Bowie Knives Vs. Hunting Knives

Isn't a Bowie knife a hunting knife? The answer to that question is both "yes" and "no." Why such an ambiguous answer? To understand this, you will need to look closer at the reality of the Bowie knife as applied to the realm of hunting. Most certainly, you can take a Bowie knife along on a hunting trip. In fact, it's recommended. However, that does not make this a hunting knife.

Most hunting knives are designed for a single purpose. They excel at this purpose, but usually perform very poorly at any other use. For example, a gut hook knife is used for skinning an animal without puncturing the intestines, which can spoil the meat. However, you will find that it is not so great at other tasks. The same can be said for most other types of "hunting knives." A Bowie knife, on the other hand, is a multiuse tool that can serve numerous different tasks.

Consider the fact that a Bowie knife can be used to chop, cut, gut, skin and cut. You can use this single knife to replace a gut hook knife, a skinning knife, boning knife and even many different types of kitchen knives. It can chop vegetables with the same equanimity that it guts fish or skins deer. That is, you will need only a single knife, rather than having to carry a selection of knives with you on your hunting trip. Therefore, while you can consider Bowies as hunting knives, they are also much more than this.

Bowie knives also have utility features that are usually absent on the more specialist hunting knives. Many of them have serrated edges down the back of the blade that offer another cutting surface to the user. Some Bowies also have Spanish notches on the base of the blade. These devices were described as having many different uses, though their exact original intention is something that's often disputed.

You can most certainly use Bowie knives as hunting knives and there are many hunters who do. If they have a good quality blade and are of an appropriate size-meaning not too large-they make great knives for skinning and field dressing. Some of them have features such as gut hooks, which make them even more useful in this regard. If you want something different from a hunting knife, you may consider trying a Bowie.