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You might look at our elk model for THE KNIFE. Sell as many of those as all the others combined. It opens, skins rips cages up thru deer sized animals w/o trouble. Had input from 60 hunters over 3 years on the shape and size of that puppy. Blade is about 3".
I looked at it. Looks good to me.
The most I've ever spent on a knife is $60. I have some that are more expensive, but I traded photo services for them.
I'm currently using an old Gerber "Bolt Action", a 3 blade set. It has a 4" drop point blade, I like it but 3" would be nicer. It has a skinner blade with a lot of belly, and I like that too. Again it's 4" and 3" would be nicer. That skinning blade has a guthook - that's a waste of effort, and sometimes gets in the way. The third blade is a 4" saw which works well on bone and wood, but I never use it any more. I bone out game of all sizes, and don't bother gutting anything.
I guess that means that I want a 3" blade, straight or drop point. Sharpness and edge retention are paramount. Usually to maintain an edge, the blade is hardened to the point that it's not easy to regain an edge in the field. So I think that's a hard balance to find. For my purposes, it needs to maintain its edge through at least 2 elk, mine and my brother's. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif My Gerber does that, just barely.
For the right "using" knife, I could go $100. But then if I have to, I can bone out an elk with a cheap 3-bladed pocketknife.