A multi-tool is a great help in the woods but not for skinning or dressing a deer.It can be used if that's all you have.We find lots of flint form former hunters(about 500 years ago)and we found a flint hand knife so we tried skinning a deer with it,it worked but it wasn't easy and very slow.The point is yes you could use a pocket knife but after years of hunting deer I use a three blade skinning knife.One is a gut hook,the other is a small saw,and the third is a blade.I also keep a filet knife for cutting back straps and another skinning knife in case the other blade gets dull.