What BIGGER or CAMP Knife Do You Pack on Your Hunts??

[Slasher]

Originally posted by Nala:
NICE Stuff everyone.  I love it.  Keep 'em coming.

That's OK if you're not a knife person.  No problem with that at all.  I like and carry a "pocket" knife every time I step outside.  

Gee Nala, I sorta got my nickname *Slasher* because in the Marines I was considered a knife person.... But a karambit doesn't do much for the outdoors... And I tend to be more of a CCW guy these days for defense...

As they say don't be remembered as the guy who took a knife to a gunfight!!! But within 5 yds a knowledgeable  fella witha knife will win 9x outa ten....

[Bladepeek]

I'm a small knife person. I get myself in trouble up inside a deer with a long blade.

Having said that, I do like the idea of a hawk or camp knife in my rucksack. I took a forging class one time with Robin Hudson when he lived on the eastern shore of Maryland. He had a camp knife that he never loaned out. Wore it on a swivel sheath on his strong side. It always hung straight down whether he sat or stood.

He was doing a forging demo at a camp when it started raining. I had a small tarp and another guy had miles of para cord so all we needed was a few saplings to make an awning. One slice per sapling was all he needed and we were in business. Sure, I could have whittled them down with my little belt knife, but that would have been sadly lacking in panache.  

[sledge]

bill bagwell said that something magical happens between 9" and 10" blade length.

i agree.  a 10" knife will CHOP.

just yesterday, my dogs were fighting a dying raccoon which had a sharp broadhead sticking out of it.

i couldn't get a clear shot, so i moved in and ended the fight with a chop to the back of the coon's neck.

severed the spine.   none of the good guys got hurt.

[Lin Rhea]

I will always carry a small hunting knife. But for clearing around camp and a ground blind, a 10 inch bowie with the edge "set up" correctly to handle some chopping, is hard to beat. I actually like 9 3/4 with a 5 1/4 inch handle for a total of 15 inches. I rarely will make any camp knife over that. If longer, there are diminishing returns to a degree because of sheer size, but they are cumbersome if the weight distribution is not perfect. I agree with that "magical" thing Mr Bagwell talks about. I think it has to do with efficiency and ergonomics if pressed to explain. All of that palaverin aside, I'm making a 12 inch bowie with very good distal taper that is scary to hold. It's is well balanced for a long blade. I'm wanting to use it for a camp knife myself.  I'll post it up soon.

[Gil Verwey]

If I didn't already have this one I would be carrying Ron Laclare's Bowie knife (I still might and pick up a Trapper Companion). Love that Shrew Steel.

I never liked big knives but someone mentioned to me once that they could save your life. I thought of all things that could happen on the back country trips I take and thought they were right. From now on I would be rather caught with it when I don't need it, than caught without it when I do need it.  

 
 

[two4hooking]

Full size K-Bar Fan here.  I carry that with my smaller homemade belt knife /file kit when hunting backcountry.  

I use it as a multipurpose tool for chopping, hammering tent pegs, splitting wood, machete, and bear medicine.
It does not get any utilitarian than that.

[sledge]

i don't think i've ever met an outdoorsman who carried a big knife INSTEAD of a small knife, by the way.

the small knife is indispensable, and a given.

joe

[Bladepeek]

I believe it was Randy Ruana who said "if a man is attacked by a bear, but keeps his wits about him he can survive with a well placed thrust up into the heart while he's lying on the ground being chewed on".

Wouldn't want to attempt that with my little 3.5".

[Terry Green]

Thats really cool Ron.....  

[JimB]

Originally posted by Bladepeek:
I believe it was Randy Ruana who said "if a man is attacked by a bear, but keeps his wits about him he can survive with a well placed thrust up into the heart while he's lying on the ground being chewed on".

Wouldn't want to attempt that with my little 3.5".

If you do a search,you should be able to find the story.

"In 1903 Harry Wolhuter, the first Game Ranger of Kruger National Park, Africa, killed a lion, (that was dragging him away by his right shoulder), with a sheath knife having a 6 inch blade of the “Pipe Brand,” manufactured by T. Williams of Smithfield, London. It was “an ordinary butcher’s knife of the sticking type,” as described by Harry, in his book, Memories of a Game Ranger."

Pretty amazing!

[Lin Rhea]

It's hard to keep my wits about myself even when I'm not being chewed on. Man, that's gotta hurt. But when you dont have a choice, a longer blade would be better under the circumstances.
 

[Dan Adair]

Okay.  I'll be the total rebel here.  If I'm carrying that much weight for a "camp knife" it's going to be this one  :D

 

[Shakes.602]

There we go, a Nice Hawk!!!     They are  ALL  Great!!      

[reddogge]

My everyday camp knife carried on my person is a common butcher with 6" blade. Carbon steel, easy to sharpen and you can slice meat, veggies, and spread mayonaisse. One of the most practical knives I've ever owned and I've used it the past 32 years.
 

Now the heavy work I don't carry this thing but have it in camp along with a couple of hawks. It's a Model 1910 WW1 bolo knife. 15" of heavy steel. You could do amputations with it (and they did).
 

[Ron LaClair]

During WWII all of my uncles were in the service. One of them was in the Philippines and he wrote home to my aunt that the natives on the islands were making bolo knives out of the propellers of downed fighter planes. When my aunt wrote back to him she let me put a little note at the bottom of the letter. I ask him to send me one of those bolo knives. I was really disappointed when he didn't send me one. But then I guess it was for the best, I probably would have chopped off one of my fingers....I was only 8 years old...  

[reddogge]

The WW1 bolos continued to see heavy service in WW2 mainly in the Pacific theater island campaign. The Marines used them to clear shooting lanes for the machine guns.

[sledge]

hawks and hatchets do 1 thing very well.  chop.

they generally do that better than a big bowie, but not always, as in my 'coon fight.  i had more margin for error on a moving target.

but chopping is ALL that 'hawks and hatchets can do.

a big bowie can slice, stab, rip, and chop.  

and, as bagwell did to prove a point, skin a mouse.

i think 'hawks and hatchets are cool.  got some.

but they don't approach a bowie in versatility.

joe

[reddogge]

I know of one man in VA who roughs out decoy heads and bodies with a hachet. Watching him work is poetry in motion. He holds it by the head and it is scary sharp.

[sledge]

cool, reddogge.

right after i posted that, i thought of hammering, pounding. they beat knives all hollow for that.

i repent of dissing 'hawks and hatchets.

a man who loves a given tool can make it do amazing things.

joe

[Ben Maher]

I am a bit of knife nut and own gazzillions of them ...
I don't think you can go past an ESEE 6" for a all round 'camp knife' and it chops so well that I am always suprised it is only a 6" blade ... plus its reasonably priced with an amazing warranty ... if I damage or lose it I won't be too heartbroken ... unlike my customs and Randalls   :eek:  
Ditto the Junglas ... 10 inches of chopping power and a fantastic 'camp ' chopper ... Boy have I given mine some punishment round the farm and camp !

but they come in kydex ... which I loath .. so I had  leather sheaths made for them ... sweet

But my best bang for the buck ... things have gone wrong ... I am in trouble ... need a camp/ everything knife that'll never let me down I go to Scott Gossman and his spear point Tuskers .....