It is seldom that I don't have a couple of knives in my pockets because there are multiple uses and reasons for carrying bladed tools or weapons...... It would be difficult to skin a deer with the same blade that would be used to butcher it with but there are numerous folding hunters that you could do it with if you have the patience and time......... I have had a Shrade folding hunter for 30 years that has been used to skin and butcher lots of rabbits as well as the bulk of skinning and butchering on a few deer but with deer I have a few knives that I will use and a butchering steel I use as I work to keep a fine edge on the blades I am using......... I am a fan of the Benchmade Osborne designed Rift but honestly I have used it very little but my son uses the one I gave him for about anything he has to cut through on his job as a high altitude tower worker.. I have the Rift with me often but also will carry a Cold Steel Voyager XL with serrated edge or a cheap S&W folding tanto lock blade that can be honed to be very sharp ... It is possible to get a decent folding lock blade knife for $20 that will work well for a lot of things and another for other things.. I have found good prices from numerous on line retailers of knives and have found that a lot of the Chinese brands like "Magnum", which is a division of Boker, has some nice folding knives for $12 to $20 from KennesawCutlery.Com or you can do a search for knives on Amazon.com and see offerings from numerous suppliers and at very good prices... You should have a couple of good quality knives and a couple of lesser priced knives for the stuff that could harm the good knives.. The cheaper knives usually don't hold an edge as well but are easily sharpened... I carried a Swiss Army Knife, Gerber Bowie, a shortened machete and KaBar combat knife in Vietnam and the only one I didn't use was the Gerber... It was always sharp and easily accessible but not something that I wanted to mess up by chopping and cutting chores....... A solidly constructed fixed blade camp knife stashed away for when you unpack and setup where you will be sleeping and cooking is a must..

I have tried benchmade and where not that impressed with them I do like the ken onion kershaws My E.D.C. is a victorionox swiss army knife not the largest of blades and not a combat blade, however for a practical carry within UK legal limits its one of the best knives on the market. For a fixed blade I have a Tenmylle Elk Ridge hunting knife with a 4 and a half inch blade for camping and hunting. As a back up with the hunting knife I use a tenmylle mtect extreme g10 handled lock knife with a 3 and 1/8 inch blade between the 2 all My basic hunting and camping needs are met however I do also have a custom skinner bought from blades UK which I also carry on hunting trips

I would choose a folding knife that has a carbon steel blade.
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