Favorite Hunting Knife

Buck Vanguard

My buck 105 is attached to my safety harness.

I have the vanguard also

My actual favorite is this Russel skinner nlank that my good friend finished and donated as a prize for a muzzleloader shoot.
I won it fair and square! Scabbard too!

Bark River Mini Canadian.

Bark River "Highland Special" in carbon steel with Ivory Micarta scales:



Friend of mine that makes holsters made a bright orange Kydex sheath for it with great retention.

I like blades I have handled myself.



These I keep in a pack with me also.

This is my new favorite. I bought one for riding on my tractor to cut baler twine.
It morphed into buying one for each of my brothers and a few friends.
It's crazy sharp and fits my hand perfectly. The kicker is it was 12 dollars at Atwoods

I'm not a fan of trailing point blades like my Buck 121. The knife tip pointing down as I'm slicing through the skin of the abdomen takes extra care to not poke into the stomach or intestines. I prefer a drop point to keep a little more distance between the blade and the mess makers; I have a Kershaw that fits that bill.

I have to imagine a gut hook would make that part of task easier, but I've never tried one.

This old Japanese made Browning has served me well.

I like the small size and light weight, plus the mirror polished blades and wood and brass give it a nice look.

d31tc said:

I'm not a fan of trailing point blades like my Buck 121. The knife tip pointing down as I'm slicing through the skin of the abdomen takes extra care to not poke into the stomach or intestines. I prefer a drop point to keep a little more distance between the blade and the mess makers; I have a Kershaw that fits that bill.

I have to imagine a gut hook would make that part of task easier, but I've never tried one.

Click to expand...

Gut hook is nice.
After a while you learn a good technique to make it easier to not cut the guts with a regular knife.

Bfh_auto said:

This is my new favorite. I bought one for riding on my tractor to cut baler twine.
It morphed into buying one for each of my brothers and a few friends.
It's crazy sharp and fits my hand perfectly. The kicker is it was 12 dollars at Atwoods

Click to expand...

I've got a couple of them (Morakniv).. truck, UTV, day pack etc. It's a "scandi" grind, wicked sharp, and easy to keep that way. They really are a great value. Everybody should have a few:

https://morakniv.se/en/

Chuck R. said:

I've got a couple of them (Morakniv).. truck, UTV, day pack etc. It's a "scandi" grind, wicked sharp, and easy to keep that way. They really are a great value. Everybody should have a few:

https://morakniv.se/en/

Click to expand...

I totally agree. They are very underrated.
One of my brothers, my nephew, a friend and I have switched to using it as it primary knife. Even the sheath works better than expected.

I like to always carry a big knife, strapped to my right leg. I find the big knives do have their purposes. My K-bar has many many miles on it, as you can see, as was my go-to big knife for many many years, (had to gut my cougar with it when I discovered I had forgot to bring my other knives) but the Bushman and the Jungle Commander have kind of replaced it, as they will stand up to "batoning" which the handle of the K will not. (when you split wood by pounding on the back of the blade with another chunk of wood) Hey...I'm a bush-craft dude. When a friend shot a bear once, the Jungle commander cut down poles to make a stretcher in a very short time. (of course now I carry a small saw)

The Bushman is really a tough hunk of steel. You can't hurt it. I've been quite impressed with it. And...I can make a spear out of it! Bonus!

I've found the buck folder to be great for gutting, and have used it for most of my life to do that. But, I retired my Buck and now use that Old Timer in it's place, it was a gift from a co-worker when I retired.

The little "Bear MCG" I've not had a long time, but it comes in handy for all sorts of small chores, small game, cutting the end off a cigar, you name it. Also skins really good. I keep it strapped to the pack, the Old Timer on the pistol belt, and one of the big boys on the right leg, as mentioned. Also have an Imperial "Camp King" in my pocket, on a tether, and use that most of the time to keep everything else razor sharp.

Bfh_auto said:

I totally agree. They are very underrated.
One of my brothers, my nephew, a friend and I have switched to using it as it primary knife. Even the sheath works better than expected.

Click to expand...

And they even come in blaze orange so even I have a hard time losing them!

Not sure it’s my favorite but I have a Benchmade Steep Country in my pack and carry an Orange Buck 110 Slim Select and an Orange Case Trapper in my pockets.

My EDC knife. Swiss army knife. Although i do keep an old buck knife in my hunting bag.

I absolutely love this Buck Alpha crosslock! I've gutted and skinned many deer with it. I hate that Buck discontinued them, I hope I never break or lose this one. They're now "vintage" on Ebay.

I've had this knife for about 30 years. The handle is sized so it lays nicely in the palm of my hand and I can lay my index finger on top of it. This leaves my other hand free (which is nice when you are holding a flashlight in your mouth) and turns my index finger into a scalpel. I paid $135.00 for it 30 years ago. It's D2 steel and I have dressed two deer with it and it would still shave the hair off of my arm. $135.00 for a knife 30 years ago was a lot of money

Buck 119 for deer, 102 for things smaller

I want it to be my Randall Model 8, but it's secretly my Busse BAD...

Either a Case Trapper or Muskrat Skinner.

https://www.amazon.com/Morakniv-Outdoor-Sandvik-Stainless-4-3-Inch/dp/B01KHV9H0U

This. Mine is black, the Swedish military issue blade before they came up with the blaze orange model commercially. It takes scandi grind to a whole new level with the beveled front section. The thinner overall blade there makes the knife penetrate and the tip cut like a scalpel. I'll never skin with another blade style again. The regular Mora utilitarian knives are very good also. If you've never tried one, do yourself a favor and get one of the basic models for a working knife. You'll likely soon upgrade to this model for a primary field knife!

S90V slicey goodness. 3” has been plenty, even for elk. Believe it or not, she was still shaving hair after a solo skin/quarter on a mature cow elk.

Picture is from a few days ago putting mule deer in the freezer.

Outdoor edge swing blade. Trust me you won’t go back to anything else after using this.

My everyday knife is a carbon steel Case Trapper. It's the only knife I have in the woods. It's perfectly capable of skinning and gutting a deer but I've never used it for that.