a simple 3" gerber gator and a wyoming saw for cutting off the skull plate if need be. I usually leave my wy saw at base/spike camp and only cary my gerber. I do, on moose, carry a sharpening stone.

For deer, gut them, hang them and immediatly pull the hide off. You will need a knife in only a few areas. The colder the animal gets with the hide on, the tougher it will be to skin! This is what I have found to be the best way to keep hair off. From their you can let it hang if you so desire, we let it cool for a few hours, then we go to butchering. If its late, we do the butchering first thing in the morning. Colder, firmer meat is much easier to cut up then warm fresh off the hoof stuff (found that out the hard way!) We still cant tell what was my buck shot and hung over nite, or my doe, hung for a couple hours, and butchered immediatly.

A gut hook is a waist imo! You can do the same thing with your two fingers. That or their is a neat lil device that slips over the point of your knive. Much lighter, much cheaper, and yet you dont have a gut hook getting in the way when skinning/quartering/butchering/gutting your animal!

As I was taught, you'd be suprised what a sharp pocket knife can do. Its finding a small knive thats comfortable, and stays sharp! The helle polars are nice, I still prefer my gerber gator bar none! Might be a reason why their is almost one in every room in the house......

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