Knives Of The Hunt

It seems like most older hunters have always had a fascination and infatuation with their knives. This probably was ingrained long ago in male DNA due to their integral part of everyday survival. Having a good hunting knife was the mark of an responsible adult in my circles growing up. Looking at the accouterments of "Otzi the Iceman" one can only marvel at the short stone blade he carried and relied upon. A few years ago my bowhunting comrade and I were scouting a ridge line here in Maryland when we came upon some stone outcroppings. Jokingly, I told Brent, "Keep an eye out for arrowheads" as we always look but find any except in the freshly plowed fields of my youth or out in western states. No sooner had I taken a few steps but Brent called out "Here's one"....Yeah right! I looked back as he plucked a white stone from the gravely rocks beneath this outcropping. Holey Moley! That is the real deal. Here is where it was found:

I had discovered a small shed antler roaming around a few months earlier and Brent donated the "point" to me. I decided to restore it to the form it was most likely used...a knife. I did some research and this type of point was used about 10,000 years ago here in MD. After all these years it was not "super sharp" anymore but could be made that way by someone skilled in knapping quartzite. I bet it could still be used to skin or scrape an animal in its present condition which now resides in my curio. Growing up on a farm I received my first hunting knife at an early age probably in the mid 80's. I can remember it was a Christmas or birthday gift (mine were both close together) and I was thrilled. I carried it everywhere and used it for squirrel and rabbit until I was able to kill my first deer with a 12 Gauge and use it for field dressing chores. It was a knife I had seen on TV on the belts of the Dukes of Hazard....and every adult male I knew carried a similar belt mounted tool. It was the classic buck 110 folder.

Over the years I acquired other similar folders, namely the Schrade Old Timer. These knives proved work horses and have been used over and over again. Classics!

One day while rummaging through my fathers garage I came across an old "western style" knife with stacked leather handle, pitted, with a thin blade, and obviously well worn. My father said it was grandfathers knife. I immediately used it for hunting. I crafted a Fred Bear style knife sheath and archery kit out of an old pair of Concoran combat boots from my prior Army service. This knife has been with me for many years now on trips to New Mexico, Idaho, and Colorado chasing elk and mule deer. Field dressed dozens of deer, proving the quality and classic design of these belt knives. I finally retired this knife for another family heirloom I will describe in this article later. I just love going through my father's garage. He had manged to acquire what my mom would refer to as "junk" passed down to him through my many great uncle's estates. One such day I "found" two very interesting blades. One was another old Western style fixed blade. The stacked leather handle disks deteriorated and were discarded years ago. The blade showed thick pitting but I knew I could bring her back to life. My dad told me, "go ahead and keep them". I immediately set to work on his bandsaw and joiner to cut a couple pieces of osage orange scales from scrap I had there from a failed selfbow project. I had just met another local fellow bowhunter who had been stricken with the traditional archery bug and saw my Traditional Bowhunters of Maryland sticker on my truck at a landscaping store. We reconnected through Tradgang and were soon sharing time afield. I learned Mike had a passion for osage and decided to gift him the knife once it was complete. I settled on some bison accent strips from a powder horn project I had recently completed. I figured it would look sharp. The project came out beautiful and Mike was tickled when I suggested if he did not like it he could always use it for his first traditional deer and then retire it. Turns out he loved it and a osage MOAB was soon delivered which accented it nicely. 2013 will be the year to bloody this knife Mike!

The second knife I found in the "junk" drawer that day was this old heavy bladed knife that looked like a Puma to me. I thought it interesting and took it home to study. There was nothing I could read stamped on the blade. I managed to discern the stag handle was not imitation as I first suspected. The scale pins were large and crude looking. The blade was very thick at the handle. My dad told me he did not know where the knife had come from but he was sure it was from one of the great uncles and could have been in the family a "long time." I began to do some quick internet research and I was amazed that almost unanimously the consensus was that this knife was homemade, perhaps from a old file, but whomever had done the work did an excellent job and was very skilled. I was ecstatic I had something so unique from my family and had to take it hunting. I was able to break it in during the late fire arms season on a large doe taken with a "sporterized" GWER 8mm Mauser my dad handed down to me. It has been my main hunting knife and is now carried in my homemade Bear archery kit style sheath. It just has a mystique to it. If the next knife could tell a story, it would be a whopper! My dad showed me this knife and I could tell he treated it with a little more care than the others from the "junk" drawer. The knife was slim and well worn from many sharpenings. It did not seem very remarkable to me with a non-existant gaurd and small rosewood scales. He told me the following anecdote, "This knife was one of the last things off a carrier in WWII before she went down". He said it was from "uncle George" (his). I knew great uncle George had been in the Navy but I had a hard time believing this knife with a plastic looking pommel could be from WWII. I started my research with the knife, it was marked "Ranger" and the rest was not readable. After some scouring of the internet I was able to find similar ones that had sold and the descriptions stated this knife was common among soldiers and that the pommel was indeed bakelite. The knife was indeed a WWII vintage boot knife. Next, I set about researching George's service. My mother was able to quickly produce some documents for me since she was embroiled in doing some family genealogy at the time. George was in fact the purser for the carrier Hornet. The Hornet was sunk at the Battle of Santa Cruz islands. Being the purser and responsible for safeguarding the ship's payroll safe, he may have likely been one of the last to leave the ship That day. He likely had this knife when the Hornet launched the "Doolittle raid", and after the sinking he was re-assigned to the USS Princeton for the remainder of the war in the Pacific. Now that is something else! My Great uncle George was likely on this carrier as this photo was taken during the Battle at Santa Cruz Islands.

During my "militant" years I was given another gift by my brother Chris who was at the time my brigade S-2 in the same outfit. That gift was the Gerber Mark II Combat knife. This knife saw service in Vietnam and was a constant companion on both my LBE during duty, as well as my hunting pants while off. Not the fist choice for a skinning knife with its long slender blade but a useful tool nonetheless. I learned quickly it was a handy and easily accessible cutting tool, as well as something to lightly chop and poke the fire with. It kindled a niche for a very sturdy "side arm" knife that was a little bigger than the average hunting knife. I slowly wanted a more "traditional" looking knife to serve my niche needs, and I picked up the venerable buck model 119. I carried it for a few seasons but found the handle slick when wet and blocky feeling. It was a quality tool however. Soon it found its way from my belt to my shop and was used as my primary scraper for making my first selfbow. The next knife on my list was soon to become an all around favorite. It was a gift again from my brother and I soon repeated the gesture to my good friend Mike. The K-BAR needs no official introduction as its combat history and folklore are well known. I soon found out just how valuable this tool was in practicality. I carried this on my first elk hunt in Colorado and it became quickly apparent this single tool could take the place of many others I was imprudently packing up the big hill. This knife was in constant use and easily accessible on my belt. It was used to cut cord, prune shooting lanes as a small machete, to cook with and stir the cooking fire, as comfort protection from bear and lion if needed, as a hammer to pound in my tent pegs, and even as an hatchet or hawk to split kindling. This tough tool did it all! The following year I shaved off many unnecessary pounds by just relying on the good old K-BAR! You will find this tool on my belt whenever I am in the wilderness from now on. Finally the last knife I "acquired" is the handy Shrew "Lil'Shaver". This knife in actuality belongs to my newborn son Garrett. A gift from my fellow brother of the bow Mike Mongelli. The sheath is signed by Ron LaClair and dated with my son's birthdate. A finer gesture I cannot fathom. The blade is perfect for use on whitetail as a field dresser and skinner. The quality is superb and I would highly recommend anyone who is in need of the perfect whitetail neck knife to check it out. I took the knife for a snowy cold test drive and snapped a few pictures, however I need to create a new sheath if I am to continue to use it until Garrett is old enough so I can preserve the signature.....but he already has his first knife. The tradition continues....