The skinning knife, a hunter's essential tool
Once your game's down your bow or rifle plays a secondary role and something more discrete but still essential, comes into play, your skinning knife.
With thousands of brands and models, every manufacturer claims about its own knives as the best but, how to know if a knife does really works for you, it's just a matter of details.
A skinning knife must fit the purpose which it's intended for, thus everything starts on the game you are going to hunt, so if you plan to catch big games such elks or white tails then larger knives will work better while if you are going behind rabbits or squirrels the best choice will be a smaller knife; at the end, when talking about skinning knives, size does matters; moreover, even the best knife won't work properly if its size is not the proper one for your game.
On this regard, the bigger the game, bigger the knife, otherwise you'll be on trouble for sure when trying to skin your catch.
Once you have choosen your knife proper size it's time to choose the blade. There's
two types available, folded and fixed blades. The first one could be more convenient and easy to carry on, but it's less durable and not intended for very hard jobs; on the other hand fixed blade knives are more robust, reliable and long lasting making of such knife type the best choice especially when hunting on remote areas where there's no room for mistakes.
Many hunters decide to use both types, one as the main knife (usually a fixed blade) and the other as a backup, just in case something happens to the first one; after all you don't wish to be unable to skin your game because of a broken blade after chasing it for two or three days!
Regarding building, a single steel piece built in is the best choice due to its durability and resistance; this kind of knife are very durable and rarely fails, on the other hand, multiple parts blades tend to fail, especially under tough circumstances, thus it's better to avoid them.
Finally it's mandatory to pay attention to the handle. A strong, easy to grip handle is necessary to easily use your knife, remember you will be using this tool outdoors under different weather conditions as well multiple environments, from dry areas to very wet places, thus a good, easy to clean handle is a need.
At the end, no matter how much you read about the topic, there's only a way to know which is the best knife for you, and it's trying it on the field. After reading about the topic, choose the skinning knife you think would better work for your and try it, perhaps you would like to have a couple or even three knives in order to compare. Once on the field you will realize about the best one very quick.
As a final tip remember: It's not necessary to spend a lot of money to have a great skinning knife, in fact, the most reliable ones usually are not the most expensive!
With thousands of brands and models, every manufacturer claims about its own knives as the best but, how to know if a knife does really works for you, it's just a matter of details.
A skinning knife must fit the purpose which it's intended for, thus everything starts on the game you are going to hunt, so if you plan to catch big games such elks or white tails then larger knives will work better while if you are going behind rabbits or squirrels the best choice will be a smaller knife; at the end, when talking about skinning knives, size does matters; moreover, even the best knife won't work properly if its size is not the proper one for your game.
On this regard, the bigger the game, bigger the knife, otherwise you'll be on trouble for sure when trying to skin your catch.
Once you have choosen your knife proper size it's time to choose the blade. There's
Many hunters decide to use both types, one as the main knife (usually a fixed blade) and the other as a backup, just in case something happens to the first one; after all you don't wish to be unable to skin your game because of a broken blade after chasing it for two or three days!
Regarding building, a single steel piece built in is the best choice due to its durability and resistance; this kind of knife are very durable and rarely fails, on the other hand, multiple parts blades tend to fail, especially under tough circumstances, thus it's better to avoid them.
Finally it's mandatory to pay attention to the handle. A strong, easy to grip handle is necessary to easily use your knife, remember you will be using this tool outdoors under different weather conditions as well multiple environments, from dry areas to very wet places, thus a good, easy to clean handle is a need.
At the end, no matter how much you read about the topic, there's only a way to know which is the best knife for you, and it's trying it on the field. After reading about the topic, choose the skinning knife you think would better work for your and try it, perhaps you would like to have a couple or even three knives in order to compare. Once on the field you will realize about the best one very quick.
As a final tip remember: It's not necessary to spend a lot of money to have a great skinning knife, in fact, the most reliable ones usually are not the most expensive!
