Hunting with dogs and a knife

[DC KNIVES]

Just curious how many here are using a knife.My nephew is a trapper in Citrus County and has been doing this for many years ,after trying both gun and bows.Dave

[mcraddock]

I have taken many a hog with my Raider Bowie knife from Spec Plus. When running the dogs, I leave the gun in the truck.


Me on the right. Florida blue boar hog. 175 lbs. Lake Okechobee

[DC KNIVES]

Great looking hog.Curious as to what features you like in a hog knife and sheath.Dave



By the way cute baby in your avatar, lucky guy

[SWThomas]

I've done it before. It's very fun but you're not the one hunting really. The dogs are doing the hunting. A bunch of my co-workers went on a dog/knife hog hunt down in GA recently and they all got hogs. They had a blast. I prefer shooting them from a distance with my muzzleloader.

[dog1]

Actually, killing a hog with a knife started before my time, I'm 60 now. I started following my father and grandfather hog hunting when I was 7 yrs. old. If they used dogs to catch a wild hog, they would ease in and shoot the hog with a 22 rifle or pistol behind the ear, causing the bullet to hit the brain. This did not immediately kill the hog, but totally disabled it. They would then move in with a mere pocket knife, insert it into the neck of the hog and stick/cut the jugular vien (?), which caused it to immediately bleed completely out. You could say sticking a hog is a lost art form, most people I've seen today, just about cut the hogs head off trying to cut that vien. My folks could make that stick/cut no wider than the with of the knife blade and do it the first and every time.

Both sets of my grandparents was farmers and raised hogs for food, families was larger back then and they would kill/butcher as many as 10 or more hogs at a time. They believed that by sticking the hog and bleeding it out, it not only quickened the death of the hog, but made the meat taste better. Another thing they did back then and I do to this day, they only butchered hogs in Jan. & February, they would not kill a hog during hot weather. I personally do not want a hog chased down in the heat of the summer by dogs or any other method. Pork just simply spoils to quick to mess with them in 95 degrees.

Don't get me wrong, I've taken buddies hog hunting during the summer, but I don't want the meat, it's all theirs. I also believe that a hog being shot with a high powered rifle or pistol thru its' boiler, will bleed it out and sticking is not necessary, but I still stick them. And of course, butchering it in hot weather should be done immediately.

dog1

[mcraddock]

Originally Posted by DC KNIVES

Great looking hog.Curious as to what features you like in a hog knife and sheath.Dave



By the way cute baby in your avatar, lucky guy

Great question! I was kind of expecting it seeing as you are a manufacturer.

I specifically chose this knife for my hog sticker for several reasons.

1. Balance - a good heavy blade that kept it's momentum when thrusting
2. Length - I wanted a blade that would get in there far enough on a big hog, minimum of 8" for me
3. Design - two "must have's" , a hilt to keep my hand from sliding onto the blade and a lanyard ring and cord for running my hand through for extra grip
4. Sheath - double snaps, on both handle and hilt. I would hate to loose my knife while trying to crawl through the briars when getting to hog
5. cost - around $80, pretty good deal I think
6. finish - Plain 'ol black paint, stainless, or bluing. Blood left on a blade will corrode it. Yet I'm guilty of doing just that and ruining an expensive knife.

No need for expensive finishes in my opinion. I'm more of a 'function' over 'appearence' kind of guy. I wanted a good sticker for the price. Also, the steel of the blade is not so important as holding an edge is of little help. All the cutting is done with the point and even the roughest of edges will slide like butter between the ribs of a hog.

I'm guessing you are wanting to start offering or may already offer a knife specifically for hog hunters? I may not be the norm, so my preferences may not be shared. Hope this helps ya though.

Oh, and the baby is my son that was born May 8th. My first, so I'm still beaming with pride. Thank you for the compliments.

[DC KNIVES]

Thanks for your reply and good specific preferences.I doubt I will be making but a few if any more as I make one off customs for the most part.Alot of it is just curiousity.I like to ask knife users what thier requirements are in a given situation.I have made a couple for my nephew who does this and asked him the same questions putting his input into his knife.The first knife worked well for him but was stolen out of his truck. For the second one, we put in lessons learned from using the first into the design.
On the first I had a double guard but deleted it on the second in favor of a guardless but heavily shaped handle, for more grip.We also dropped the width from 1 1/2" to 1 1/4", and dropped the thickness from 1/4" to 3/16".All this made for a lighter,quicker stabber.We kept the blade length at 9 1/2".This is his second knife.





Anyways thanks again for the reply, I love design discussions.Dave

[The Rev]

I've made a few hog knives for hunters. I use a knife only after I've put an arrow in them and they quit breathing.

[kevin1]

I don't think that I've ever been so bored that wrestling an angry hog with just a knife sounded like a good idea, not even in my "Hold my beer!" days.

[Rebel Hog]

Been doing it close to 50 years............Always have used dogs......

Shot a many with rifle and hand guns also!