Knife recommendations for preparing game?

After posting about preparing game for cooking, i saw that a decent knife would be a huge bonus.

It made me think about the couple of knives that i have for general outdoor work, and how inappropriate they would be for much of the field dressing, skinning, butchering and processing of animals.

So a rethink is in order. Can anyone recommend a good brand of knife for dealing with game? Can you get away with one knife for the lot, or do you really need a couple?

Any pointers about what to look for?

Thanks,

CX.

There are hundreds of knives that would perform well in a wide range of applications.

I prefer a full tang knife, drop point, and while I have several, I like one that has a thicker blade, which can be twisted and used to help pry bone joints and such apart when I'm in a bit of a hurry.

The harder the steel, carbon or stainless, the harder to sharpen, yet the better it holds its edge.

Good carbon steel has advantages, and stainless steel has advantages. Whatever you get, learn to sharpen the knife efficiently. One single hog, and you've dulled your knife.

Look at the various skinning knives. Read articles that review these knives, and even custom knives are very affordable.

A good knife will last you a lifetime if you care for it.

A flexible fish fillet knife works great for separating meat from bone. GERBER inc. makes great survival type knives for rest of the job. PEACE

I'm partial to benchmade knives. They may cost a little more than a Gerber but I think they perfomr much better. They are sharper and hold an edge better. Another nice thing about them is you can send the knife to the factory with $5 and they will resharpen it to the original standard and send it back to you.

The Ulu is an amazing tool. It's too bad not many people know of its multiple uses other than Alaskans.

www.theulufactory.com...

[edit on 2-2-2009 by The Undertaker]

Any high carbon steel knife will work. Look for one with a curved blade about 6 inches or so. And you also want a small hatchet to acompany your carving knife.
About those Ulus. Those things are awesome.

I've found that either a gut hook incorperated as part of the back side of the point or a seperate knife designed to function as a gut hook can make the job alot easier.

Yes - you can do the job without a gut hook, but having one makes things easier for those with less experience.

Originally posted by The Undertaker
The Ulu is an amazing tool. It's too bad not many people know of its multiple uses other than Alaskans.

www.theulufactory.com...

[edit on 2-2-2009 by The Undertaker]

Ulu is a fantastic tool once you have mastered it. Speaking of which, I should toss one in my BOB.

Used by people of the far north for centuries, excellent for taking apart larger fish, seals, moose, deer, etc... Also can be fashioned from pretty much anything sharp if you know what you are doing. Ive seen them made from tin cans.

Aside from that I like full tang knives, currently I use a cold steel drop point. Somewhat spendy, but keeps its edge and can preform any skinning/cutting function I need. Not too large for small game, and enough size for big game.

Also, if your plans involve large animals, i.e. moose, deer, bear, elk, etc... keep a pack saw on hand, makes getting through the pelvic bone much easier.

As someone else stated, keep your knives sharp, nothing worse than field dressing game in the cold with a dull knife.

reply to post by CX


Ka-Bar: If you are only going to carry one knife.

i always preferred practicality over the "that looks cool" factor, i own a good set of kitchen knives which i use almost every day, they'll go straight into my bag as i run out the door should anything happen. i don't see any need for other cool looking survival knives.

they're not all that heavy in comparison to their importance.

maybe just me.

[edit on 3/2/09 by pieman]

If you only plan on carrying one knife, make sure it's sharp enough to do the business, rough and tumble enough to use for hammering and prying, hard enough to hold the edge for more than five minutes, soft enough to take a new edge, heavy enough to chop with, and not so long as to be unmanageable when gutting and skinning.

With those criteria in mind, go looking at the products of well-respected knife makers and you're sure to find something suitable.

A gut hook is handy, but not necessary, and depending on what file set you carry it can be impossible to sharpen. I pack a set of credit-card thin diamond stones, and a single small round file, but I don't carry a gut hook, go figure...

You shouldn't have just one knife - but if you must, be sure it's the right one.

Kabar isn't a bad choice at all.

My primary fixed blade is a Gerber Infantry model - it's a good knife I think, very versatile; it does everything I need it to do (fills all the criteria I listed in the first paragraph). It's got enough of a point to do some delicate work, but not such a sharp point that I have to worry about it twisting or snapping off.