Post by: watchmaker on August 29, 2007, 06:07:10 PM
Many of us hunters of long have a love affair with the tool of a successful hunt; the knife.
In our minds, we have this idea of the perfect knife that will fit our hand like a glove; that will perform surgery like a scalpel; that will not need to be sharpened ever, and will remove a cape as well as field dress and skin anything from a deer to a moose.
In our search for the perfect blade, we accumulate many of them that are probably as good as the best knife ever made, but in our search for Nirvana we keep adding new blades and hoping to do enough hunting to test all of them on game.
On the other hand, some hunters are not interested at all in the tool. My friend Frank that has probably field dressed at least fifty deer with the same Buck hunter knife in the last 20 years removes it from the pack once every year in hunting season to field dress a deer or two, and the blade goes back into the same pack to wait for next year’s job.
Perhaps his father being a butcher has something to do with it. He was taught how to field dress a deer early in life, and to him it is just a necessary job that has to be performed. To others like me it is a culmination of all our efforts and should be done as elegantly and as clean and bloodless as possible and with the most effective of tools.
I have found in my long search for the perfect blade that many of today’s knives in the market qualify as superb blades for the job. A good knife blade of 3 ½ to 4 inches will be plenty for most chores. Preferences in my case are for the drop-point blades, but I have had good service from clip points or other shapes.
Some of us like a fancy wood or antler handle or perhaps some engraving on the blade. Those I label dress knives and are a great way to stir a conversation between fellow hunters. I am one with that type of taste and will always appear at camp with a fancy blade. The truth is that I perform all of my field dressings with a plain one that I keep hidden in my pack.
Here is one of my fancy blades, the Browning model 122 one of one thousand, and the one that does the actual field dressing, a Buck 192 Vanguard.
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv111%2Fblackbear11784%2Fbrowningandbuck.jpg&hash=abd3784ec4b267dfb8ccfe0276138a33de7748d7)
Best wishes
Watchmaker
Post by: Michelle_Nelson on August 29, 2007, 09:07:09 PM
Post by: littletoes on September 02, 2007, 06:15:21 PM
Hey Michelle, mine have the "soft-grip" handles, white. How 'bout yours?
Post by: Hunting Cowboy on September 09, 2007, 05:34:05 PM
Post by: Michelle_Nelson on September 09, 2007, 07:55:41 PM
Hey Michelle, mine have the "soft-grip" handles, white. How 'bout yours?
Yep, I have had both kinds. The hard handle and the soft. I like both of them. Rather have the soft grip though. Since I moved here I havn't been able to find them. I am sure they sell the Dextar Russels some where.
Post by: littletoes on September 10, 2007, 06:46:24 PM
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/wwg/productIndex.shtml?originalValue=Dexter-Russell&operator=viewAllResultsSearch&searchIndexId=0
Post by: watchmaker on September 15, 2007, 08:02:11 AM
To "fit" in I dusted off my Mannlicher style Mauser 30-06 rifle and bought a White Hunter II Puma knife.
Here is it.
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv111%2Fblackbear11784%2Fwhithutwo.jpg&hash=a6e51e8b9ad9a5cddf599897fd493ed90f9be7a1)
Best
Watchmaker
Post by: Coasthunterjay on September 16, 2007, 09:59:30 AM
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cutco.com%2Fimages%2Fprod%2Fenlarged%2F5718.jpg&hash=43308a681d24a6baae772cca2eb5d6a76268dc2f)
Great quality and stays sharp forever........
Post by: Hunting Cowboy on September 18, 2007, 08:20:07 PM
Post by: reddog132 on September 28, 2007, 08:11:24 AM
(https://hunting-washington.com/smf/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv388%2Freddog132%2Fbladetech.jpg&hash=957d89d21e8dec09e0fcd01a0c51465e375d020b)
Post by: addicted on October 01, 2007, 04:03:47 PM
Post by: jackelope on October 01, 2007, 04:37:46 PM
i hope you feel different and learn otherwise, but i did not end up liking what i thought would be a great idea.
Post by: addicted on October 01, 2007, 04:42:29 PM
i like the kershaw knives...have 1 in my pocket right now. that said... i hate the blade trader and can't wait to get a new knife...with one blade. i thought it'd be a great idea, i learned it'sjust agiant pain in the butt for me to trade the blades out, i lost one, they don't hold an edge very well, etc.
i hope you feel different and learn otherwise, but i did not end up liking what i thought would be a great idea.
very well may be. only dressed a couple of animals so far.
Post by: Intruder on October 23, 2007, 12:16:38 PM
I'd like to get some of the Knives of Alaska brand knives. I've heard nothin but good things about em.
Post by: coonhound on December 28, 2007, 11:36:21 PM
I however am not to keen on the $250.00 price tag, I've been doing a little research and have found a few other brands that use S30V steel that aren't quite so spendy. I've also read several reviews that rank D2 steel as a very close second.
Coon
Post by: PNWCOONASS on February 12, 2008, 09:35:22 PM
Post by: Head-shot on February 12, 2008, 09:52:56 PM
Even though I used a basic leatherman to field dress my first deer,
Right on Pete, you are a military man. Go nowhere without the leatherman. I laughing but I've got an old leatherman and a Gerber multi tool as back-ups in my pack :chuckle:
Post by: PNWCOONASS on February 13, 2008, 06:16:42 AM
That was on a weapons station in Yorktown, VA. Hunting with a bunch of Navy guys who all grew up in the woods. You know the kind, the Hey watch this. It was a blast being there for 5 years.. Anyways didn't mean to steal the thread..
My point is sometimes you have to hunt with what you got until you can afford something of better quality. As long as you remain safe and get the job done.