Best Knife for Field Dressing

[ghost]

Bigbulls6, if you think you need something bigger than the Piranta give the Havalon Barracuta a try. Same principal but much larger knife. I have one in my tackle box to filet fish.

 

[Niemo.Mt]

Love my Havalon and also my swing blade!!

 

[radmansciteach]

+1 on the Piranta...seriously have to watch out when using it though.  buddy sliced his knuckle and it bled, luckily we had superglue!  I also have a fixed blade Buck that I use to lever joints apart.  The Piranta blades will snap if tweaked too much.

 

[enigmatic]

I carried the Havalon this year as well...ultra-light and no need to carry a stone or sharpener.  My only issue with it was trying to change out blades with blood on my hands...not a really big deal, but certainly not comfortable putting a blade on when you fingers are slippery.  Aside from that, not sure there is a down side to them. 

Previously, I arred the Kershaw Blade-Trader, which comes with the blade and it can be switched out and replaced with the saw attachment.  It works great and I still carry it on shorter excursions, when weight isn't a big deal. 

 

[Reedjj]

I carry a havalon and a Kershaw Zipit Gut hook. The Zipit lets you get under the hide and literally unzips any critter I have used it on. Takes out the finess of making sure to not hit the gut or getting into the meat. Works extremely well when doing the gutless method.

 

[Backpack Hunter]

I prefer the Havalon Piranta. Takes 2 or 3 blades to get thru an elk, and I change them out by hand.

 

[Fullabull]

My dad has a Cutco knife that is over 50 years old and I still can't believe how sharp that thing is. I got one two years ago and will never purchase another knife unless it's a Cutco. they also sharpen it for free, if it ever needs it

 

[Mountain Bowhunter]

I have a buck paklite fieldmaster set which is a great little kit.  It comes with a large paklite skinner, a paklite caper, and a paklite guthook.  Has a great sheath that holds all three knives and has two zipper pockets to hold other things(stones etc).  The best part is the paklites don't have handles to trap blood and guts so you can just throw them in a bowl of soapy water.  all the plastic sleeves come out so you can send them through the dishwasher and the sheath through the wash. so you can clean and sanitize everything.


However, I love the idea of the havalon and never having to worry about sharpening and I am thinking about using a piranta in place of the caper. I can keep the extra blades in the zipper pouch. So I can use the havalon for most of the work to save my fixed blades until it gets tough then I'll grab the skinner.  And I will probably use the havalon for a light weight carry knife when weight counts.

 

[Diesel]

I can break down one elk with my outdoor edge swing blade knife without sharpening it

 

[Bullhunter]

Either my Havalon or my outdoor edge.  Couldnt do the job without them.