B4L, there's an old wives tale about that which won't repeat.
Muddler, not usually. I use my field dressing knife for dressing and skinning. Used to use it for deboning meat too, but I've found that a 4" fillet knife works better for me. For cutting steaks and roasts I use a straight edged carving knife (looks like a big straight razor).
JRW (big nose and size 12 shoes)