I'm with you....When I am hunting alone in the northern forests, I carry more than one knife. There are wolves, bears, coyotes, and pumas here. None of these animals has ever bothered me, but you never know. In fact, the only animals that have ever attacked me besides dogs were: a chipmunk, a skunk, and a muskrat. I fully realize that if I have to fight a puma or a wolf with a 10 inch knife, I'm going to be a hurtin' unit. My position is that a 10 inch knife is a far superior weapon than my bare hands against a puma, and I will at least have a fighting chance to kill it or drive it off. I always carry a hardwood hiking stick when walking, but when hunting, I don't. I also carry pepper spray, a Leatherman Supertool on my belt, and a tiny Victorinox Classic in my pocket for other knife work.

Pumas, Mountain Lions, Tigers, and the like are sneaky animals by the time they are on you 99.99% of the time there is very little the person being attacked can do to defend oneself. Picture your body flopping around... grabbing a knife, unhooking the sheath and using it is probably way out of the question. Reports on such attacks all pretty much say the person attacked had no idea what happened.

I'm def. not against a large knife. One of my favorites is a RAT-7, and for clearing the RTAK. However, 99% of the time I don't have either with me... so a quality folder is a must

Knife size is also very dependent on your environment. For example where I live, you really need to stay at or below 3.5" blade, and in some cities fixed blades are not allowed unless you are directly involved in an activity requiring it.

In my case, it just isn't practical to carry a larger blade.

-john

I think that is a knee jerk reaction to the unconditional hype of big knives that you see a lot on _*other*_ outdoor survival web sites. Preferably hyping the newest and greatest tacticool looking sharpened prybar.


For me, it is all about choosing the proper tools for your conditions, skills and comfort level. Whatever works the best for a person is correct for that person.

Spend $40 on any decent brand of knife, then spend the rest on your significant other. It will be well worth it.

This is how we carry our knives. You ought to see any of this guys draw their knives, they are fast indeed. The wide belt works like body armor in knife fights or if a puma jumps you (most of the damage is made by their rear claws which they try to drive into your belly). Pumas are not so sneaky, if you are riding, you horse will let you know something is amiss. If on foot you'll probably smell them.

http://www.straitstimes.com/STI/STIMEDIA/image/20090730/July30-Knife-AP.jpg.

I come at this question from a backpacking and climbing perspective. Bulk and size matter. You want the most compact tool that will get the job done since you will be lugging it around.

I have found that anything under four inches in blade length will do any necessary task just fine. I have never thought - "If only I had a bigger knife." There have been times I wished for a saw, but even those were rare.

I suspect there is a Freudian explanation for the fascination with big knives.

The blade on a P-38 is very very small but is much more efficient that trying to use a Marine Raider Bowie knife when trying to open a tin of Tuna.

I could still use the Raider bowie to open the can. Aquard, yes but still possible.

Now, try chopping firewood with your p-38

I know that evidently many people use a knife to gather firewood and it really puzzles me. I use dead wood for fires, not green items which could require a tool. Simply gather the dead stuff and break to size, using your boot or a suitable rock (call it Neanderthal batoning). If you want to burn a large log, a fairly rare occurrence in my experience, simply feed an end into the fire and keep pushing it in as it burns.

The only situations where there was a dearth of dead wood was in heavily used campgrounds and in those situations gathering of live wood was prohibited.

I have frequently had to keep a fire going all night and I just haven't had a problem gathering all the dead wood I required - no knives required.