Let's See Your Hunting Knives

[Mortenson]

Here's the knife we got up at Reeds a few years ago. Maybe you MN guys know this one. It holds a pretty good edge.

 

[PatinPA]

Nothing special. I have two "go to" knives for hunting. The one that gets most use is the Schrade Isolate fixed blade. I like that the sheath has a sharpening stone, which helps keep the knife sharp for multiple deer or those accidental cuts into bone.
View attachment 74304
The other I keep handy, and has gotten me through lots of deer is the Buck 110 Folding Hunter
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That's what I still use too. I think it's 25+ years old at this point.

 

[T-Max]

Leave the tender loins behind?

Haven't been around it much, but you can sneak in from the top and snag the tenderloins out as well.

 

[BenA]

For the last 10 years or so, I've been doing the gutless method, deboning, and packing out the meat (even on a 50 acre piece where I can drive close to the deer). I just find it easier/faster overall, and I can process the meat later at my leisure. I like Wiebe knives. They're made for trappers/skinners, and do a really good job.

 

[Electrodigical]

Some years back a local hardware store was going out of business. I bought a Fiskars hatchet for no reason other than it was cheap. Had it with me in camp that winter and used it to skin and break down a deer. I was surprised how well it worked. Knowing this and never being one to do smart things, or pass up an excuse to buy something, I bought a Gränsfors Bruk mini hatchet. I've since used it to field dress two deer. No knife, just the mini hatchet. Crazy sharp, it worked amazing. Love it. But it's also a couple pounds of weight in my pack. So my most recent hunting knife purchase was a Knives of Alaska Ulu. (I've had tourist trinket Ulu forever, but never one made for using.) Next year we'll see how she goes.

 

[Turkish]

Some years back a local hardware store was going out of business. I bought a Fiskars hatchet for no reason other than it was cheap. Had it with me in camp that winter and used it to skin and break down a deer. I was surprised how well it worked. Knowing this and never being one to do smart things, or pass up an excuse to buy something, I bought a Gränsfors Bruk mini hatchet. I've since used it to field dress two deer. No knife, just the mini hatchet. Crazy sharp, it worked amazing. Love it. But it's also a couple pounds of weight in my pack. So my most recent hunting knife purchase was a Knives of Alaska Ulu. (I've had tourist trinket Ulu forever, but never one made for using.) Next year we'll see how she goes.

How do you manage to trim around the butthole to free it and pull through with the guts if you had no knife?

 

[Electrodigical]

lol I knew that question was coming.

With a "butt out" tool. I laughed at them for years. "Why would you need one of them?" "I never needed one of those before!" Then one brutally cold, brutally windy night, with frozen fingers, struggling to see in the dark and being blinded by wind blown snow... I made a real mess of one. Then afterwards I thought "Hmmm... for $7 maybe they're not a bad idea." Been using one ever since.

 

[Thomasc19]

Leave the tender loins behind?

A little tricky to get to but my guide was able to get them without dealing with most of the guts. If you search it up on youtube there should be videos on how to do it. I'm still going to be doing the standard gut-skin-quarter for whitetail though; the gutless method is only better if you're doing it out in the field

 

[drycreek]

Built by Rob Kiebler, almost too pretty to get bloody

 

[Natty Bumppo]

Built by Rob Kiebler, almost too pretty to get bloody View attachment 74833

Real nice! I've always wanted a custom knife. Larry Benoit used to make them when he was alive. Would love to find one at a decent price.

 

[buckdeer1]

You just cut under spine from the side and reach in and pull them out. Easier to do gutless on elk than whitetail and we only pack out if too muddy to get something else including a deer cart back there

 

[b116757]

My grandfathers Old Timer 250T he passed in 1981 I used it exclusively for gutting deer until probably 1989 then started swapping between it and a Buck 121 that I have around here someplace can’t seem to be able to find it this evening for some reason most likely it’s out in my truck door. I no longer really carry the Old Timer because it would hurt my soul a bit to much if I lost it at this time. I would still use my old Buck 121 but usually if my kids shoot something now we use one of their Christmas knives they each get one every Christmas I started buying them for them the year the youngest boy was born so there are a lot to choose from.