Knife Recommendations

[johnnyw027]

I'm very new to hunting and want to know if I'm better off going into my mule deer hunt with a replacement blade knife, fixed blade, or maybe both. If I get a fixed blade this season I'd like to keep it under $100 and have been looking into the Buck 113 for a while now. I've also seen a lot of gear lists from very experienced hunters that use some of the budget friendly replacement blade knives. Any experiences or advice is very much appreciated.

 

[Mike Buell]

I lean towards the replacement blades, Outdoor Edge, Havalon Piranta, and I usually bone out my animal. I like the ease of blade replacement. If I had the money, I would love one of the MKC or Argali knives! But I’d lean to MKC!


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[dlee56]

If you’re very new I would recommend both for you. Replacement blades are super easy to cut yourself on (even for seasoned folks) so if that’s all you have breaking down your first animal it could get sketchy. Any ol buck knife can help you where it’s easy to break a replacement blade off (cutting joints, etc).

 

[johnnyw027]

I lean towards the replacement blades, Outdoor Edge, Havalon Piranta, and I usually bone out my animal. I like the ease of blade replacement. If I had the money, I would love one of the MKC or Argali knives! But I’d lean to MKC!


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Yeah maybe next year I can upgrade to one of the nicer fixed blades. Thanks for the info

 

[Rich M]

I’ve been carrying a buck 110 for ages.

In reality, you can easily skin and break down a deer with whatever knife you have in your pocket.

I have a 113 i dont use if you want to see if we can come together on a price, pm me.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

I have a lot of knives, a lot, of all types including highest end being Benchmade and several Havalon and everything in between. This is what's always with me every trip. I don't gut anything, but the gut hook is incredibly useful unzipping the skin for quartering when doing the gutless method. The steel seems to hold well, it'll go through a few deer sized animals before needing touching up but also just as importantly it touches up quickly without a lot of effort. I can't see changing to anything different. If you shop around you can pick it up for under your budget price. I also carry my lightest weight Havalon as a backup, always have TWO knives with you, never know when you lose one.

Knives of Alaska: Whitetail Hunter Orange SureGrip

www.knivesofalaska.com

 

[Taudisio]

For a $100 budget, I would recommend an Outdoor edge and a higher quality stainless steel, knife. Be it a folder or fixed. I have learned I like knives with better edge retention over one with 440 steel a whole lot more when it isn’t a replaceable blade system. I’d rather sharpen them at home than need to have a sharpener in the field with me. Buck knives are great and they have branched out to used better blade steel if you want to spend the money. You can do some research on blade steels and find something for the other $70 of your budget. Just remember to make sure it is a stainless steel.

 

[SwampDonkey55]

If I had a $100 to spend on a do-all knife (kit) I’d probably go with one of the outdoor edge butcher kits for around $80 and I’ve seen them way cheaper than that. If you’re hiking into the backcountry and worried about weight and just want a knife to gut, skin, etc. then any fixed blade Kershaw, Buck or outdoor edge would be what I spend that money on and carry a small sharpener because the quality of steel in the cheaper blades isn’t great and you’ll need to sharpen as you go

 

[sndmn11]

Find a havalon hydra

 

[elkguide]

My first recommendation for a knife would be sharp and holds an edge.
I have many knives, (definitely addicted to sharp things) and having dropped my pack while guiding, thinking we were about to take an elk and ending up a mile from my pack with a dead elk and it being dark, I gutted it with a Buck 505. (That is their 1 3/4" gentleman's knife.) Since that night, I always have 2 fixed blades on my waist, a replaceable blade knife in a pocket and maybe 1 or 2 more in my pack.
I know, that's way over the top as you really only need 1 sharp knife but it's good to have a backup.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

I have a lot of knives, a lot, of all types including highest end being Benchmade and several Havalon and everything in between. This is what's always with me every trip. I don't gut anything, but the gut hook is incredibly useful unzipping the skin for quartering when doing the gutless method. The steel seems to hold well, it'll go through a few deer sized animals before needing touching up but also just as importantly it touches up quickly without a lot of effort. I can't see changing to anything different. If you shop around you can pick it up for under your budget price. I also carry my lightest weight Havalon as a backup, always have TWO knives with you, never know when you lose one.

Knives of Alaska: Whitetail Hunter Orange SureGrip

www.knivesofalaska.com

I forgot to mention, the KOA is 6.6 oz including the leather sheath so not ultralight but it's not a heavy knife. Sooner or later I'll have a kydex sheath made for it.

 

[Mykolaivka887]

The old Buck 110 is a good one, or an Old Timer by Schrade.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

I have a buddy who's in his upper 50's and loaded with money, only knife I've ever seen him use hinting is a $15 Sharpfinger, but he carries nothing but $200+ knives at work and in camp. It doesn't hurt to use that $100 on a few different things until you develop some preferences.

 

[Chuckybmd]

I guess it depends on what other uses you have in mind such as bushcrafting and general camping.

If it’s just for breaking down an animal, I think a removable blade knife is perfect. I use the Gerber vital. It’s just not super usable for other tasks.

Gotta love the Buck knife for being classic. In my experience if I’ve had my eyes on something for a while, and I end up buying something different, I ended up disappointed.

Another decent knife that has multi use capabilities for the price,is the Morakniv companion, quite popular in Bush crafting and camping circles. High carbon steel blade and less than 20 bucks cost. I like them because they have a decent handle and sheath and are easy to clean.

 

[Bubblehide]

Lots of guys complain about constantly breaking the scalple replacement blade knives like on the Havalon. I love them, but one needs to not put pressure on them, and simply let the sharpness of the blade do the work, especially around bone. But as has been mentioned, plenty of guys have cut themselves with them. My advice is to start out with a more traditional non folding knife, even if the blades are replacable; but not the scalple type blades. I advise to ease into the scaple type blade knives on easy sections, as for some, it takes time to develope safe use skills. It's simply much to easy to make a mistake with scaple type blades.

 

[flyfisher117]

I tried replaceable blades. Loved the concept hated swapping the blades. Always felt like I was one slip away from a trip to the ER. Even with the blade removal tool.

I prefer fixed blades. My father prefers folders. My cousin prefers replaceable blade. They all get the job done.

 

[littlebigtine]

Morakniv stainless with a blade sharpener!

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

I am lucky to break down a pile of big game animals every year. I used to have different knives and tools depending on if it was a backpacking hunt/camp style hunt/or hunting farm fields with vehicle access; or if the plan was gutless or traditional method.

I had a 3 year stint where on backpacking hunts I would only use the “gutless method” but went back away from that fad about 5 years ago. Today my “kill kit” looks identical no matter the hunt.

On my belt or pack belt is a fixed blade Grohmann Original with a custom kydex sheath/clip. Last season I swapped this out for the new Hogue Xtrak fixed blade, which is a very good knife. I still prefer the Grohmann if I only could have one.

Inside of my Kifaru Sherman Pocket which replaces my stone glacier “lid” on my pack is a medium Marsupial mesh zipper pouch. Inside of that will be tags, zip ties, rubber gloves, 20 feet of cord, Tyto knife and blades, small multi tool, and a small backup headlamp/batteries. I also carry a small sheet of Tyvek as an emergency tarp that works really well as a ground cloth for processing in places like Arizona and New Mexico where everything sticks to your meat and clothing.

The nice thing about having everything in a pouch is I can pull it out of my pack and throw it in my suit case, Jeep, truck, or whatever and have all the items ready to roll.

I think a good quality and shape fixed blade knife paired with a light weight replaceable blade knife would serve most folks really well. Especially if you are breaking down multiple animals per year, nothing replaces a good fixed blade knife for quality, speed, and durability.

 

[NickyD]

I’ve used replaceable blade knives (primarily outdoor edge) for years and last year I learned a fixed blade like buck knives are significantly better. Me and my friend got a double kill and we were able to finish dressing with the fixed blade in about half the time. My friend cut his finger pretty badly using a replaceable knife pretty badly so it was me that did 90% of the cutting.

I threw away that knife and will be getting a buck knife before the season starts.

 

[IdahoBeav]

X2 on the small fixed blades. I like the Buck Woodsman.