Big hunting knives

Just some thoughts on hunting knives.

Two years ago I went to AK hunting moose.  My brother an I went pretty far north, stayed in an native village (pop. 200) for a few days then flew in with a native guide when the weather allowed.  A great trip, we saw lots of bull moose and many good trophies.  We both got good bulls that at mounted today.  One thing about having a guide is he cleaned and quartered both moose.  My brother and I had our hands filled (literally) just carrying the meat away.  Now we were at least 125 miles from the nearest human, and the guide could have left a lot of marginal meat even though you "must take it all".  He left nothing, he even took all the meat off the neck in thin bacon like strips.  Watching him work he took his time, but never stopped once after he started.  He was using a small "kitchen" knife called a "granny Knife".  I have the same 2 1/2 inch blade paring knife in my kitchen.  When he finished he wraped the knife in an old cloth soaked with years of blood and animal fat.

It was easy for me to see the ideal Christmas gift for this guy.  So I sent him the best quality 3 inch folding knife/w lock back I could find, complete with carrying case and a stone.

Next year I went bear hunting with this same guide, after a day in the village we went out  for 10 days.  On the way in he thanked me for the Christmas presents for he and his wife.  Again he produced and my brother and I got good Grizzly bears.  As he skinned the second bear I noticed the same blubber coated rag and the "Granny Knife" doing it's job.

It is interesting to me to think of all the bears, caribou, seals and moose that knife must have done.  It worked for him.  Any even at inflated AK prices, I suspect he paid less than $5 for that blade.  The rag was free, probably a part of an old worn out flannel shirt.

BEAR

Bear;

The Puma's are good knives, I have had several over the years.  Gave my Dad a White Hunter that he still has.  Lost my Hunter's Pal, but now I've got the same blade in a bit larger knife.  I think they call it the Drop-point Hunter.

I've been using a Buck Vanguard with the gut hook lately though.  I'm only doing one animal at a time, the knife doesn't cost much, & if I lose or really damage it, no big deal.  It does the job good enough.

900F

Personally I like a blade that's long enough to carry different types of edges.

 For me that's 5 1/4" to 5 3/4", I actually vary the pitch of the edge on the blade because I cut differently with different area's of the knife. 

  I put a steep edge by the handle up to the bend then I make it real flat about 20 degrees at the bend, then I get to 25 degree's again, and right at the tip I go 20 again.  I do this because I bone with the tip, skin with the bend and cut steaks with the rest. 

The case xxx set on the left is what I use today, got it in Germany many moon's ago.  The buck lite next too it was used on my first deer and a gift from my father.  I still carry it.  The two case xxx knives with black shealth's are the first two I ever bought they' seen many hog's, cow's, deer, coon, squirrel, rabbit, and and anything else I run across.  The rig on the right is a Kershaw change blade I picked up fer $7 at wally world.  Shealth was ripped, I sent it in and got a new one free.  Don't know what to do with it now, all I do know is i've got some sharpening to do. 

 

Spot

 

 

Rollinb put together my Green river.

  There's a pic of it on the other thread.

Real nice knife, I'll be breakin it in this year.

Spot

I'm kind of funny these days. I've found that several of the old Hickory kitchen knives are extremely useful outside the kitchen. I wouldn't hesitate to carry them for field dressing and general back country use. My brother in law makes good use of a "green river" style knife just as the mountain men of olde did. I think a lot of knives have left practical utility in the dirt in the name of art and style. I'm convinced that it makes sense to carry more than one knife if you are in the back country. One on the belt and one in the pocket. A multi tools adorns my belt daily and a Victorinox Huntsman rides in my pocket daily as well. When actually hunting a fixed 6" or better blade rides the belt as well. A small knife beats no knife, but some things require a robust cutting tool that just can't be done with a small folder or "bird knife". AW

In 88' I took my compound bow into the local wood on a sunday night to set in a stand for nuthin else ta do,was the weekend afore all hallow's eve. It was warm,I took nuthin but the bow,just ta get away,,ya know what I mean? Just at dark, my one an only wall hanger "suddenly" appeared from that damn cornfield an I stuck'im ta make a long story short.

I did a full field eviseration of that 185# dressed 9 point buck with one blade from a ThunderHead 125gr broadhead. I didn't want to hurt my self so I slapped one of the 3 blade head into a tree(not the same one,duh),unscrewed the head from the shaft and removed the one blade. Asshole came out clean,bladder,kidneys,slit the diaphram pulled all that, slit the esophages for cooling, then pulled the hock glands,,,did I learn my lesson?  A month ago I took the boy fer small game,,cleaned a squirrel right off with my favored "solingen" 6" hunter,hung it ta cool and did our walk about, the 2nd treerat come ta hand  reached for the knife an it was gone!!  I knew where it was,, we back tracked an cleaned the 2nd squirrel where we cleaned the first.

My point is; it's don't matter what blade a feller has ta hand as long as he know's it's with him, and he know's how to keep it sharp and use it.   I'm shocked at the price of good steel now a day's in stores!!  80-100$ fer a blade, how can they do that??

Re: sharpening tools.

I like the E-Z Lap.  It is a diamond rod and comes in a brass tube.  It is easy to carry and takes about 4 passes on each side to get a great blade back.

BEAR