Which Hunting knife?

It's over your budget but the benchmade triage is an excellent deer processor!
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gadunz said:
Different culture. Any NZ hunters who don't basically butcher their own kill are laughing stocks.
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And the dogs can lick the pig blood off your bare feet.
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To each their own. I prefer to take it to a butcher/processor. It isn't the skinning part, it is the nice cutting that they do that sells me on using a processor who does deer. I also like that they hang them in a cool environment to let the meat season a bit before they butcher. I generally can't do that unless it happens to be cold, but even when it's "cold", it still warms up during the day. Yeah, I have bacteria issues with this.

With regard to a hunting knife. There are a gazillion available and you should be perfectly fine with what you have. If you process your own kills, I would suggest a larger boning type knife for that purpose such as many have in their kitchen already. I can only tell you what I like. I like the Cabelas Alaskan Wildlife series Buck 192 (~$100), Spyderco Moran (~$100 or so), Kabar BK-15 ($40-$70), Fallkniven F1, and then a bunch that cost $200+. Some of the Bucks work and they are very affordable. The one I am going to use if I hunt this year is the Blackjack 124 made by Bark River or one of my Dozier handmades that are generally most excellent for hunting activities.

I like a pointy drop point such as the F1 for hunting if you are looking at blade shapes. You'll notice that my preference are all similar to the F1 (give or take an inch in blade length).

I used a Schrade 250T for years (large Buck 110 type knife with two blades) as my dominant hunting knife before I started getting interested in fixed blades. A traditional large trapper pattern knife works well too. You're only going to be using it for 30 minutes. With folders, just wash off well after use. If you are have bacteria concerns, rinse with chlorox later. This is not something I get hung up about with a knife.
 
Someone mentioned a BRKT Gunny - that would be an excellent choice (if you could find a used one close to your budget).

But, heck, for $100, you could instead get a handful of Mora Companions - they're great all-around (hunting, camping, fishing, bushcraft, kitchen, utility) knives, and you can get them in carbon or stainless:



 
gadunz said:
Different culture. Any NZ hunters who don't basically butcher their own kill are laughing stocks.
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Im not in NZ (unfortunatelay), but am of the opinion, that you shoot it, you (of course) process it yourself. Im mean what the heck!
Further more, some times I go hunting in desolate places and shooting a deer there means that you of course deal with it yourself right then and there in the middle of nowhere..
Sometimes local hunters might have a processing station, where you bring the deer, but you still deal with it yourself.
IMO the whole point is to get AWAY from civilazation. That means getting away from places and people, where others do your work for you.
Just my opinion of course YMMV.
 
Just to throw something different to the mix - have a look at knives from Jukka Hankala. His stainless blades are made of RWL34. I have bought one for my friend some 5 years ago - it is a very strong & well made knife. He is not a hunter, but used (abused would be the right work) the knife during construction works on his house and apart from very minor chipping and edge-roll the knife has hold up incredibly well. The handle from stacked birch bark has about the best grip you can get even with wet (or bloody) hands. It fits well also large hands. The sheath very well made too - very thick and strong leather. Still looks like new (had 0 maintenance). I think I payed 300€ (it is not a custom knife).

This is the knife in its new condition:



EDIT: Or you can also get one of the amazing hunters from Burt Foster (you may need to wait though - he has some available here and then)
 
Until I saw the $100 limit, I would say Dozier K2, but it's a little more.

2 great knives under $100 would be the CS Master Hunter in CPM 3V and the Buck Vanguard in S30V.
 
I'm cheap so I use Dexter Russell knives. I bought 5 of them for $60. I worked as a butcher for 22 years. That's the knife we used. In fact we processed a few hundred dear every year. Keep your knife sharp.
 
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Fallkniven PHK H1, F1. In that order. Last 2 can be found around your price point.
 
Spyderco Bradly Bowie in PSF27 carbon steel is my favorite. The blade is tough and takes a great edge, and the handle is the most comfortable I've used.
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Couple of my favorite field knives for field processing, I use another set for butchering.
Busse groove master
Bark River games keeper
Buck Vanguard
 

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The trick is to find, or even be, a (small town) butcher on the edge of good hunting grounds who quadruples as a hunting guide, taxidermist & tanner.
 
I skin and quarter up my deer and wild hogs using a 5" flexible fish fillet knife and a boning knife. I use a cheap folding knife with replaceable carpet blades to quickly "zip open" the hides.
 
The utility knife approach is not so bad for the initial "zipping" and quite frankly could be used for entire process. But to me, this approach is very uninteresting and lacks the flexibility of being able to comfortably cut the other things one might want to cut while hunting. Toss in the "survival" knife issues and I generally don't choose a utility knife. However, having a utility knife with you might not be a bad thing. Same goes with the fillet knife mention. What you want and need is SHARP. Almost everything else is subject to personal choice. There is a bit of style involved in choosing a hunting knife. It is not all utility and function.
 
. My local butcher said he mostly uses a 6" skinner, a 5" boner distantly followed by a cleaver, a 10" scimitar & a bandsaw.
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Many skinners which many NZ hunters use have been stolen ("borrowed for the weekend") from slaughterhouses they've worked in, so that style eventually became the NZ hunter's standard.
 
gadunz said:
Many skinners which many NZ hunters use have been stolen ("borrowed for the weekend") from slaughterhouses they've worked in, so that style eventually became the NZ hunter's standard.
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That would explain the Svord Curved Skinner:D
 
Field dressing and butchering I like to use different knives. Field dressing I prefer a knife with a minimal handle that fits all my fingers comfortably and a blade about the same length or a little longer than the handle. The blade needs to be as thin as it can be without readily flexing. In a butchering knife I like basically the same thing only with a little longer blade.
Sorry if that is a little vague, the verb is more important than the noun used to do it. Keeping hair out of your meat is a more important point to nitpick than the knife you used.
 
Well I personally like the Cutco Kabars. There are two civilian versions aside from their military version which they can't sell; one is the KA bar Explorer which is the combination straight edge and what they call the double D edge. The handle material of the Explorer is a patented kraton polymer and its overall blade length is 7 inches. Both blades are made out of 440A high carbon stainless steel which is an average blade steel except that Cutco puts it through a 3 step heat treatment process which makes it a lot more durable and gives them edge retention. The outdoorsman version of the KA bar is a five and a half inch straight blade with a handle material of glass reinforced nylon. Message me if you're interested, they both sell for just under 200 dollars each
 
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