QUESTION - Which Knife do you carry to back up your Scalpel-blade knife?

[TheGDog]

Hey people, I'm curious to ask around and see what kinda Fixed Blade, Folder or MultiTool knives you bring along as a backup to your Havalon's or other replaceable blade-system knifes?

Specifically what tool do you use for separating the skull from the topmost vertebrae?/////

I've been doing basically OK with my Leatherman Skeletool CX backin' me up. But it's still a small enough and thin enough knife that it's about using finesse with it. Which slows me down when it comes to separating the skull from the rest of the vertebrae.

I'm looking for a not too heavy option I can use as my backup knife that would be more robust enough to put up with me piercing it between the space in between the vertebrae and perhaps executing a little bit of twisting/prying action to help get 'em apart. That sorta thing.

So if a certain knife comes to mind that you've used that really made that particular tasks a lot easier, I'd love to hear about it.

ALSO --- So let's say you get your deer back to the Truck, and you find out the head with it's rack won't quite fit in your large cooler's opening.

What do you do then as a Plan B in terms of keeping the head cool and on ice until you can get back home?

I was thinking maybe a large and deep modelled Sterilite contianer, brought along just in case? Something to help stabilize the head and antlers for the long drive home andprevent them from getting damaged during the drive.

How have some of you attacked this problem/Issue?

 

[Lungpopper]

I’ve been able to get the field work done with the Havalon. But I’m always carrying the Benchmade Griptilion.

 

[Kellendv]

If you’re going to do some prying you just need a fixed blade with a full shank. Choose the blade type that you like the most.... I don’t bother separating the last vertebra. I have an older Kershaw knife kit that has an exchangeable bone saw, skinning blade and regular clip point style knife blade. I just throw the saw blade on and cut it off close to the skull.

As for the head question, if you are going to do a shoulder mount or anything with the cape you do need to keep the cape cool. I have put the cape and skull into the cooler opening with the antlers sticking out so that the cooler lid closes on the antlers. It’s not completely closed but it works fine and I’ve never lost a cape or meat. If you are just going to do a euro or cut the skull plate off just throw it in a cardboard box.

 

[HATCHET1]

I dont have that problem...i make sure i shoot deer that will fit in my cooler....head and all..

 

[TheGDog]

I’ve been able to get the field work done with the Havalon. But I’m always carrying the Benchmade Griptilion.

Well Ok... and with the Havalon you're able to separate from the vertebrae? Hmph.

Does it involve forcibly twisting the head from the spine? Or are you able to get it done cleanly with the blade?

I'm asking about all this because when I did that coyote a lil bit ago, the way the inter-locking nubs of the vertebrae extended... I was finding it dang near impossible to get the blade down in between two of 'em.

First time... I used my lil 11oz field hatchet. Second time, I cracked the blade on my Buck folder while prying between them. 3rd time I think I was able to get it with the scalpel and fixed blade, but I seem to remember it took a dang long time. Typically I just always use the fixed blade for things I know will dull the scalpel, like when you're running the blade along the ribs as a guide when removing the back straps. Figure that way I don't waste scalpel blades. Doing it that way I usually only use like 1 or sometimes 2. Depends on how tough it is and how precise I want to be with the cuts on the hide.

Any good videos you can think of that show the technique for going thru the vertebrae with just the scalpel?

 

[GUNDOGLOVER]

I dont have that problem...i make sure i shoot deer that will fit in my cooler....head and all..

Anyhow, you don't need a knife but, the boys do.

 

[HATCHET1]

You no it GD...i just stand there or sit in the truck..my preferred spot..full circle is upon me...my job is over..

 

[BOWUNTR]

I always carry a bucklite folder in my pack for 30 years.... same knife with a Kershaw 6" steel. But.... my primary knife is a havalon. I've boned out, gutless, two moose and many other large mammals with that orange little knife. Crazy skillz. No problem breaking joints if you know what you are doing. I won't use it on taxidermy though... too sharp and I don't like to sew. Hatchet has no business using a sharp knife.... no win for anybody... Ed F

 

[TheGDog]

I do well enough on the joints with the Havalon, you know... go careful... just the tendons/connective tissue... use a little "persuasion" and "crack!" ... just can't seem to do the Vertebrae. Figure there is some technique thing I'm missing.

 

[HATCHET1]

I always carry a bucklite folder in my pack for 30 years.... same knife with a Kershaw 6" steel. But.... my primary knife is a havalon. I've boned out, gutless, two moose and many other large mammals with that orange little knife. Crazy skillz. No problem breaking joints if you know what you are doing. I won't use it on taxidermy though... too sharp and I don't like to sew. Hatchet has no business using a sharp knife.... no win for anybody... Ed F

Ed..along with the boys taking my bow..my rifle .and shotgun away from me..rest at ease.
They have now taken the havolon away from me too....just me a lloyd now ..living out our days with oprah and cheesesticks.

 

[CazadorSuerte]

Don’t tell me you have given up the brown?

 

[HATCHET1]

Had to bro..blood pressure was thru the roof..it was a good run though!!

 

[TheGDog]

Had to bro..blood pressure was thru the roof..it was a good run though!!

"Through the roof"? - Like what kinda numbers were you gettin'?

I'm just asking because I've had hypertension since my early 20's, so just curious what they consider 'thru the roof'. (I'm typically 140/95 when I've been bad about exercise. I don't feel right at all when I've been brought down to 117/82. The systolic can be a little higher than they'd like without too much ill effect. But the diastolic number, (the pressure when your heart is not contracting) ya gotta watch that one. You let it get much past 95 and you're gonna start having migraines and tiredness and/or dizziness.

Besides the brown... really start paying attention to the salt man. And for goodness sake stay away from anything in the frozen foods aisle except the veggies. MAJOR SODIUM. I haven't been down the frozen food aisle in like... shoot... maybe 25 years. #RealTalk

 

[HATCHET1]

Dog...all of the above , working in the medical feild for the last 22 years..i feel you..i think what pushed me over the needle more than anything has been chaperoning hunters for the past 25 years...but now that the boys are coming of age and just about ready to take over...my BP has gone down...imagine that? #ZEROPATIENCE.

 

[CazadorSuerte]

#whowouldhaveeverthoughtthatwouldhappen!

 

[HATCHET1]

100,s of mammals still to kill..only 1 liver and 1 heart..Babies still need new shoes!!! And man can they eat..

 

[TheGDog]

Well... sounds like you already took care of the "man they can eat" part... right? "Here... take this.... go get yourselves some food." "Thanks Dad!"

 

[Bowman]

For blood pressure, no pills, 1/2 of grapefruit, daily..
I retired last year. Everything just was more relaxed.
Back on the saddle , ya more stress,
More damage.

 

[Bowman]

I guess I need a new knife.
Old buck knife, 40 years

 

[TheGDog]

For blood pressure, no pills, 1/2 of grapefruit, daily..

I wish it were that simple my friend. For me... apparently my kidneys produce a chemical, angiotension, that binds to receptors in the muscle walls of all my arteries/veins and makes them more rigid/tense. As a result, when the heart contracts to push the blood... the "pipes" don't have as much flex to them as other folks would normally have, so the diameter of the pipes remains more consistent throughout the push of blood, therefore smaller diameter pipe, greater pressure.

The kind a meds that work on someone like me either address those kidneys and make em stop producing that angiotension...or... a med which floats around and binds to those angiotensin receptor cites on the artieries/veins... so that the chemical my kidneys make a lot of has nowhere to bind to.

Besides, if I tried to eat Grapefruit the acid-reflux would be way heinous. Unfortunately.