Whats your favorite gutting knife.

[AAM]

Whats your favorite gutting knife.

[hal herring]

Old Timer 150T Best knife I've ever used.

[Ontario Honker Hunter]

Dollar store fillet knife for birds (and it holds a fine sharp blade easily - go figure!). For big game I use 1930s K-Bar four-inch drop point with stacked leather handle (sans finger grooves).

[Ontario Honker Hunter]

Hal, I use the sheath from my 150T bought back in the 1980s for my old K-Bar (K-Bar didn't have one when I bought it on E-Bay). The sheath was the only useful thing associated with that Schrade knife! Hard as hell to get even a half-ways respectably sharp blade on it and wouldn't hold it half way through gutting a deer or even to finish skinning a quarter. Ugh! Not sure it's sharp enough to butter bread!

[hal herring]

OH- I wonder is the steel different on mine? It IS a softer steel- so you have to retouch the edge a lot (I prefer this, and carry a stone and steel with me), especially on an elk. But that knife fits me, and man it has seen some use. It has been sharpened so many times that the blade is much narrower than it started out. I like the "refined" shape even better than the original.
Handling is just right for me. So is sentiment. I was heading to a sawing job(fireline and slash helicopter units, way up in the Swans) oh so many years ago, was short on grocery cash, pawned an old shotgun, and saw that Old Timer lying on the counter at the pawn shop. "How much?" "$12 bucks" I handed the broker back some of the money he'd just given me, and I've had it ever since.

[Sarge01]

My Outdoor Edge folding flip blade. I used it for the first time this year. It was a Christmas present from my Wife last year. It has a extremely sharp regular skinning blade and a blade for gutting without cutting the guts. Also in the sheath is a saw that is extremely sharp for cutting the pelvis and breast bone.

[FirstBubba]

Case single blade pocket folder. Don't know the model name/number. Has Case XX over USA on one side of blade. 61048 on the other. That and a set of lopping shears completes my "gutting kit".
I also skin and quarter with the same blade.

[Ontario Honker Hunter]

Hal, which "Swan Mountains" are you talking about? If it's the ones that end at Ovando you and I need to get together. Probably been in the same pawn shop not to mention same watering holes.

[Ontario Honker Hunter]

And, Hal, I don't like gutting elk, or especially deer, with a real sharp blade. Good way to see health insurance premiums increase. But that Old Timer went a little too far in the wrong direction. I loved the shape for skinning (not so much for gutting) but just got fed up trying to get anything done with only one hand on the knife and the other holding the stone. My dad had a nearly identical K-Bar that was stolen from the truck up the "Swans" and I eventually bought a replacement on E-Bay. It is a fine piece but easily rusts or pits so must keep it oiled well. Has a very nice weight and the shape of the blade is perfect for EITHER gutting OR skinning.

[mike0714]

Havalon Piranta knife. It uses replaceable blades that are surgical sharp. The blades last long enough to gut skin and quarter a full deer and still cut through the rope I used to hang the quarters like a hot knife through butter. A pack of 12 blade is only like 3 dollar too.

[99explorer]

An old Marble Bison fixed-blade knife with a leather washer handle. The blade is 4 3/4" long and plenty stout - almost 1/4" thick at the hilt.

[Bioguy01]

The Outdoor Edge Swing Blade

[buckhunter]

I have a Diamondblade knife with a short blade. I press my finger against the tip and zip up the animal. Has been working for years.

[Happy Myles]

The original question was limited to gutting. I try to stick with one knife in the field, for gutting, skinning, quartering, and so forth. Like Ontario, traditionally I hunt tough country a long way from roads, and try to keep things as simple as possible. If I need an axe or saw, it comes in with the pack horse or mule. Have been lucky to own and use many nice blades. My favorite was made by Genovese who died tragically just after he became a famous knife maker. While descending the mountains elk hunting his horse fell which caused an arrow in his bow quiver to cut his femoral artery. He bled to death in front of his horrified friends.
Preparing for taxidermy work I use three knives made specifically for this work by Dave Kaufman along with a couple surgical instruments for turning ears and lips

[Happy Myles]

Missed buck hunters comment on DiamondBlade. They make great knives.