1 Field knife to take on any hunt

[C Bow]

This gentleman does QUALITY WORK

 

[Valumpessa]

I've used a White River M1 Pro for a few years now with very good results.

 

[MTlan66]

Regardless of what you decide, buy a Mora knife or two anyways.

 

[jonnyviceroy]

The argali carbon has never let me down and still impresses me with how well it holds an edge. I’ve deboned multiple deer before without even touching up the blade.

 

[Coopsdaddy]

If one only
Mora kansbol.
It’s not the best at anything but good at everything and you can buy 12 of them for one mkc.

 

[criff]

I’m down to the one. I need sharp, nimble, a pointy tip, easy to sharpen.

Processing game is primary. Fish, fowl, beast. I don’t whittle , strike sparks , baton wood.


Blackfoot 2.0.

 

[6mm Remington]

Ruana Steelhead model & 5AD are both great knives as is the 95AD. Better hurry though as Ruana is about at the end. Awesome knives.
5AD 4" blade

Steelhead 3 1/2" blade

95AD 4 1/4" blade

These are my personal favorites of the models that they make. Each of these are outstanding and made by hand as Rudy Ruana started making them in 1938.

 

[Ajsomp]

I’m partial to the CBK. I prefer the carbon steel flat grind.

 

[Tommyhaak]

I second the Canadian Belt Knife. The Grohman #1 is all I use these days…

https://www.grohmannknives.com/index.php/products/outdoor/1-original-design-182-detail

 

[Maineotter]

I dont get into anything bigger than deer or blackbear often, and for me Ive fallen in love with the Benchmade Flyway. Its definitely too small for moose, but for deer or black bear (short of the big ones) its perfect. I like knives with an upswept tip even though common sense says they paunch easier.
My second favorite is a Benchmade Meatcrafter 4". Both of these knives have very fine tips and are for slicing, DEFINITELY not prying. I can do a deer, strop it, and shave in 30 seconds after.
I used a Browning D2 trout knife forever, still have several spares in case I ever lose one.
On the razor blade knifes you buy new blades for, be careful. I had a razor blade detach from the handle in a mooses, uh, ummm.... where the brown pellets come out. Not at all a good spot to lose a razor blade.
Guys talking about steel are on the right track too. Harder steels like D2 are phenomenal for edge retention, but require diamond stones and strops. If you get diamond stones dont press hard or youll scrape the diamond particles off the base. Carbon steel you could sharpen on a rock and hone on the bottom of a coffee cup, but it dulls faster. Whatever you do look into strops for the final edge. I have a portable diamond stone in a leather pouch. The pouch itself is a strop and if I dull my knife I can go back to shaving sharp in a few minutes. Few swipes on the diamond few swipes on the strop

 

[Pookie]

I've found 3" knives with FULL size handles to be a fantastic size for field dressing and disassembly. Control is more important than length.
It's also a great size for so much else and gives an excuse not to compromise on the 6" you want anyway.

 

[Flswamprat]

This gentleman does QUALITY WORK

Wow those are beautiful! Love that.

I currently love my Benchmade Hidden Canyon Hunter for everything I do.

 

[Maineotter]

 

[tak]

I would take the dixi zipper over any og my mkc knives.

The only knife I would consider over it is a heavily customized esee 3 I have. But specifically for cutting up animals the zipper wins out.

Care to share pics or explain what you've done to your esee 3? I love mine, and it's probably my favorite camping knife, it's fine for cutting up animals, but not my favorite.

 

[justinspicher]

So far I’ve been happy with my KoA knives. I have used my muskrat to dress several animals.

 

[bigunit]

For me, the esee agk with the s35vn is about the closest thing to a perfect hunting knife I've ever used.

 

[Netherman]

For me the canadian belt knife shape is the answer. I might be done looking for the perfect CBK
with this one from deer rock knives (@Slalomnorth). 3" blade, 0.08 thick, and the best handle I've used to date. Only things I might want to change would be some ramping where the handle meets the blade and potentially more blade length (would make gutting tasks tougher). Hopefully I'll get a chance to use it on an elk this year and see how it works on deeper cuts (backstrap and rear hams when quartering).

If it passes the elk test It'll be my one and done knife for anything gutting or quartering - east or west. If not I might end up with this as an east knife and another longer version for the west from deer rock.

 

[Speaks]

Care to share pics or explain what you've done to your esee 3? I love mine, and it's probably my favorite camping knife, it's fine for cutting up animals, but not my favorite.

Heavily customized might have been an overstatement. I electro etched the markings, then stripped all the coating and polished it, I changed the edge geometry to favor slicing over stregth and did just a bit of shaping on the existing grips. I think I also ground in some stipling along the back. Also changed the sheath over to one made by Armitus (and then swapped away from their belt attachment to a mollelock).

I didnt do this all at once but over about 12 or so years of use, though if I got a new one tomorrow I would mostly replicate this on day 1.

 

[tak]

Heavily customized might have been an overstatement. I electro etched the markings, then stripped all the coating and polished it, I changed the edge geometry to favor slicing over stregth and did just a bit of shaping on the existing grips. I think I also ground in some stipling along the back. Also changed the sheath over to one made by Armitus (and then swapped away from their belt attachment to a mollelock).

I didnt do this all at once but over about 12 or so years of use, though if I got a new one tomorrow I would mostly replicate this on day 1.

Very cool, would live to see pics if you get a chance sometime.