Hunting knives and their uses - The Firearms Forum

johnlives4christ · 02-10-2011, 11:49 PM

i've been wondering about this for a while and from what i can tell the answers are varied depending on who you ask.

i've never skinned a critter other then a squirrel and im wondering about what the best knife is for deer, bear, and hog.

i've got these three

the top is a j e middleton bowie , then a henry uncle henry skinner and a gerber gator.

i've always thought that i'd take the bowie bear hunting with me. but how would such a large knife (15" overall) do skinning? what would the main purpose of this knife be? would it be a basic survival knife that could handle just about anything and be heavy enough to hammer with if needed? or is it basically useless.

the henry is a more wieldy knife and i would think it would be easier to skin with.

so what is the best type of knife to handle skinning bear and deer? whats a good compromise between size and style so i can get by with just one knife on my belt.

thanks for the input and God bless

~john

jack404 · 02-11-2011, 02:05 AM

i think knife design and patternage is as varied as there are knife makers

i know what i think i want for differing knives

i never skinned a bear but dont think i'd want to use your bowie if i could help it

and i'd use a very different knife again for a deer hide i wanted and different again for something like a croc ( still working on a design for that )

6" long curved blades seem to be the most functional of all types from some reading i did but again your call as to what you like , i know a bloke who is faster with a old taylor's witness pocket knife on bunnies than i am with my syringe ..

retired grunt · 02-11-2011, 04:35 AM

Either of the bottom 2 would work fine. The middle ones handle may become slippery where as the gerber rubber textured one will be easier to hold. If I had to pick one it would be the middle one one for the blade shape.

carver · 02-11-2011, 07:56 AM

The Bowie is a do it all type of knife. You can chop wood with it, skin game, or use it in a knife fight. The best all around knife, IMHO, is a knife that isn't too big, and not to small. Yet it has to have lots of strength. While the two knives you have pictured below the Bowie would be more comfortable to use in skinning a deer, or a bear, they may not have the strength to chop wood. I like a knife with strength, plus the correct blade design for skinning, and butchering a kill. Something like the Big Rock from Gerber. There are other knife makers out there who make knives just as good as the Big Rock, and some of them are even better suited for these tasks, but most of them come with a price tag! A good thick blade will stand up to lot that a thiner blade will not. While a smaller knife isn't much good for chopping wood, if the metal is thick enough, and has the strength, it can be pounded on with anohther peice of wood to drive into the peice you want to split.

Jay · 02-11-2011, 08:11 AM

This past Christmas, I bought my sone and I an ESEE-5. It's a real "truck of a knife. There's lots of choices out there.....

http://www.chestnutridgeknifeshop.co...87563f60239641

redwing carson · 02-11-2011, 08:34 AM

Big heavy knives for skinnng will give you a tired over worked wrist and arm pronto. A large knive is not needed or a wise choice for skinning. We often skin big elk with nothing more than a Case pocket knife called a Trapper. The pack saws are used to open the chest bone and cut the head lose. A knife that sharpens very easy is light in the hand makes a skinner. The old curved blade butcher knives work well. When cutting hair on a bear or elk moose etc. it dulls very fast. Nothing says "Dude Hunter" like a big Bowie knife on the belt.

RC

Bubblehead · 02-11-2011, 09:07 AM

I have a small thread drift question. I'm looking for an affordable hunting knife. What type of steel should I be looking for that provides a good balance between strength, sharpening ability and it's ability to hold an edge?

carver · 02-11-2011, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bubblehead

I have a small thread drift question. I'm looking for an affordable hunting knife. What type of steel should I be looking for that provides a good balance between strength, sharpening ability and it's ability to hold an edge?

Carbon steel will give you a good edge, and is easy to sharpen. It is not as hard, or brittle, as a stainless steel knife. And because of that it will take a lot more abuse, IMHO. After a lot of research on all around camping knives I settled on the Gerber Big Rock. Although it is made from stainless steel, the blade is 1/4 thick, and will stand up to a lot of abuse for the money. There are better knives out there, but not for the price of $25 - $35. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05p44ci3NH4

johnlives4christ · 02-11-2011, 08:09 PM

jay. that is a sweet looking knife

Jay · 02-11-2011, 09:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnlives4christ

jay. that is a sweet looking knife

Thanks, John.... as has been posted, there are likely better skinning knives out there, but this is a woods/survival knife. It can skin, but it can also do more stringent tasks.

johnlives4christ · 02-11-2011, 09:21 PM

i like the look of it and another the 4-s model and the 3. i've been looking on ebay. the wife likes the pink one

johnlives4christ · 02-11-2011, 09:40 PM

so if the bowie is too big for skinning... what good is it? didnt they have knives of this type in the old west or before in the mountain man era? what purpose would it have served?

Zane71464 · 02-12-2011, 12:56 AM

The knives I use, is for deer and smaller game. Here are a few I use the most and they have been USED! Several of them have seen their better days, but they all do they job they need to do. I dont carry "high $" knives out in the field for the fact Ive lost a few over the years...and the one that is actually one of my favorites, is the STIHL knife...an $8 knife at the time I bought it years ago. But does it ever keep an edge...it's been overly used and knicked.
The two Buck's and the Stihl, Ive had for over 20 years...well used and then some!

EDIT: These are pretty "rough" looking but they are "tools", and I use them as such.

carver · 02-12-2011, 06:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnlives4christ

so if the bowie is too big for skinning... what good is it? didnt they have knives of this type in the old west or before in the mountain man era? what purpose would it have served?

The Bowie was designed to be a do everything type of knife. That being said, it was not designed to be a skinner only. There are better knives out there for skinning game, but the Bowie will get the job done, just not as functional as a pure skinning knife. Personally, I like the Bowie just for the fact that it can do almost anything you need a knife to do. It's just not always the best tool for the job at hand. This is my favorite Bowie.

Jay · 02-12-2011, 06:57 AM

I can see where a lady would like a pink knife. That would be a good thing.

Carver, that's a nice looking Bowie.

carver · 02-12-2011, 07:11 AM

Thanks! They don't sell them anymore, but there is one on E bay for sale.

polishshooter · 02-12-2011, 07:24 AM

The Bowie was designed as a FIghting Knife, pure and simple. It even uses it's own technique, which is more chopping then slashing, with the heft to do real damage.

Along the way it developed into a "Utility Knife," and has many uses around the camp like digging holes. driving tent pegs, splitting wood, etc. But most guys who carried Bowies on the frontier "for real" also carried other knives for other purposes.

But remember EVERY knife is usually designed with ONE use in mind for which it is the BEST tool. But ANY knife CAN be used for other things, and are, but remember for everything else than for what they were designed they are a COMPROMISE. And like any compromise, some are good and some are bad.

Just like using the Bowie around the campsite. You REALLY would be better served with a shovel, an axe, or a hammer. And don't EVER use your blade as a screwdriver! (Although we probably have all done that at one time or another, and broken a NICE blade

)

Rather than a Bowie as a "Survival Knife" for the past 20 years or so I have not been in the woods or around a campsite without a quality Forged Tomahawk. It is a better fighting tool than a knife, and can be better used as a hammer, digging tool, wood splitter and is more easily thrown

plus it is sharpened with a FILE so easy to maintain. In the process it saves the much better blades on my knives for skinning gutting, whittling, and cutting up my food!

When I was 12, I bought an Edge Brand stag handled "Buffalo Skinner" Solingen steel knife for my first hunting knife. I used it exclusively for over 30 years. It gutted and skinned everything from deer to bunnies to birds. It cleaned fish and did all kninds of other chores. It didn't hold an edge forever, but it was easy to stone back into shape.

Then I LOST it in the woods.

The 5th replacement sheath needed replacement BEFORE I went hunting that year.

But since then I have been using a Western W84 Drop Blade for my "Hunter" which is MUCH better, the drop blade does NOT nick the intestines when Gutting, and is heavy enough for other chores.

For SKINNING I use a Carbon Steel Old Timer 152. Which is a FANTASTIC skinning knifem much better than the old 'Buffalo Skinner." It is SMALL, maneuverable, and easy on the hands and wrist. I GUESS I could gut a deer with it if I had to. But then my pocket 442 Buck that I use for EVERYTHING else including trimming cigars would probably do that too.

The point is, while for 30 years I carried and made do with ONE knife, I am much happier with more specialized blades for the task, even if I have to carry 3 (or 4?)

So to answer the original question...Why not carry alll THREE of them?

carver · 02-12-2011, 07:43 AM

Anything with a sharp edge will work. I have field dressed deer with a pin knife. It wasn't the ideal tool, but it got the job done. Just as will a stone knife. Carry how ever many you want, and spend what ever you want to on them. Just be sure to always have a knife on you.

johnlives4christ · 02-12-2011, 02:23 PM

thanks for the information guys. very helpful.

redwing carson · 02-12-2011, 07:51 PM

Polishshooter has it about right. The Rocky Mtn Fur trade skinners were smaller knives. The Bowie is mentioned in Texas and Civil War history. When Col Crane put a pistol ball in James Bowie at the SandBar fight it started a knife legend.

RC

johnlives4christ · 02-13-2011, 12:51 AM

i also have this folding hunting knife. its a jet aer brand copy of a buck 110.

one of the only things my daddy left me

Zane71464 · 02-13-2011, 08:35 PM

Ive had 3 Buck 110's. One my Dad gave me as a kid, one I bought at age 16 and while skinning out a deer a "fellow hunter" thought he needed it worse then me! And the one I have in the pic I posted...that knife has been used big time!
EDIT: I even engraved my name on it...just in case someone ever thought that they may need it worse then me...errr

johnlives4christ · 02-13-2011, 08:46 PM

i cant stand a thief. i'd gladly give something away as oppose to having someone take it.

im thinking about picking up a 110 and a 112, the smaller version. i really want the smaller one.

Tight Runner · 02-15-2011, 04:59 PM

This has got to be the most ironic statement I've heard in months.

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnlives4christ

i cant stand a thief.

johnlives4christ · 02-15-2011, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tight Runner

This has got to be the most ironic statement I've heard in months.

sometimes, one only hears what one wants to hear

02-10-2011, 11:49 PM	#1
johnlives4christ Former Guest Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Kentucky Posts: 3,828	Hunting knives and their uses i've been wondering about this for a while and from what i can tell the answers are varied depending on who you ask. i've never skinned a critter other then a squirrel and im wondering about what the best knife is for deer, bear, and hog. i've got these three the top is a j e middleton bowie , then a henry uncle henry skinner and a gerber gator. i've always thought that i'd take the bowie bear hunting with me. but how would such a large knife (15" overall) do skinning? what would the main purpose of this knife be? would it be a basic survival knife that could handle just about anything and be heavy enough to hammer with if needed? or is it basically useless. the henry is a more wieldy knife and i would think it would be easier to skin with. so what is the best type of knife to handle skinning bear and deer? whats a good compromise between size and style so i can get by with just one knife on my belt. thanks for the input and God bless ~john -->

02-11-2011, 02:05 AM	#2
jack404 Former Guest Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Australia Contributor Posts: 17,622	Re: Hunting knives and their uses i think knife design and patternage is as varied as there are knife makers i know what i think i want for differing knives i never skinned a bear but dont think i'd want to use your bowie if i could help it and i'd use a very different knife again for a deer hide i wanted and different again for something like a croc ( still working on a design for that ) 6" long curved blades seem to be the most functional of all types from some reading i did but again your call as to what you like , i know a bloke who is faster with a old taylor's witness pocket knife on bunnies than i am with my syringe ..

02-11-2011, 04:35 AM	#3
retired grunt V.I.P. Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Northern NY Posts: 416	Re: Hunting knives and their uses Either of the bottom 2 would work fine. The middle ones handle may become slippery where as the gerber rubber textured one will be easier to hold. If I had to pick one it would be the middle one one for the blade shape.

02-11-2011, 07:56 AM	#4
carver TFF Moderator/Host Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: DAV, Deep in the Pineywoods of East Texas, just west of Shreveport, LA Contributor Posts: 11,221	Re: Hunting knives and their uses The Bowie is a do it all type of knife. You can chop wood with it, skin game, or use it in a knife fight. The best all around knife, IMHO, is a knife that isn't too big, and not to small. Yet it has to have lots of strength. While the two knives you have pictured below the Bowie would be more comfortable to use in skinning a deer, or a bear, they may not have the strength to chop wood. I like a knife with strength, plus the correct blade design for skinning, and butchering a kill. Something like the Big Rock from Gerber. There are other knife makers out there who make knives just as good as the Big Rock, and some of them are even better suited for these tasks, but most of them come with a price tag! A good thick blade will stand up to lot that a thiner blade will not. While a smaller knife isn't much good for chopping wood, if the metal is thick enough, and has the strength, it can be pounded on with anohther peice of wood to drive into the peice you want to split. Attached Images __________________ Y'all be safe now, ya hear! Lamentations Chapter 5: 1. Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach. 2. Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. 3. We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers [are] as widows. 5. Our necks [are] under persecution: we labour, [and] have no rest. 16. The crown is fallen [from] our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned! 21. Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.

02-11-2011, 08:11 AM	#5
Jay Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Indiana Posts: 1,286	Re: Hunting knives and their uses This past Christmas, I bought my sone and I an ESEE-5. It's a real "truck of a knife. There's lots of choices out there..... http://www.chestnutridgeknifeshop.co...87563f60239641 __________________ "For those who fought for it, freedom has a flavor the protected cannot taste." "USMC 8652, 2531, RVN Jun '67, - May 69" Last edited by Jay; 02-11-2011 at 08:12 AM..

02-11-2011, 08:34 AM	#6
redwing carson Former Guest Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: western wyoming Posts: 734	Re: Hunting knives and their uses Big heavy knives for skinnng will give you a tired over worked wrist and arm pronto. A large knive is not needed or a wise choice for skinning. We often skin big elk with nothing more than a Case pocket knife called a Trapper. The pack saws are used to open the chest bone and cut the head lose. A knife that sharpens very easy is light in the hand makes a skinner. The old curved blade butcher knives work well. When cutting hair on a bear or elk moose etc. it dulls very fast. Nothing says "Dude Hunter" like a big Bowie knife on the belt. RC

02-11-2011, 09:07 AM	#7
Bubblehead V.I.P. Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Pioneer, CA Posts: 480	Re: Hunting knives and their uses I have a small thread drift question. I'm looking for an affordable hunting knife. What type of steel should I be looking for that provides a good balance between strength, sharpening ability and it's ability to hold an edge? __________________ There are only two types of ships: Submarines and Targets.

02-11-2011, 08:09 PM	#9
johnlives4christ Former Guest Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Kentucky Posts: 3,828	Re: Hunting knives and their uses jay. that is a sweet looking knife

02-11-2011, 09:21 PM	#11
johnlives4christ Former Guest Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Kentucky Posts: 3,828	Re: Hunting knives and their uses i like the look of it and another the 4-s model and the 3. i've been looking on ebay. the wife likes the pink one

02-11-2011, 09:40 PM	#12
johnlives4christ Former Guest Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Kentucky Posts: 3,828	Re: Hunting knives and their uses so if the bowie is too big for skinning... what good is it? didnt they have knives of this type in the old west or before in the mountain man era? what purpose would it have served?

02-12-2011, 12:56 AM	#13
Zane71464 Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Ohio NRA Member Contributor Posts: 5,350	Re: Hunting knives and their uses The knives I use, is for deer and smaller game. Here are a few I use the most and they have been USED! Several of them have seen their better days, but they all do they job they need to do. I dont carry "high $" knives out in the field for the fact Ive lost a few over the years...and the one that is actually one of my favorites, is the STIHL knife...an $8 knife at the time I bought it years ago. But does it ever keep an edge...it's been overly used and knicked. The two Buck's and the Stihl, Ive had for over 20 years...well used and then some! EDIT: These are pretty "rough" looking but they are "tools", and I use them as such. Attached Images __________________ Two Words; "Simple Man", song by Charlie Daniels sums up my thoughts on a "few things"! Last edited by Zane71464; 02-12-2011 at 02:39 AM.. Reason: add

02-12-2011, 06:57 AM	#15
Jay Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Indiana Posts: 1,286	Re: Hunting knives and their uses I can see where a lady would like a pink knife. That would be a good thing. Carver, that's a nice looking Bowie. __________________ "For those who fought for it, freedom has a flavor the protected cannot taste." "USMC 8652, 2531, RVN Jun '67, - May 69"

02-12-2011, 07:11 AM	#16
carver TFF Moderator/Host Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: DAV, Deep in the Pineywoods of East Texas, just west of Shreveport, LA Contributor Posts: 11,221	Re: Hunting knives and their uses Thanks! They don't sell them anymore, but there is one on E bay for sale. __________________ Y'all be safe now, ya hear! Lamentations Chapter 5: 1. Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach. 2. Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. 3. We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers [are] as widows. 5. Our necks [are] under persecution: we labour, [and] have no rest. 16. The crown is fallen [from] our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned! 21. Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.

02-12-2011, 07:24 AM	#17
polishshooter Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Indiana Contributor Posts: 7,859	Re: Hunting knives and their uses The Bowie was designed as a FIghting Knife, pure and simple. It even uses it's own technique, which is more chopping then slashing, with the heft to do real damage. Along the way it developed into a "Utility Knife," and has many uses around the camp like digging holes. driving tent pegs, splitting wood, etc. But most guys who carried Bowies on the frontier "for real" also carried other knives for other purposes. But remember EVERY knife is usually designed with ONE use in mind for which it is the BEST tool. But ANY knife CAN be used for other things, and are, but remember for everything else than for what they were designed they are a COMPROMISE. And like any compromise, some are good and some are bad. Just like using the Bowie around the campsite. You REALLY would be better served with a shovel, an axe, or a hammer. And don't EVER use your blade as a screwdriver! (Although we probably have all done that at one time or another, and broken a NICE blade) Rather than a Bowie as a "Survival Knife" for the past 20 years or so I have not been in the woods or around a campsite without a quality Forged Tomahawk. It is a better fighting tool than a knife, and can be better used as a hammer, digging tool, wood splitter and is more easily thrown plus it is sharpened with a FILE so easy to maintain. In the process it saves the much better blades on my knives for skinning gutting, whittling, and cutting up my food! When I was 12, I bought an Edge Brand stag handled "Buffalo Skinner" Solingen steel knife for my first hunting knife. I used it exclusively for over 30 years. It gutted and skinned everything from deer to bunnies to birds. It cleaned fish and did all kninds of other chores. It didn't hold an edge forever, but it was easy to stone back into shape. Then I LOST it in the woods. The 5th replacement sheath needed replacement BEFORE I went hunting that year. But since then I have been using a Western W84 Drop Blade for my "Hunter" which is MUCH better, the drop blade does NOT nick the intestines when Gutting, and is heavy enough for other chores. For SKINNING I use a Carbon Steel Old Timer 152. Which is a FANTASTIC skinning knifem much better than the old 'Buffalo Skinner." It is SMALL, maneuverable, and easy on the hands and wrist. I GUESS I could gut a deer with it if I had to. But then my pocket 442 Buck that I use for EVERYTHING else including trimming cigars would probably do that too. The point is, while for 30 years I carried and made do with ONE knife, I am much happier with more specialized blades for the task, even if I have to carry 3 (or 4?) So to answer the original question...Why not carry alll THREE of them? __________________ The problems we face today are there because the people who work for a living are outnumbered by those who vote for a living.

02-12-2011, 07:43 AM	#18
carver TFF Moderator/Host Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: DAV, Deep in the Pineywoods of East Texas, just west of Shreveport, LA Contributor Posts: 11,221	Re: Hunting knives and their uses Anything with a sharp edge will work. I have field dressed deer with a pin knife. It wasn't the ideal tool, but it got the job done. Just as will a stone knife. Carry how ever many you want, and spend what ever you want to on them. Just be sure to always have a knife on you. __________________ Y'all be safe now, ya hear! Lamentations Chapter 5: 1. Remember, O LORD, what is come upon us: consider, and behold our reproach. 2. Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. 3. We are orphans and fatherless, our mothers [are] as widows. 5. Our necks [are] under persecution: we labour, [and] have no rest. 16. The crown is fallen [from] our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned! 21. Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.

02-12-2011, 02:23 PM	#19
johnlives4christ Former Guest Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Kentucky Posts: 3,828	Re: Hunting knives and their uses thanks for the information guys. very helpful.

02-12-2011, 07:51 PM	#20
redwing carson Former Guest Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: western wyoming Posts: 734	Re: Hunting knives and their uses Polishshooter has it about right. The Rocky Mtn Fur trade skinners were smaller knives. The Bowie is mentioned in Texas and Civil War history. When Col Crane put a pistol ball in James Bowie at the SandBar fight it started a knife legend. RC

02-13-2011, 12:51 AM	#21
johnlives4christ Former Guest Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Kentucky Posts: 3,828	Re: Hunting knives and their uses i also have this folding hunting knife. its a jet aer brand copy of a buck 110. one of the only things my daddy left me

02-13-2011, 08:35 PM	#22
Zane71464 Advanced Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Ohio NRA Member Contributor Posts: 5,350	Re: Hunting knives and their uses Ive had 3 Buck 110's. One my Dad gave me as a kid, one I bought at age 16 and while skinning out a deer a "fellow hunter" thought he needed it worse then me! And the one I have in the pic I posted...that knife has been used big time! EDIT: I even engraved my name on it...just in case someone ever thought that they may need it worse then me...errr __________________ Two Words; "Simple Man", song by Charlie Daniels sums up my thoughts on a "few things"! Last edited by Zane71464; 02-13-2011 at 08:37 PM..

02-13-2011, 08:46 PM	#23
johnlives4christ Former Guest Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Kentucky Posts: 3,828	Re: Hunting knives and their uses i cant stand a thief. i'd gladly give something away as oppose to having someone take it. im thinking about picking up a 110 and a 112, the smaller version. i really want the smaller one.