Rob ... welcome from me also.
Always glad to give thoughts about knives.

The original K-bar knife used by the USMC in WW2 was famous for taking a very sharp edge. The alloy was soft enough that the Marines could sharpen the knife when it got dull. The same alloy did not hold a great edge for a long time. But the Marines did not care - they just sharpened their knives again. I can't say that I have any problems with that logic :-)

I tend to agree with ChaosMagnet. Over the years I have carried every kind of steel known to man ... knives, long knives and Bowies, machetes, tomahawks, you name it. But what tends to happen is that any piece of heavy hardware gets left at home, or camp, eventually. So the most useful knife is probably the knife you are willing to carry around all the time. Right now for me ... it's a folding knife from Emmerson with a blade about 3-1/2 inches long. I use that for all purposes, including survival and defense (if necessary). The Emmerson cost way too much $$ by the way :-) - but it's a nice knife and the blade steel is excellent.

For strictly hunting purposes, you would need a knife that excels as a tool for cutting, and also can be used for skinning game. I'm not sure I'd use a K-Bar for skinning ... you want something with a finer blade and more dexterity. Really, survival knives and skinning knives are two completely different animals. You need both if you are going to be preparing freshly killed game in the wilderness.

You should probably go away and think a bit harder about your real priorities ... don't ask "what would I like?". Instead ask ... "what am I going to be doing most of the time - realistically?".

cheers,
Pete2