Skinning knife

[Varmint Hunter]

I'm due for a new skinning knife. The knife will be used mostly for whitetails and black bear. In that I am not skilled at sharpening a knife, I would prefer a quality knife that holds its blade well. A gut hook on the reverse edge isn't needed but would be ok if its on the model that you'd recommend.

What do you guys suggest?

 

[blipelt]

Tim wegner Spyderco(folder) I like along with the Bill Moran Spyderco(fixed). Knives of Alaska I wouldn't waste my money on. They stay sharp about as long as my 6yr attention span. I made the mistake to buy a wolverine and a cub bear(I sure did like the design for caping out hides) neither one will hold an edge. The best I have ever worked with was the Gerber shorty and pixie. They aren't made anymore but for about $300 you can get a set on ebay in fair shape. When you find the perfect knife let me know so I can quit buying them last time I checked I am up to around 60 knives.


Brent

 

[baldhunter]

Check out Cutco Knives.I picked one up on Ebay really cheap.It has a serated edge,it's a model 5718 KE.I used it to field dress and skin six hogs and that thing is still sharp.You send it back to the factory and they sharpen it for you when it need it.

 

[oldfamily]

Buck Vanguard with or without the gut hook. I can process 2 deer from shot to finish with the knife.

 

[MT4XFore]

Perhaps the best skinning knife I have ever used both ergonomically and for holding an edge is the Grohmann Canadian Belt Knife. They can be purchased from Grohmann or from A.G.Russel knives. They come in different sizes, but I like the medium to small one myself. I prefer something else for field dressing, but strictly for skinning that's the ticket. Like Blipelt I have more knives than I know what to do with, but DONT tell me if you find the perfect one, I want to keep looking.

 

[trebark]

Varmint Hunter:
This subject was pretty thoroughly covered here: http://www.longrangehunting.com/forums/f84/quality-hunting-knives-32923/

There you will find my recommendation for the Cold Steel Master Hunter.

 

[old_heli_logger]

Big thumbs-up on Cold Steel knives...

 

[CoachChris]

For skinning I've had the same Schrade Sharpfinger since I was about 12. For 29 yrs. it has served me well. It got a lot of use back in those days when I lived to trap and coonhunt. Still holds a great edge and is going strong.

I have to agree to the quality of Cold Steel knives. I carried a Recon Tanto that served me well on some very ugly days gladly gone by.

 

[old_heli_logger]

Good stuff, I think I still have one of those Schrade Sharpfinger knives; you can't beat the shape of that blade for skinning. If memory serves me correctly, they used to advertise that knife as, "good for everything from squirrels to elephants"

 

[boomtube]

Perhaps the best knife I know of is any inexpensive "utility" or "box" knife with interchangeable blades. Get a set of the hook blades for splitting the skin, use conventonal straight blades for other cuts.

Use your truck, a tree, two 25 Ft. lengths of 1/2" nylon rope, a two inch rock and a truck to remove the hide, not a skinning knife.

Tie one rope high up around the critters neck, then hoist it onto a sturdy tree limb of the right height to get the rear legs just clear of the ground. Use a hacksaw to remove the legs just above the knees.

Cut the hide around the neck just below your rope. Slit the belly skin if it hasn't already been done, and inside the legs too. Pull a loose patch of skin from the neck, above the spine. Insert the rock in the patch, tie the rope firmly around the rock to form a secure pocket. Tie the other end of the rope under your truck's front bumper, then carefully back it away until the stripped carcase is swinging and the hide lies on the ground.

Perhaps the biggest mistake is to use a rope that's too weak, ESPECIALLY for the rope that lifts the critter; if that rope breaks the deer will be deposited on the ground, immediately! Ditto the choice of tree limb to suspend things, a too small or rotten one will give the same result.

I haven't skinned a deer "right" since I was taught this method by an old man back around 1970. Now I"M the old man, passing it along!

After you learn how to hang the deer and tie the rock in place securely you'll pretty well have it licked, no sikinning knife needed. In fact, I haven't owned one since learning this method. Skinning is done in a couple of minutes and little hair contaminates the meat, and most of that is from the edges of the field dressing cut.

I use a conventional hunting knife to quarter my meat as it comes off the carcase. The hide and bones are bagged and discarded together.

 

[CoachChris]

Boomtube, That is quite a method of skinning.

I might have tough time with that one. It's not even possible to get an ATV or even a horse into the area I hunt never the less my truck .

Chris

 

[boomtube]

Wlfdg - "I might have tough time with that one. It's not even possible to get an ATV or even a horse into the area I hunt never the less my truck ."

Sorry 'bout that! You just gonna have to do it the hard way.

There are places I can't get my truck into too. Since I got kinda old, I fixed that by not hunting there anymore! Enjoy it while your back and legs last.

 

[CoachChris]

Wlfdg - "I might have tough time with that one. It's not even possible to get an ATV or even a horse into the area I hunt never the less my truck ."

Sorry 'bout that! You just gonna have to do it the hard way.

There are places I can't get my truck into too. Since I got kinda old, I fixed that by not hunting there anymore! Enjoy it while your back and legs last.

I sure will!

 

[Dskiper]

I sure will!

I am the auther of the thread "Quality Hunting Knives".I shopped &read all Icould looking for the right one.Well I found it!I just got my order from Ruana Knives,the first Quality" knife I ever had!What a beauty!You get what u pay for.If u hunt alot treat yourself to a handmade blade! There an airloom. Dskiper