Quality all purpose knife for field dressing?

[apache12]

Some of you may have read my post over the past few months about elk hunting and I admit I'm a coues dear and javalina hunter not an experienced elk hunt. So when my son got his elk and surprised him with my old Buck knife as a gift. you know the ones old standard folding blade with the copper and wood handle. I thought it was pretty weathered with a beat sheath and that he might be OK. I had a newer gerber that I'd used in coues. I thought with the two knifes and a sharpener I'd be fine. Well, I was surprised that my Gerber was far quicker to get dull and the old buck stayed nice and sharp and didn't need one sharpen. So, I'm sure there are fine Gerber knifes but I thought I'd ask if there are some thought on a good all around knife. Or is it like asking for a good all around rifle, just not possible and I need multiple knives?

 

thanks

[.270]

when i hunt elk i always carry several knives. i never go without my wyoming knife and saw. only use the knife to unzip em with and use the saw all over the place. elk are a lot easier to gut if you roll em on their back, unzip the belly and split the brisket all the way to the windpipe and then start gutting. i carry big yellow handled camullus 2 blade lock back called a yellowjacket and i have a big old, old timer with the carbon steel blade. these will usually get me to the truck. one thing to always remember, elk hair is full of dirt. never cut on the hairside. it will take the edge off just like sticking your knife in the ground. flesh side only. another thing to do is to really learn how to sharpen a knife. my kids have started using these new interchangeable blade deals and man they work great too. i think Amanda even sells em. Lark.

[123456]

I have used a bunch of knives in the field and have found that on elk, I rarely will use a saw. The only time I saw is when I need to remove the head. I use the gutless method of field dressing. I do not eat any of the organs, so this is a great route for me. My knives are as follows. I use the piranta knives for skinning and have both a cold steel pendleton hunter, and a knives of alaska, ( heck i for got the name of it.) The trick is to get a knife with good steel. The knife of alaska is d2 tool steel. This steel has a rockwell hardness above 60 which means it will not dull nearly as fast as your average knife. With this hard steel, there is a trade off. These knives are very hard to sharpen, if the edge is completely lost. This weekend, I deboned 4 quarters and feild dressed a cow elk useing just the piranta and the cold steel. Gerber has some good knives, but you will see the big change in price when you buy one. Most of them are 440 steel. look for the knives that have 154 CM or D2 steel. Check out the gutless method online. Pretty cool and saves some cutting with the knives.

[kninebirddog]

I have the Havalon piranta knife and do everything with it from skinning quartering as I separate at the joints I do not like to saw bones. Over in texasI can cape and quarter two deer per blade...Just keep the fat wiped down when I need a sharp blade I just pop off the old one and replace with a new one as they use number 60 scalpel blades..on elk I used one for caping and another for quartering was quite a bit of fat which built up to fast

[azslim]

I carry a flexible bladed boning knife and a handful of pillow cases and do the gutless method

[pwrguy]

I stopped carring multiple knifes and sharpeners. The only knife I carry is a havalon and about 10 replacement blades. I got stuck with a moose and no other knifes or saws last year, and I completely boned out that moose and took his head of with just the havalon. Not something I would have planned on, I alway's like to have bone saws around to work on bigger game, especially if you are going to be hauling it with a quad or truck. If you are in the back country, you are going to want to leave most or all of the bone except the rack. Anyway, I own several knifes that have mostly sentimental value and rarely get used.

[CouesWhitetail]

Havalon knives are amazing! but you have to be careful!!

http://www.coueswhitetail.com/bookstore/havalon_knives.htm

 

They aren't exactly what I would call an all-purpose knife, since you can't twist or pry with them, but they are phenomenal at skinning and cutting up meat. They last pretty long, but if it gets dull, you just put a new one on....CAREFULLY!!!

[Redman]

For elk I use two knifes one being a Cold Steel and the other an Outdoor Edge Flip and prefer the gutless method....we were able to get the truck to my son's elk this year, but after the dirty job of gutting then de-boneing later I could have unziped her in less time with less mess in the field.

[apache12]

Great stuff on the knives.

So tell me if I did this right? My boys elk was on the side a very very steep ridge, I'm sure you've all been there. But with a coues I can muscle it a round and take care of it. This was so steep that when the elk dropped it rolled until it him some logs. We just me and the boy we couldn't move it to a flat spot so I tide the two top legs up hill to some trees and gutted and cut the anus, and then sawed to the throat. The problem was that the gut pile and blood spilled out and know I was fighting to keep my keep in the slop. I also didn't want the elk to slip into the mess. I skinned it legs up the the spin, just over acually and quartered and took the strap. It was hot 70 or so and I wanted the hide off quick. Then the tough part. I tied the bottom legs and flipper her legs up hill on the stretched out hide and then spun her around legs down, then skinned her spin down to the legs and quartered and took the straps and loins. I struggled with the neck meat and did my best. My boy wanted the hide but I admit it was tough to do a good skin job on that slop. We couldn't drag her down with all the downed logs from the RC fire. Any thoughts I want I could have done different or easier? I wanted to gut it because I like the liver. Yum. and I wanted my boy to get bloody.

[billrquimby]

For deer, I carry a 50-year-old Case knife with two 4-inch blades. It stays sharp long enough to gut, skin and quarter any big mule deer.

 

For elk, I use the same knife along with an old Buck knife and a full-size meat saw. With my old, hurting legs and lungs, I am incapable of getting too far from my truck, in which I carry cloth bags, a block and tackle, sharpening tools, lots of rope, and anything else I think I'll need.

 

I've lucked out on my last two elk, though. My friends, Bill, Don, and Dave Mattausch, were along to keep me from getting into trouble and even gutted and loaded the carcasses for me!

 

Bill Quimby

[COOSEFAN]

I used to carry a separate small bag full of knives. I loved the Alaska Knives and the custom John Toner knives and I had an assortment of other knives as well in that bag.

 

Then along came the Havalon Piranta and I haven't touched a different knife since!

 

I still keep my knife bag with all my other knives in my truck, but those are only for other folks to use because I don't trust other people using a Havalon around me!

 

I skin, cape and bone out a bunch of critters every year and all I carry with me is a Havalon Piranta with extra blades. It's lighter, cheaper and MUCH sharper!

[Millhouse]

QUOTE: "I don't trust other people using a Havalon around me!"

 

+1

[dzell]

I have an old single blade folding kabar I found in the road full of elk hair a few years back its a great knife by far the best ive ever owned.

[KaibabHunter]

I have my hunting knives but for a weight/space saver I got a utility knife with a 50 pack of replaceable razor blades and it worked great on my boys cow. They even make a gut hook style razor blade for it. Only used 2 blades for a mature cow elk. Maybe not the best but it worked really well I thought.

[Kaffer62]

I carry the Havalon Piranta in my pack to use on the animals, and just a small folding knife in my pocket for everyday uses