Hunting knife suggestions

[becker_atc]

Well looks like i accidently left my truck unlocked one night recently and fianally noticed that that my good Westeren fixed blade knife that I used for skinning deer and other critters is missing now. So I need a replacement. Good fixed blade general purpose hunting knife WITHOUT gut hook. Always been a Case XX or Buck (US made) pocket knife carrier and looking at some of the case knives online right now. Sure are pretty lol. But I'm open to suggestions from the gallery.

Looked at walmart last night see if anything would fit and everything was some huge bowie knife, had a gut hook or was made in tiawan.

 

[chazroh]

Check out Mccroskey knives. Dave is great, and it is the best skinning knife. I just ordered another elk model for a friend. And he is local.

 

[Surveyor1653]

Coye Ridgeback

 

[TwoForFlinching]

Buy cheap steel and an expensive compact sharpener...

 

[ez bake]

If you skin with it (and want to use it for gutting, and especially you butcher it yourself as well), then I would get something with decent edge-retention properties. I hate having to stop part-way through a job just to sharpen.

The knife that fits you is going to be unique to your hands and how you like to use it. I typically butcher up my own deer. If you don't then things like ergos with absolutely no hot-spots probably aren't that important. If you have large/small hands, you'll have specific handle-size needs (Bill Coye's Ridgeback is a good knife, but the handle is quite small and the blade quite large proportionally to the handle - check out his Oscar Mike - it's a larger, better balanced knife in my opinion).

Things you have to consider (in no particular order):

Handle/scale shape/thickness - look for hot-spots when you grip it and overall comfort and ability to retain the knife in-hand even when wet
Scale Material - something you can get messy and quickly clean
Blade-shape/size - I like a well-rounded drop-point for skinning and it actually works well enough for butchering
Blade-steel/tempering - get a good steel - D2 is hard to beat, but when its being use outdoors there are better stain-resistant steels like CTS-XHP, S30V, 154CM/440C, etc.


My first choice would be to pick up a Spyderco MuleTeam (the next one is the MT-14 coming out soon in Carpenter Tool Steel's 204P and so far my MT-12 has been ridiculously sharp for an extremely long time and it's not too hard to sharpen with diamond/ceramic stones). You'll have to get some scales for it though as it comes naked - Halpern Titanium and KryptoGlow are good sources.

 

[ripnbst]

The Coye Oscar Mike would be what I'd buy, and I may one day but that's Mercedes Benz Prices when we are talking knives.

I'd recommend the Kershaw Diskin Hunter.

 

[EFsDad]

[Broken External Image]

This has been mine since 1996. It has been sharpened many times and skinned many a deer. Others may be better, but none of them are mine!

 

[SPDguns]

Check out Mccroskey knives. Dave is great, and it is the best skinning knife. I just ordered another elk model for a friend. And he is local.

DITTO This!! They are expensive but well worth it. Last year I completely field dressed (including cutting the sternum), boned out and butchered TWO deer. I was bragging on the knife to a friend and after last years deer, I showed it to him and shaved the hair off my arm. No sharpening after the two deer either!!

 

[chazroh]

Mccroskey fits the knife to your hand. It's really nice. I think He does great work. I have purchased three of them

 

[67RS/SSx2]

DITTO This!! They are expensive but well worth it. Last year I completely field dressed (including cutting the sternum), boned out and butchered TWO deer. I was bragging on the knife to a friend and after last years deer, I showed it to him and shaved the hair off my arm. No sharpening after the two deer either!!

This! While I do not claim to know a lot about knives, I recently purchased an Elk model from Dave McCrosky (as a hunting/skinning knife for my son) and would highly recommend him and the knife. He only makes custom knives, as in custom to fit your hand.

Great guy to talk to. Really knows knives and freely offers information/suggestions. I will be back to buy from Dave in the future.