My 2 cents is don't write off or discount carbon steel blades, as in the non-stainless kind. That is my personal preference, I don't care about the stains and do like the patina. Doesn't rust because I keep them dry and oiled which is easy maintenance. I do notice a big difference between carbon and stainless, carbon is much easier to sharpen and holds an edge longer.

I typically carry one of3 different kniveswhen I hunt. I have a randall model 5, in carbon, and two Grohmanns, a model 3 in stainless and a model 4 in high carbon. I love my Randall but it's super expensive and a long wait. Excellent knife and steel. Also the Grohmanns are excellent knives too, very cheap considring they are hand made and they will customize at your request. Not made in the USA, but made in Canada, which isn't China...

http://www.grohmannknives.com/pages/outdoor.html

As for sharpening, you don't need any fancy kit to get a razor sharp edge. With a little knowledge and practice you can get a razor sharp edge with just water stones and a leather strope. I have and use the stone combo and strope from the links below.

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=33010&cat=1,43072,43071&am p;ap=1
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=32999&cat=1,43072

One thing about sharpening knives that I learned is that angle guides are overrated, you don't need them. Also spend some time on the internet searching and reading about sharpening knives. I've learned a lot and you don't need to spend a lot of money. Also when you first profile your blade edge with a 200 stone, make sure you put in enough time to profile completely, some people lack the patients and don't completely profile their blades. After that just minimal maintenance with the 1000 grit stone or just the leather strope to keep a keen edge..

And I don't care what knife you have, getting through the initial elk hair and hide while gutting will dull any knife.. So I carry a small steel (from Grohmann) to touch up the edge after the belly's been open and that's all you need..

There are plenty of reasonabley priced knives available and any will be perfect for your needs, but I will only stress to not get hung up on "stainless" only... Blades should age like a fine wine.

Cheers.