" Hunting Knife" Where did it go ?

[willyp]

Many many years ago I started hunting ! It was a fact of life that you had to have a "Hunting Knife " on your belt . It was used for everything from bunnies to deer ? The bigger the more of a hunter you looked like ? 
Well I was thinking yesterday about how many of these I had lost in the woods over the years ! The snap would come open on the sheath and they would fall out and you did not notice it. 
The last 40 or more years I have carried a pocket knife and have not lost any of them ? Well not in the woods anyways !
My question is this " For all the knifes lost in the woods how many have you found ?" I have never found a knife in the woods but I know they are out there !

[ridgecommander]

I have never found one. I have a buddy that hunts the high country of Colorado every year for elk. He found at beat up and weathered antler handle hunting knife at 9,500 feet. We wonder who lost it and what they were doing when they lost it. Was it left behind after quartering an elk, mule deer or bear at that very spot?

[dennyf]

Years back I'd get a new Schrade pocket knife almost every Christmas. Because I could never seem to keep one very long. Never lost a cheap pocket knife, though.

Many years ago, hunted small game up in Perry County with a guy I worked with. When we got home one time, he realized he didn't have his pocket knife he'd cleaned two bunnies with that trip. Told him he'd stuck it in a log on the woodpile out by the road. It was still there in the wood pile the following Saturday, when we went back up to hunt.

I've been using the same 4" folder w/leather belt holster for 30 years. One year when getting stuff together for deer camp, couldn't find it anywhere. Have dozens of other knives, both sheath and folders, but found a deal at Walmart and bought it: Six inch sheath knife; four inch folder w/belt clip; and a multi tool w/sheath.

Winchester branded, all in a blister pack for $19.95, made in Mao Land. Son confiscated the multi tool and I used the six incher twice on deer. It's actually a pretty good knife, holds an edge well. Later found my old 4 incher in a door pocket of the truck. Had a four inch skinner I'd picked up a few years ago. Gave it to my cousin's son last season, when he skinned my buck for me. He said he recognized the brand as being a good one. Told him he now has to skin my deer for the rest of my life. He said ok, after pointing out that was the first deer I'd killed in about four years.



Weird part on that Winchester three pack from Walmart, year or so later Gander had the same three Winchester implements in individual blister packs, for $19.96 apiece.

[3212]

In the 80's I found a large one marked Solingen, Germany.Its so big I wondered how you would maneuver it inside a deer.I like 3 1/2 inch folders in the pocket.

[acorn20]

I have found two folders on or near gut piles while hunting. The first one was an inexpensive folder. I still have it somewhere in the gun cabinet.

I found the second one while hunting during muzzleloading season. This knife was a custom folder made by Harry Forsythe of Smithsburg, Maryland. The reason I know the maker; I have one just like it and I happened to know the fellow who owned this ebony and copper knife. The blades on Harry's knives were made from cross-cut saws (I don't know how he cut them out) and boy do they ever hold an edge. I held on to that knife and gave it back to my hunting buddy a week later when we returned to the scene of the crime to look for the knife.

[Deleted]

I found one back in spring gobbler. Was after a bird way back in and was walking down an old skidder trail and looked down to find avknife laying there. I dont think its a expensive one but it has one hell of an edge on it.

[davet]

Sometimes.....the cheapie knives hold the best edges!!

[Deleted]

I never found any and don't think I ever lost any.

[GlennD]

I never lost a knife, but I know guys who lose them all the time.

My Dad taught me when I was a kid to not trust the sheaf. The knife gets tied into the sheaf with a piece of rawhide string.

He also told me to not lay my knife down in the leaves at a gut pile.

His advice has served me well.

My Dad also made knives. He was a steelworker and knew what was the best steel. My first hunting knife he made. I still have it. It has gutted a lot of deer.

I have another knife my best hunting buddy gave me many years ago. It is an Uncle Henry Golden Spike. It came with a free replacement in case of loss. My friend always kidded me about “losing” the knife and getting one for him. . I never lost the knife and it has been used on dozens of deer.

[Deleted]

It has been so long ago that I don't remember exactly when, but one day while hiking on the Susquehannock Trail I found one. I had just topped the mountain outside of Cross Fork heading southwest on the trail and went to sit down on a rock to catch my breath. There was a knife laying on the rock beside me. No sheath. It was a relatively cheap knife with fake stag handles and a Soligen Steel blade which does hold a fairly good edge. Some years later the handle fell apart and I replaced it with a piece of walnut.  It is the one second from the left. I made the sheath at the top of the photo for it from a piece of moose hide.
The knife on the left is a Hen and Rooster.  The two on the right are a buck and a queen.

[dennyf]

Probably now have over a dozen NRA knives in the "collection", since they usually give a knife away each year at the Outdoors Show, as enticements to upgrade, etc. Other than one I carry in a back pocket as a "work knife", most are still in the boxes they came in. They're pretty much all made in China, but the one I carry holds an edge well and still looks new, despite being in pockets for the past six or eight years.

My favorite pocket knife is a Kershaw, that's fairly flat and sharper'n hell. It's in the back pocket of my dressy jeans, not the work jeans.

Guys that rate Kershaws pretty high and claim none are made overseas, don't like me telling them my Kershaw was made in Japan.

When my son started coming to deer camp, he was mesmerized by my huntin' bud stoning all of his knives before opening day. My buddy would sit at the table for an hour or so, running each knife over assorted stones, until he could shave hair off'n an arm with each knife.

Son asked why I never did that? Told him I'm a man and like having hair on my arms. I just poke a knife into a piece of newspaper and if it slits the newsprint with no effort, close enough for me.