CRKT is rolling out a new line of hunting knives with field dressing in mind. The knives feature a comfortable moulded rubber handle that isn’t slippery when wet and an optional gut hook for getting into that abdomen without nicking any of those nasty internal organs. Available either as a fixed or folding knife, your choice (with nylon case) for only $49.99. I’m obligated by RF to mention something firearms-related in every post, so here it is: SIG SAUER P226.
Curious to know if any other hunters have used one of these gut-hook bladed knives and what their experiences were in using them? Reason I ask is that it looks like it would be awkward to hold that knife upide down and then pull it along the abdomen of an animal (the hide is often tough and pulling the knife requires a fair amount of force, even for an antelope, which is a relatively small animal.)
My impression is that the “gut hook” on these knives is more of a styling exercise than an actually useful piece of kit. I normally use a Wyoming Knife which has replaceable blades and lets me get two fingers into the knife grip and use my whole hand to pull it along. Also a Wyoming knife costs less than half of what this one does (about $20) and it comes apart for easy cleaning. Just FYI.
EDITED TO ADD: I suppose if you hang your animals upside down from a tree or similar structure and dress them by pulling straight down on the knife this might work. Since antelope live in tree-less country, we dress them on the ground.
I’ve had good results using hook style knives for field dressing. I do always hang my kills though, even if I need to build a tripod or use a crane arm from a pickup bed. I usually camp when hunting as well, and enjoy constructing my little “base camp”, so there’s that. The downfall is that since I’ve spent many years in commercial kitchens and am fast and neat with a knife I usually get drafted to do everyone else’s butchering as well, while the rest of my buddies hang out a good ways upwind and drink beer. It does leave me free to snatch the best looking cuts though.
I’ve used the gut hook on both hanging and “prone” animals with some success. The problem is that the hook dulls just as quickly as the blade, but is hard to sharpen.
Try the “Ripper Max” hook knives fron Square One. 8.25 inches long for a good grip, $12 bucks new and blades are $1.50 each. They also have a fancy aluminum version if you prefer. http://www.square1.com/manufacturers/square1/p1155.asp#RipperMaxHookKnife
For me, a sharp gut-hook is more important than a .5 MOA rifle.
As with many other products, there are times when “multi-purpose” means “a device that does several things, and none of them very well.” For hunting I have two knives: The aforementioned Wyoming Knife (http://www.wyomingknife.com/knives.htm) and a simple, easy-to-clean sheath knife.
Having said that, I did dress out a buck antelope with a Leatherman tool once. The problem, of course, was cleaning the blood and gristle out of the knife after the job was done. I think it took me longer to clean the knife than it did to dress the buck.
Great article, never used gut-hook bladed knives before, but now I must try one
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