Last season my buddy bought me a Guide series kit with about 4 different knifes, a gut knife, skinning knife, saw, etc.

Its the best thing I have for skinning and gutting. All blades are surgically sharpened and it all tucks away in its own carrying case.

I was looking for a knife that I would only have to buy once a few years back and ran across the Buck Vanguard. I am very impressed with this knife. The usual high quality steel, and a gorgeous wooden handle. I have cleaned 4 deer with it and still have not had to sharpen the blade. Best knife I ever bought. Just my two cents.

I lost my Buck 110 last season, had it for 17 years. So, I bought another one! For $30, they work great, hold an edge pretty well, and if you lose it, so what! Buy two, one for skinning only, and one for gutting or other utility work.

I just listened to a Podcast about just this subject....... Paul Schwartz who is the Sales and Marketing Director at Havalon Knives joined Aneal and Anthony for this episode.

http://www.bowcast.com/content/blogsection/1/57/

Allot of people use regular hunting knives for skinning or gutting. When i killed my elk this year, my buddy laughed at me when i pulled my knife out. He grabbed a new knife he started using this year, havalon knives, and started hacking away at my elk. It was unbelievable how sharp the blade stayed and that if it got dull, he carried replacement blades in his pack. They worked like razor blades, and one blade did (skinned and deboned) my whole elk and skinned the skull.

This is why we started carrying them, it might not be something you are interested in but they are fair priced, blades are cheap for as long as they can be used and it is really nice not to be able to not have to spend a whole night sharpening it. Needless to say, i replaced my heavy knife with one of the new lightweight havalon.

Wow, way to dig up an OOOLLLLDDD thread. j/k but anyway, any cheap knife you use can be made to hold an edge longer if you change the bevel of the blade. The steep bevels that are factory set on new knives sucks, it makes for a very brittle edge.