Damascus Blade Skinner Knife
The Oregon turkey hunting season is here and will last until May 31. Like big game hunting, a lot of knowledge and experience (not to mention good hunting knives) goes into a good turkey hunt, but for some hunters getting started can be a bit overwhelming. The following is a list of turkey hunting resources that you’ll want to read before heading out on a hunt. Even if you’re an experienced hunter it doesn’t hurt to brush up on the basics before going out.
Coast recently published an informative article titled How to Skin a Turkey for Thanksgiving, and just in time! Many inexperienced hunters are so excited to bag their first bird that they neglect to learn what they need to do with the bird after its bagged. Well, the Coast article has all the information you need to properly field dress and skin a Thanksgiving turkey. Here are a few highlights.
A high-quality skinning knife is essential for any DIY turkey skinning attempt.
Any hunter knows the importance of proper knife maintenance and care, at least, he should. ”Knife sharpening seems like an easy task, but it is one of the most commonly overlooked aspects of hunting trip preparedness,” opens Coast’s article, Sharpening Hunting Knives, which thoroughly details the steps and methods hunters use for keeping their blades sharp. If you’re a new hunter, or perhaps a seasoned veteran that needs a refresher, this article provides some essential tips and tricks for keeping your knives useful.
As the article’s author points out, “You can own the most expensive, elaborate blade available, but if it is not properly sharpened, it probably won’t work the way you need it to when you need it the most.” And that goes for all your hunting equipment as well. For instance, what good is a weapon without properly loading its ammunition? Or an LED flashlight with dead batteries? Providing proper maintenance for all your hunting gear is as basic a principle as they come.
With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I’m sure many of you hunters have already been thinking about Turkey season. Coast recently published a new article, Seven Turkey Hunting Gear Must-Haves, that details all the essential equipment you’ll need to capture the perfect bird for your holiday meal — that is, if your wife doesn’t beat you to it at the local grocery store.
The article lists the seven items and provides a description explaining why each is important and necessary for a successful hunt. For instance, one of the suggested pieces of equipment is a reliable hunting knife specifically for field dressing (which preserves the meat more effectively) in addition to other various uses — a good knife just plain comes in handy in the outdoors.
Coast recently published a new article on their web site dealing with hunting knives, specifically, how to sharpen them. With hunting season just getting underway, the article is extremely timely.
Puma has long established itself in the market as a quality name brand that delivers a top of the line, reliable product. Puma knives are considered some of the best crafted, most long-lasting hunting and sporting knives available. I was able to take a look at a Puma Drop Point Rattler this week and see just what Puma craftsmanship means.
The Rattler is a 5.5” long sporting knife with a stainless steel blade and full tang (the tang is the part of the knife that holds the handle). With a full tang, you get the sturdiness and strength of a full piece of metal running through the length of the blade. The blade is bead blasted or given a “military finish” to prevent glare against the sun while hunting. This knife looks like its ready to work; the knife blade is incredibly sturdy and easy to carry.
Survival knives got a cheesy image a few years back thanks to their overblown presentation in the Rambo movies. These knives are not just novelty items or barbaric tools of destruction. Survival knives provide all the common uses of a hunting knife but they also have a hollow handle that provides a compartment for easy storage of various items you may need while in the great outdoors. A survival knife can store matches, bandages, twine and some other useful survival items and keep them all dry. This creates an easy to carry survival kit all in the palm of your hand. Some survival knives include a simple compass in the end of the handle as well.
When looking for a survival knife, make sure that the novelty of a handle encasement doesn’t over shadow the quality of the blade. After all, it is first and foremost a hunting knife. The blade should be sturdy and made of rust-proof materials. Many survival knives have both a serrated portion toward the top of the handle for sawing as well as a regular sharp blade at its tip for cutting and skinning. Buy a brand known for its robustness and then check out the extra survival equipment it can carry.
While it is certainly easy to purchase a hunting knife at a local retail store nothing beats owning a handcrafted, original hunting knife. A dealer of handmade hunting knives can provide a top of the line knife that can perform all the required duties of a hunting knife while maintaining a unique visual appeal. Hand-crafted knives can also have significant collectible value if properly kept and maintained. Collectible knives can be found from reputable knife makers, like Puma, Case or Bowie, or from local artisans who are carrying on a craft passed down to them from the generations before.
When looking for a handmade hunting knife, ask the maker how much is hand-made and what kind of technique is used. This will help you determine whether the knife is truly a one-of-a-kind, how well-crafted it is, and if pieces of the knife may not be entirely natural or unique. All of these things are variables in the collectability of the knife but may not affect the overall performance of the blade.
