For hunters, knives are just as important as firearms. As a rule, fixed or folding hunting knives are recommended. Main field of application: breaking open and providing for the hunted game as well as, if necessary, beaking or intercepting it. Important for a safe use of folding knives is the firm locking of the folded out blades.

Especially if the hunter has to care for his game alone, he should use a one-hand knife. In this way, he can switch back and forth between the break-open blade and the knife blade with one hand when breaking open the game, for example, at the transition from the abdominal wall to the rib cage. Attention: Hunters must also bear in mind that carrying one-handed knives is only permitted in connection with authorized hunting practice. In all other cases, knives with a one-handed lockable blade may not be carried according to §42a para. 1 p. 3 WaffG, as there is no "legitimate interest". It is therefore advisable to proceed with the carrying of the knife as with the firearm.

There is a wide range of folding knives offered. which, in addition to the actual blade, still have a pry blade and/or a saw well secured in the handle for hunting use. With just a few simple steps, such a folding knife offers a helpful selection of tools and applications important for hunting practice. In addition, the compact size and the associated possibility to carry the knife in your pocket are further advantages of the "pocket knife".

A disadvantage is the poorer cleaning possibility of the folding knife, especially if it cannot be washed off under running water immediately after use. Dried sweat and dirt can collect between the handle scales and be unhygienic. Because of their design, folding knives are less robust than fixed knives and are therefore not suitable for prying or intercepting.

Fixed knives are preferred by hunters for interception. bIn hunting it happens from time to time that game has to be searched for with the dog after a bad shot. Also after game accidents in the traffic the injured game must be often searched. If the welding dog reaches the still living piece, an expert stab with the knife ensures the immediate death, if the use of a firearm is not possible for safety reasons.

The sharpening of the knife plays a major role for the hunter, because hunting knives must be sharp as razor blades to allow clean work and to reduce the suffering of the game when intercepted. The easiest way is undoubtedly to leave the sharpening of his hunting knife to a professional. But many hunters also like to sharpen their knives themselves - especially if they wield knives with blades made of comparatively soft steel. When using a sharpening steel, sharpening stone or knife sharpener, it is very important to maintain an angle of 15 to 20 degrees and to move the entire blade from the base of the handle to the tip of the knife along the sharpening steel with even, smooth movements. In this way, after a short treatment, the blade will be as sharp as a razor blade. It is better to leave the sharpening of particularly hard, cutting steels to a qualified expert.

The blades of good hunting knives are usually made of steel with a wide range of properties that can be tailored to a specific purpose through manufacturing and heat treatment. Today, modern knife steel is optimized for use as a blade. Of particular importance to the hunter are, of course, good cutting and utility properties. These include edge retention, cutting ability and sharpenability. To be suitable as a blade material, the material must have a hardness of at least about 55 HRC (Rockwell hardness test). The ideal values for fine cutting edges are around 60 to 65 HRC. For hunting knives, experts recommend an HRC of 57 to 60 because of the easier resharpening and the less pronounced brittleness of the material.

In addition to folding knives that conceal different blades in the handle, some fixed hunting knives also offer variable handle combinations. In addition to the main blade, other options include fold-out pry blades, bone saws, and hooks for unhooking (mostly for feathered game). Such combinations upgrade every hunting knife to a real universal tool. For reasons of game hygiene, feathered game is no longer unhooked nowadays. Therefore, one can do without this tool.

The handles of good hunting knives are characterized above all by an ergonomically favorable and at the same time non-slip design. Whether they are made of plastic, wood, horn or any other material, they must ensure safe handling, especially with a non-slip grip. Especially when caring for hunted game, it is usually impossible to avoid wetting the hunting knife with sweat (blood). In this case, a particularly non-slip handle design is indispensable for safety reasons alone. For hygienic reasons, it should be noted that the handle is very easy to clean.

Typical hunting knife types are:

Hunting knicker

Hunting knives are narrow, single-edged hunting knives with a length of up to 20 cm. In contrast to the woad blade, the hunting knives can be used for stabbing (as in the case of nodding), but they are usually too short for catching leaves. For this purpose, the longer and stronger deer hunter is recommended.

Deer hunter

The deer hunter is a stabbing weapon about 40 to 70 cm long, which is hardly used for hunting today. With this long blade - unlike in earlier times - red and fallow deer are only rather rarely intercepted. In today's hunting operations, deer or boar hunters are used in driven or moving hunts: If, for example, the stalking dogs have placed a freshet or overrun and a catch shot cannot be applied without endangering the dogs.

Waidblatt

The woad blade is a large heavy hunting knife with a blade up to 30 cm long with a rounded tip, which makes it rather unsuitable for interception. The knife can be used for everything in the hunting ground, also breaking up, especially strong game is one of the applications of strong woad blades.

Scadinavian disposable knives

Even though they are not really a category of their own, it is worth mentioning the extremely practical disposable knives, which are distributed in Germany mainly by the company Morakniv. The knives cost around 10 euros. Knife sheath and handle are usually kept in bright orange, which makes them easy to find again in the precinct, they were once put aside when breaking open. Due to the low price, it is not too painful if the knife should be lost. The only disadvantage of the knives - they are very difficult to resharpen.

Where to find the best deals?

You can find many offers online, but our Gunfinder search is the quickest way to get an overview of the prices. Especially on EGun you can find a lot of knives online, especially for collectors this is very interesting. Since hunting knives are not restricted by the terms and conditions of many Internet vendors, unlike firearms, offers can also be found on platforms such as Ebay and Amazon.