again this year). A 4" drop point is perfect for the initial cut and removal of the internal organs, but fully field-dressing a 1000-pound animal is well beyond the capabilities of a 4" knife. You need a saw (for quartering the animal - nobody can drag a whole carcass that heavy for any distance, particularly at high altitude - and I'm talking 10-12,000 feet or so), and a much heavier knife (my Randall #12 9" blade is just about perfect) at the very least.
 
AfterTFD said:
Why not bring a machete or hatchet?
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A hatchet would be an excellent choice instead of the big Randall, and many hunters out here do, indeed, choose to go that route. But hey, when you own a $1,200 knife, you have to justify owning it somehow. :)
 
Haha, no kidding. If I had a $1,200 knife I would eat every meal with it even if it just meant chopping the top off a bag of microwave popcorn.
 
A lot of times a hunter will use the same knife for butchering and meat cutting. The long blade wins hands down for this kind of work. Things like slicing the round steaks or the loin steak on elk. There are times when I have killed a deer in the morning and had it deboned, cut and wrapped by evening. This all with the same knife like the Buck General or Special.
 
I always wondered about that too. I had just assumed that the knife was a throwback to hunting with dogs where the hunter would need a large knife for the coup de grace.
 
My "hunting" knives are a Buck 103 and a custom.

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I do not hunt anything larger than whitetail and those are perfect for field dressing deer. We hunt out of a cabin so a knife for camp chores is not needed.

If I hunted out of a camp I would still use one of those two and leave a separate knife and axe in camp for the chores.

I like a sharp knife for field dressing so I am a fan of having other knives for other jobs.
 
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