Skinning, Field Dressing Knife

V

Vigilan

Joined
Oct 3, 2013
Messages
19
I didn't see a hunting forum, and I wanted to ask the experts so tell me what you think.

http://fieldtorqknives.com/

The use is obvious, I don't know if I want to go D2 for edge retention. And I'm thinking of adding a cheater bar to my pack to make this action a little easier. What do you think hunters? Will it work?
 
Get a simple ,well made knife ,learn how to use it properly an you won't need gadgets.
 
mete said:
Get a simple ,well made knife ,learn how to use it properly an you won't need gadgets.
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With all due respect, I dont know how you call this a "gadget". its a single tang fixed blade knife with a different shape. Its not like its an electric turkey carver or something.

Also I do currently carry a simple well made fillet knife and i use my GB Wildlife Hatchet to cut the pelvis. just shaving the extra pound off my pack weight is worth it, let alone pack space, safety, and the added insurance of not puncturing an organ while unzipping the belly.
 
If you are already sold on this gadget, go ahead and buy it. I don't see it well suited for anything, but that is just me.

Schrade Sharpfinger, mid 1970's and still works fine. The Lone Ranger, John Hart carried one and so have I for more than thirty five years.
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or it's modern custom cousin, a Weeks SPK
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Shave a pound? If you carried a more traditional field knife, you could leave the filet knife and hatchet at home. I've cut the pelvis with a regular Case pocket knife. A small fixed blade is all you need for field chores.

I like gadgets. So I can understand wanting to try something out. But I do suggest you keep a good sharp pocket knife in your pocket just in case it doesn't work the way you envision it working.

If it works, I could see something like that if you field dress many deer, but most are only field dressing one or perhaps two deer in a season.
 
Three to a dozen or more a year. No saw. No hatchet and no bone splinters or bone dust. And no split paunches.

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You shoot that many Codger? Wow. I know its possible in TN. What on earth do you do with all the meat?
 
I eat a lot of meat. And I butcher for other hunters. I could conceivably kill several dozen deer a year legally and tagged here. But two to three is usual. And others bring me deer to dress, butcher and process. I make upward of fifty pounds of jerky a year. But even this is less than I used to do when I belonged to a 100 member hunting club in Arkansas. By the way, I never found a good reason to split a pelvis. In the above picture you can see the pelvic hip socket ... they come apart at the joints. All that is left is a pelvis attached to a spine topped by a head.

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i agree with codger. never split a pelvis before. I do use a saw for the sternum however. I've never been able to find those "buttons" that are supposed to be cuttable with a knife.
 
just looked at the knife. Stay away. Sharpening would be almost impossible. Just use a good sharp knife thats easy to clean
 
Two years ago I bagged my best buck to date. It was huge compared to my past deer (sorry about the bragging)... So getting ready for the gutting I realized I forgot my usual knife in my vehicle but in my pack was a $10 kershaw crown. That knife made short work of that deer. It's been my experience as long as its relatively sharp most any knife will suffice.
 
Splitting the pelvis is not necessary if you can clean out the usual stuff in that area. I cut the pelvis for the most part "just because" as it was always the way I did things and read about as a young hunter. Must be an teaching old dog new tricks kind of thing.

Yes, I field dressed one with my regular SAK Tinker or Soldier that I had in my pocket. Realized I left the dedicated knife (s) in my truck and didn't feel like walking back with a deer on the ground. Any sharp knife will do. A one inch blade might be a bit of a challenge, but it certainly would work.
 
22-rimfire said:
Splitting the pelvis is not necessary if you can clean out the usual stuff in that area. I cut the pelvis for the most part "just because" as it was always the way I did things and read about as a young hunter. Must be an teaching old dog new tricks kind of thing.

Yes, I field dressed one with my regular SAK Tinker or Soldier that I had in my pocket. Realized I left the dedicated knife (s) in my truck and didn't feel like walking back with a deer on the ground. Any sharp knife will do. A one inch blade might be a bit of a challenge, but it certainly would work.
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I've never lost anything inside a pelvis that I needed to split it to find. And pelvis soup, like antler soup, is mighty thin. At best, I want to get to the two thin strips of meat that lie on either side of the inner spine behind the intestines. And I like to keep some of the upper organ meats on occasion. Otherwise, none of that will affect the hams, shoulders, backstraps and neck meat I have removed.

I've been caught out without a proper knife several times. I have used a "peanut" knife to field dress a deer and then out of curiosity, used the same knife to completely skin, dress and butcher that deer. It was time consuming but doable.
 
I have found that skinning and field dressing can be done with most any sharp blade (I typically use either a Buck 110 or 119). Processing the meat afterwards becomes easier with "specialized" cutlery, ie good boning knives. I don't remember splitting the pelvis on any deer I have processed, and that totals quite a few deer.
 
It looks like an over priced one trick pony to me. I generally have either my buck 110 or the sharpfinger. this summer, I needed to thin my herd a bit. I keep goats and sheep. one of my friends and I decided to work together. I think we killed 3 or 4 sheep and a goat that day. I just used the two knives I mentioned above. my friend had a $20 Mossberg knife with a gut hook. I have to admit, the hook did go quite a bit faster on the initial skin cuts. My neighbor bought a 6$ plastic tool that is basically the same as the gut hook, but takes a simple razor blade. it worked just as well. I also like the look of those "zipper" hook knives. it is basically a gut hook and a finger hole. they are pretty cheap, and because of the shape are actually not that likely to dull quickly. the edge cant really contact much of anything, except the skin you are trying to cut. I think a sharp finge and a "zipper" hook would handle anything.
 
Ive read about "splitting the pelvis" as a means of "cooling the hams faster. that makes no real sence to me tho. not for cleanout. use a string for that. tie the bits shut that need to stay shut, cut them free and pull them through.
 
I have found that splitting the pelvis exposes the inner thigh meat and dries it out. I prefer to just cut around the anus.
 
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