Anyone Actually Carry a Big-Ass Bowie and/or Rambo and/or Crocodile Dundee type of knife while hunting?

[AntelopeEater]

So, I grew up the 80's and after seeing the above scene I think it was burned into my growing brain that really big bowie style knives are cool.

Over the years, I have ended up with a bit of a collection of them, Buck 119, Buck 120, several Muela bowies from Spain, a couple big Bear & Sons Bowies, even the "Space Force" Ka-Bar, plus a few swords too.

But when I go hunting/hiking, I usually don't feel like carrying anything bigger/heavier than about a Buck 119 (which has a 6" blade and weighs about a half pound with sheath).

I even sometimes just carry a very lightweight Spyderco folder.

I am curious, do any of you actually carry a really big bowie knife as your hunting knife, something with substantially bigger than a 6" blade?

OR are these bigger heavier blades just too much extra weight and/or too ostentatious to actually carry in the field for you?

 

[AntelopeEater]

 

[NealMustard]

It seems like cosplaying to bring a massive knife.

I try to use knives that I would happily and regularly use in my kitchen. If someone actually uses their Bowie in their kitchen then maybe they’re comfortable and proficient enough to use it on animals.

I’ve broken down a number of animals with just a Havalon. I use a 60a for the skinning, and a 70a for the rest of the work. It’s basically a sharp paring knife.

The other knives I’ll add for animals are a 6” boning knife, or a long flexible filet knife.

 

[AntelopeEater]

It seems like cosplaying to bring a massive knife.

I try to use knives that I would happily and regularly use in my kitchen. If someone actually uses their Bowie in their kitchen then maybe they’re comfortable and proficient enough to use it on animals.

I’ve broken down a number of animals with just a Havalon. I use a 60a for the skinning, and a 70a for the rest of the work. It’s basically a sharp paring knife.

The other knives I’ll add for animals are a 6” boning knife, or a long flexible filet knife.

Thanks for sharing.

I actually have used my bowie knives in the kitchen.

My biggest Muela Bowie knife, the "Alcaraz" is a actually a fantastic melon slicer!

The Ka-Bar "Space Force" knife makes an excellent melon slicer as well, though this probably makes me seem like a neckbeard, haha

 

[NealMustard]

It does make you seem like a neckbeard.

A Nakiri (or literally anything with a thinner profile) would be better suited to cutting melons than a Ka bar.

I don’t know any knife meant for precision work that has a guard to stop you from choking up on the blade.

 

[Blowdowner]

Yes I carry a gigantic cheap cold steel dagger sharp on both sides. When i hunt California archery (no sidearm allowed) or accompany a shooter say on a turkey hunt (possibly illegal to have a pistol).

 

[LFC911]

I did back in the late 80's and field dressed my first deer with it. The landowner whom i've befriended still gives me trouble about it.

 

[Matt5266]

No way never. My pack is heavy enough

 

[Poser]

An old friend of mine sent me a HUGE Kbar bushcraft type knife as a gift -the Becker Companion. He sent a note along with it that said something along the lines of it being a "hunting knife."
It stays in my truck. I don't think I've ever used it for anything ever.

I had a friend in college who's parents were paying for his school. He went into the Marine Corps and figured he would take advantage of the GI bill so he took out the max amount of student loans and blew it all on the most ridiculous stuff, one of which was a commemorative Robert E. Lee survival knife. The compass on the butt of the knife had a Confederate flag where the "S" for South would have been and inside of the knife handle, in addition to all of the usual contents of a Rambo knife, was $20 worth of Confederate cash.

 

[Taudisio]

The largest I carry is a SOG Pillar (5” blade). It is for nothing other than self defense while archery hunting when carrying a pistol isn’t allowed. It rides in the same spot my pistol does.