Why do knifemakers make 5" + blades and call them Hunters?

I think it boils down to combat-style knives looking cool, the influence of the movie "Rambo," and the explosion of tacti-cool culture. Guards? long blades? heavy blades? All hallmarks of weapons... i.e., "knives" used to fight or kill people: Bowie Knife, Arkansas Toothpick, Short swords, Tantos, etc.

Somewhere along the line--probably when the movie "Rambo" came out--people started confusing those combat knives for actual, useful field tools (or "survival"/woods knives). Real outdoorsmen always laughed at those Rambo-inspired monster knives. But mall ninjas never got the message. So that's why people want 15-inch "camp knives," with a back guard and names like "peacemaker."
 
my stepdad carries a knife he got free for being in the nahc and i watched him dull the knife till it couldnt cut butter only about 5 inches into the belly of the deer. i then proceeded to pull out my kabar and in the amount of time it took him to dull his knife i had the deer cut open and gutted. he still prefers a small knife though
 
Necroposticus Rex!

I watched a few videos on youtube, to answer this exact question. It looks like the average knife for dressing out a deer these days, is just about 4". One dude is starting out with a skinning knife, then switches to a more pointy knife, then uses a saw as well.
 
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