Quality affordable hunting knife

[Tall Paul]

The Helle knives are great! Very, very sharp, easy to re-sharpen, and hold an edge a long time.  Multiple styles to choose from.

[PaddyMac]

I really admire craft knives, but I am the son of a butcher so although I have some nice knives, I don't use them very much.

My dad used Forschners, so that's what I use when I butcher game. They are quick, light, sanitary and relatively soft steel that you can get really sharp with only a few strokes of a steel which I do throughout butchering.

When I'm hunting I go with the same philosophy. I carry a Fiskars Hunter fixed blade (now the Gerber Gator I think, a drop point for under $30) which is very light, commercial ugly, relatively soft steel and has a soft commercial style synthetic handle. I also carry a small take-down diamond steel.

I also carry a Browning Kodiak folder ($60)  primarily for the skinning blade which is great for the first abdominal cut. It is also synthetic (Zytel, aka cheap-feeling plastic) and unfortunately camo (I wish it were black or even orange.) But again, it's very light. It also has a bone saw blade that I thought I'd never use, but it does come in handy sometimes.

[Rusty Snuffers]

Originally posted by Mike Vines:
here is one I just had made for my son.  I'm having a custom sheath made for it, and I can't wait till I can present it to him on his first hunt, 11/11/11.

 

Daddy?    

[Mike Vines]

quote:Originally posted by DannyBows:
That is a truly beautiful knife Mike! Your son is going to love it.    

[Ari]

Thanks for all the help, this is giving me some great choices.

[nel]

Helle is a great choice.

[GingivitisKahn]

Mentioned these on the other knife thread but for quality (you won't be breaking these knives without intending to do so and their 1095 heat treat is about as good as it is possible to get) and affordability (each will set you back around $30), you may have a tough time beating the KaBar Becker BK11 or BK14.

They work great out of the box but lots of guys like to modify them (stripping them, adding paracord handles or micarta, and on and on).

Here's my (mostly) unmodified BK14 on the left and my stripped BK11 on the right...

   

The blade is just long enough that I can lay my index finger along the spine when I'm up to my elbow in some deer's gooey bits - just about the perfect size for hunting, in my opinion.  They clean up easily as well - bonus!

[SportHunter]

The guys recommending the buck 110 are right on. It's all you need but if you want upscale the choices are limitless. I have switched to fixed knives for the most part for easy cleaning but I still carry extra folder in my pack.

[bigjohnmissalot]

picked one up @ 10 yrs. back and love it, holds a very good edge you wouldn"t be sorry  http://www.leglerknives.com/  bigjohn

[S.C. Hunter]

Mike,that is a sweet looking knife. If you don't mind adopting a father of 4. I'll take one Daddy. My 3 oldest are grown so it just me and the last one in the nest.          

[Stone Knife]

Any Case knife.

[Huntingnut]

Can't go wrong with the Buck 110.

[Scoots]

I've carried one of these for about 40 years.  They were a little less expensive 40 years ago!
 

 http://www.grohmannknives.com/pages/outdoor.html

[Ron LaClair]

My Skinner knives are a bargain at $100.00

 http://shrewbows.com/laclair_skinner/index.html

   
   

[Mint]

I picked up a couple of Anza knives as prizes for one of the 3D shoots i run and people sure liked them.

 http://store.anzaknivesonline.com/catalog/drop-point-c-3_11.html?osCsid=bfjcbrhe6cs052ifhhs08nc7i2

[nschlag]

buck 110 folding hunter. affordable, sharpens well and has a great point. nothing fancy but it gets the job done.

[Rob W.]

I love my boker arbolito stag handle. They have a few different blade and length options. They are very good quality and are in that price range.

[bsoper]

I just picked up a gerber metolius fixed blade with a gut hook. It is a solid knife, only $35 bucks.

[Stumpkiller]

I haven't had it long enough to get into a deer with it, but I am impressed with my Benchmade Activator - a Mike Snody design & the same shape as his $325 Sportster, but upsized.  Paid $98 for it new.  A little bigger than your 7" spec. (8-3/16") but it carries small and cuts big.  It's a good design to choke up on and I can get my finger over the whole blade (good gimping on the spine).  In the hand it feels big enough to do something with and small enough you can get it in where it needs to be.  Pretty innocuous on a belt, too.  The edge of the blade is 3-1/4" long and 1-3/16" wide on a 1/8" D2 steel blank.  The blade tapers down to a true slicing edge    

I carry a similar size Benchmade folder whenever I am in jeans (an 154CM Osborne Rift) and it is a great all-purpose blade.