Hunting Knife

What makes a hunting knife different

A hunting knife is a fixed blade built for game care: opening the deer, freeing the organs, skinning and quartering. That's a narrower job than "outdoor knife," and it pulls the design in a specific direction. Short over long. Control over chopping. A tip you can steer.

The rest of the fixed-blade family shares the basics: one piece of steel, no hinge, a sheath instead of a pocket clip. That's covered on the fixed blade knife page. This page is about what you need when the knife's going inside a deer.

The table on this page lists the fixed-blade hunting knives we track on Amazon US, sorted by blade length. It shows what the maker states, or the Amazon listing where the maker is silent (the table marks listing values): blade length, overall length, steel, blade shape, edge, grind, full tang, handle material, sheath, and whether there's a gut hook. When neither states a value, the table shows a dash. We don't fill blanks with guesses. Folding knives live on the pocket knife page.

How to choose a hunting knife, spec by spec

The knife is the one piece of camp gear that has to work every single time a deer is down. The stand, the calls and the lucky hat only have to show up. Here's what I'd look at, in order.

Pick a drop point unless you have a reason not to

Blade shape matters more than anything else on this page.

• Drop point: the spine slopes down to the tip. One knife maker's blade-shape guide lists it for hunting and field dressing. Outdoor Life notes it's usually thicker at the tip, which makes it less likely to punch through a hide or a gut sack by accident.
• Clip point: the spine is scooped out near the front, leaving a thinner, sharper tip. The same guide calls it a preferred shape for hunting knives because it pierces and does detail work well. The general reference on clip points adds the catch: compared with a drop point, the tip is narrower and weaker.
• Trailing point: the spine curves up and the belly runs long. That guide lists it for skinning and butchering game, where you want long draw cuts.

My one opinion on this page: your first hunting knife should be a short drop point, and the second knife can wait. The reasons are checkable. The drop point's thicker tip is less likely to puncture what you don't mean to cut, and the 3 to 4 inch length below is where field-dressing guidance lands. The clip point has its own page at clip point knife.

Keep the blade short enough to steer

One knife maker's field-dressing guide puts it at 3 to 4 inches for most tasks. Shorter is fine for precision but makes the main cuts feel cramped. Over 5 inches adds reach for skinning and quartering, but needs more care in tight spaces, and inside the body cavity is nothing but tight spaces.

The table sorts by blade length, so the short knives sit together at one end. Overall length is a separate column. It tells you how much handle you get, which matters when your hands are cold and gloved.

Long blades aren't wrong. They're just for other jobs. A big knife inside a deer is like painting window trim with a roller.

Steel matters more than looks

The table gives two steel columns: the exact grade the maker or the listing names, and a broad type (stainless, carbon, tool steel, powder steel, damascus). If they only say "stainless," that's all you'll see.

One knife maker's steel guides boil it down to four traits: edge retention, toughness, corrosion resistance and ease of sharpening. They also say the first and last pull against each other. A steel that holds an edge a long time takes longer to sharpen. Stainless gets its rust resistance from chromium; the same maker notes American cutlery standards call it stainless at 13 percent. Tool steels trade some of that rust resistance for toughness and edge holding, and owners have to maintain them diligently.

Here's the thing about deer camp. Blood, rain and cold hands are hard on steel. The American Knife & Tool Institute (AKTI) warns that "stainless" isn't a promise: water and some chemicals still damage it. So pick the steel you'll actually wipe down at the truck, not the one that sounds best.

Plain edge for meat, serrations for rope

The edge column says plain, serrated or partially serrated. Blade Magazine's guide says most cutting suits a plain edge, and it's easy to sharpen. Full serrations are for rope, straps and cardboard, and they need a sharpener made for serrations. Partial serrations are a short section for cord.

For field dressing, plain is the norm. You want clean, controlled slices, and you want to touch up the edge at camp with a simple stone.

Grind decides how the edge behaves

Grind is how the blade thins from spine to edge. Where the maker or the listing states it, the table shows it.

• Hollow: concave sides, a very sharp but weaker edge
• Flat: tapers from spine to edge, sharp, a little less durable
• Saber: bevel starts partway up, built for strength
• Scandi: a saber grind with no secondary bevel, easy to sharpen on a flat stone
• Convex: curves outward, stronger edge, harder to reproduce by hand

Those descriptions follow the standard grind definitions. For deer work, any of them will do the job if it's sharp. The grind matters most when you sit down to sharpen.

A handle that holds when it's wet

The handle column gives the stated material, from wood and bone to rubber, G10, Micarta and plastics. Look at shape too. AKTI points out that on a straight knife, a handle without a guard or other stop lets your hand slide up onto the blade when you push forward.

So look for a finger guard, a choil (a notch for your finger), or at least a handle that swells at the front. Then hold it with wet hands in your mind's eye. Bare wood polished smooth looks nice on the mantel. It's slippery at 5 p.m. in November.

Full tang is a strength note, not a hunting requirement

Full tang means the steel runs through the whole handle. The table marks it only when the maker or the listing says so. Blank means "not stated," not "no." A deer knife isn't asked to pry or chop, so a full tang is nice to have here, not the deciding spec. It matters more on the survival knife page.

Sheath material and how you'll carry it

The sheath column reads leather, nylon, Kydex or polymer, plastic, or other. Leather is traditional. Whatever the material, Ontario Knife Company's care page says to store a knife in a dry place, out of the sheath. The sheath is for carrying, not for the off-season.

Wear it where you can reach it with either hand and where it won't dig in when you sit on a bucket for three hours. That's not a spec. That's November.

The gut hook column

A gut hook is a sharpened hook on the spine. You hook the hide and pull, and RECOIL OFFGRID describes it unzipping the hide without piercing muscle or intestines. The same piece warns that the hook's C-shaped geometry matters: a badly shaped hook cuts where you don't expect and is hard to sharpen. The table marks knives that have one. If you want one, the gut hook knife page goes deeper.

Kinds of hunting knives and when to pick which

The drop-point hunter

One short drop-point blade, a guard, a sheath. It does the opening cut, the field dressing and most of the skinning. If you buy one knife for deer, this is the knife.

Skinners and trailing points

A skinning knife has a long, curved belly for peeling hide off in long strokes. It's a second knife, used at the meat pole, not at the kill. See the skinning knife page.

Gut hook knives

A drop point or skinner with the hook added. Good for hunters who want the belly cut done one way every time. Skip it if you hate sharpening.

Hunting knife sets

A set pairs two or three blades, often with a saw. Penn State Extension's field dressing guide says to cut through the breastbone with a knife or a small saw on older or large animals, and to split the pelvic bone with a saw. That's where a set's saw earns its spot. Sets are on the hunting knife set page.

Folders

A lock-back folder can dress a deer, and plenty of hunters carry one. Folders are on the pocket knife page, not this one. If you go that way, check the lock before the season and clean the pivot after every deer.

Field dressing with a hunting knife

Cut away from your body and keep your free hand behind the edge. Sheathe the knife before you move the deer or stand up.

Penn State Extension's pocket guide walks through the job. The knife details that matter:

1. Wear disposable gloves, and wash hands and arms with soap and water before and after.
2. Make the first shallow cut at the bottom of the breastbone, lifting skin and muscle together.
3. Hold the knife with the blade facing upward inside the cut, with two fingers alongside to push the entrails away.
4. Don't pierce the stomach or intestines.
5. Clean your knife often between cuts with clean water or wipes.

Cornell's Wildlife Health Lab adds two rules worth writing on the sheath. Keep a dedicated set of tools for field dressing that you don't use for butchering. And don't cut meat with the same blade you used to cut bone.

Field dressing, tagging and carcass rules vary by state. Check your state wildlife agency before the season.

Keep it clean, dry and sharp

Cleaning after the deer

Cornell says to wash knives and tools with soap and hot water between animals. Where chronic wasting disease is a concern, it adds a soak in a 50% fresh, unscented bleach solution (1 quart bleach to 1 quart water) to eliminate prions. The sheath rule from that same care article: don't holster a dirty, wet or bloody knife.

Oil it and store it dry

AKTI says to put a light coat of oil on the blade to keep water off, and to store knives somewhere cool and dry. Damp basements and garages turn good steel into pitted steel. Take the knife out of its sheath for the off-season. Ontario Knife Company says to wipe the blade with clean oil two to three times a year to keep rust from starting, and more often if you're near water.

Touch up the edge before it's dull

AKTI's sharpening secret is simple: do it more often. Once a blade gets really dull, it takes a lot of steel off to bring it back. Its recommended angle is 10 to 15 degrees, depending on the grind. Push the blade away from you. Five strokes on one side means five strokes on the other, same pressure, same angle.

AKTI also says sharp blades are safer. A dull blade sticks, you push harder, and that's when it slips.

Who should skip this page

If you hunt with a crew and someone else always does the dressing, you may not need a dedicated knife yet. If you already carry a lock-back folder and like it, look at the pocket knife page instead. And if what you really want is a big blade for splitting kindling, that's a different tool. See the bowie knife page or the survival knife page.

Last thing. Put the knife back in the same pocket of your pack every time. The deer will wait. Your patience at dark, hunting for a knife you set on a stump, won't.