Who makes a good gentlemans hunting knife

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Godslayer

Godslayer

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Any recommendations on a good 4-6 inch hunting knife. Prefer a 4 week or less lead time. Willing to spend a little bit of coin but nothing ed fowler, todd berg level. Probably max out at $500 with $200 being prefered. Looking for something to take with me on hikes and camping trips. I live in the Rockies so I bump into bears / elk regularly. Wouldn't mind something incase bear spray didn't work. Also open to folders but am leaning towards a single piece construction for reliability in the field. Stainless or stainless clad, bonus points for damascus and attractive handle materials, since if I have my way this will never go past slicing fishing line and Apple's. Need a saya.
 
larrybard said:
And you really think that if you were being attacked by a bear, trying to defend yourself with a 4-6" knife might be all that helpful?
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You raise an incredibly good point lol. Ignore the part about the bear lol. Bear spray will have to do. I do normally also carry a machete for camping trips. Living in a national park guns are a no go
 
My "good" hunting knives include a Butch Harner and a Yoshikane. Butch is a hunter himself so his knives are function driven but still nice to look at. Same can be said for the Yoshikane. Both are drop points - ideal to me for getting inside a deer, both are stainless.

My 2nd tier knives are mostly Gerbers. Not much to look at, but functional and 40 bucks. It takes two to butcher a deer without resharpening.

Any number of makers offer "neck knives" which I can see being useful for outdoor applications that don't include butchery.

If I felt I needed bear defense it would start with 44.

Edit: Didn't see the National Park part till after.
 
In a perfect world I'd get a takamura one. Those are super sick but unfortunately that won't be happening because I don't do moon runes. We are told in orientation to punch black bears in their noses. Brown bears aka grizzlys you are pretty much boned. Same with cougars. I forgot about gerber. I had one years ago and liked it.
 
Godslayer said:
You raise an incredibly good point lol. Ignore the part about the bear lol. Bear spray will have to do. I do normally also carry a machete for camping trips. Living in a national park guns are a no go
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Open carry has been legal in Rocky Mountain National Park (and every US nat'l park) since February 2010.

Ubless you're in the Canadian Rockies?
 
I carry a SOG...lot of options, decently priced, decently made.
 
I find the design by Aaron Gough (Gough knives) very functional. Also check out the knives by Caleb White - his knives are very elegant, but made to function (he had many how-to videos on youtube). Both offer A2 steel (among others).

But I would not dare to attempt to fight off a bear with a knife. That is a wrong attitude, you would just piss it off.
 
The stated topic of a gentlemans hunting knife and something to slay a bear with are at odds with each other. For the former I might look at Bark River. If you are hell bent on engaging a bear with an edged weapon you would want something like this:
https://www.coldsteel.com/boar-spear.html

Keeps you away from those claws and teeth. Well, at least for a few seconds.
 
OK, so I'm at the bar sharing this fcuktardery. My wife rolled her eyes and said, "Sounds like a Canadian." (I was born in Canada although I bleed stars and stripes.) My buddy, without rolling his eyes, came up with some genius suggestions.

What are Canadian laws wrt black powder? Because a Colt Walker would be great bear medicine. Here in the states it's absolutely unregulated.

Research bang sticks as used by divers in shark waters. I would carry two.

http://www.billsbangsticks.com

Post pelt pix plox.
 
Going off road for a minute here:
Those Randall knives look amazing, but if you have a four year backlog, making hunters, why would a company not hire more people and expand. Their brand/image based on the website is misleading and turned me off. Their projecting an image that is just smoke and mirrors. Limiting one knife per family per three months and a four year backlog, for hunting knives. I just don't get it. Somebody from that family needs to take a business course. rant over.
 
MB, they may be doing well and may not be intetested in loosing their exclusivity. If someone does not wantbto wait they can get different knife elsewhere, just my opinion, of course.
 
Hi,

I carry a Bark River Bravo 1 as an outdoor blade. Pretty much works for everything for me. But honestly a little over build and not a really good slicer. But Bark River has some other models in their portfolio. One might fit. F&F with mine (had three so far) was always pretty good.

Regards, Iggy
 
Godslayer said:
Any recommendations on a good 4-6 inch hunting knife. Prefer a 4 week or less lead time. Willing to spend a little bit of coin but nothing ed fowler, todd berg level. Probably max out at $500 with $200 being prefered. Looking for something to take with me on hikes and camping trips. I live in the Rockies so I bump into bears / elk regularly. Wouldn't mind something incase bear spray didn't work. Also open to folders but am leaning towards a single piece construction for reliability in the field. Stainless or stainless clad, bonus points for damascus and attractive handle materials, since if I have my way this will never go past slicing fishing line and Apple's. Need a saya.
Click to expand...

super easy with that budget. first, for a hunting knife, i'd call it a "sheath".

i have a few custom knives. one is an ADVENTURE SWORN bushcraft knife. i chose the EXPLORER model. it is a straight razor. super burly. and right at 4.25" blade length. if i had one complaint, it would be that it is too "gentlemanly". the thing is almost to damn nice to jab into a muddy dead wild hog. i chose carbon steel. 0-1 tool steel to be exact.

i have a second one on order. a BATTLEHORSE bushbaby clone. same steel. smaller knife. less gentlemanly. :)

 
Mucho Bocho said:
Going off road for a minute here:
Those Randall knives look amazing, but if you have a four year backlog, making hunters, why would a company not hire more people and expand. Their brand/image based on the website is misleading and turned me off. Their projecting an image that is just smoke and mirrors. Limiting one knife per family per three months and a four year backlog, for hunting knives. I just don't get it. Somebody from that family needs to take a business course. rant over.
Click to expand...

I suspect they do it for some of the same reasons that Ferrari and many other manufacturers of "exclusive" products limit their production.
 
Take a look at Ruana knives. Made in Montana. Might fit the bill. I have one. Never killed a bear with it, though.:bigeek:
 
Mucho Bocho said:
Going off road for a minute here:
Those Randall knives look amazing, but if you have a four year backlog, making hunters, why would a company not hire more people and expand.
Click to expand...

I recommended the Randall based on the fact that I have one--it was my dad's, about 35-40 years old. Very nice knife. They're a family business, and my understanding is that they have expanded already--putting out about 8000 knives/year if wikipedia is to be believed. Nothing wrong with staying small and putting out a quality product.
 
Lucretia, You have excellent taste no doubt and I bet the knife from your dad is super special. (pics)

I'm also not questioning that these are beautiful knives but ff this data is correct, and their making 8000 knives a year and they have a 4+ year back log, then they Randall has approximately 32,000 customers waiting for knives? Is there really that high of a demand for a $600+ hunting knife and the web site says only one knife per customer per three months. So presumably most of the 32,000 customers are first time buyers. thats what I call fuzzy logic.
 
25 knives per day (give or take) is a lot, but if he really has 20 people working in the shop full time, than that might be doable. But the amount of customers waiting for a knife is indeed staggering. They must have quite a name. I have of course hear about Randall knives, but did not know they are in such a demand. They must be doing something right :)
 
A good place to shop for production, semi-custom and custom knives is here: https://www.knivesshipfree.com/

On a side note, growing up in rural New Mexico we used to butcher one pig and one beef each year. Along with 2 acres of garden this fed a family of 8. For breaking down the animals, very few knives work better than the combination of a carbon steel Old Hickory butcher knife and a paring knife. I've used this combination on hunts for bear, boar, deer and elk. I've been cultured since and my kitchen reflects that, but I still hide an Old Hickory in one of the cabinets.
 
I think Randall look so dated. Plus everyone I've seen has been a safe queen.

90% of my animal butchering has been w a $14 Mora.

I prefer the new "bushcraft" style over all the bells and whistles of a fancy Randall. OP. Look at Sargent knives. He makes a Skookum clone that most think the like better than the original.
 
Some decent Knives of Alaska blades available. I have an alpha wolf and a bush camp, both excellent for my purposes. Again, not going to be much help against a (living) bear.
 
So dalman reached out to me with a very very good price on a 6-7 inch hunter. Might grab a second one.
 
I'm not sure what the "gentleman's" part means but Bob Dozier makes some of the most practical hunters I know. And I can say that from a fair amount of animal down experience with a number of different models.
 
What do you use it for besides camping?

I want a hunting/outdoors knife but feel like it would do more dust collecting than actual cutting anything besides cardboard boxes.

It's not like I can carry a giant fixed blade around day to day looking like crocodile dundee.
 
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