What do you you all prefer when buying a knife that will hopefully remain with you for the duration of your life and many hunts/backpacking trips? - Size - Weight - Gut hook/Blade profile - Materials (Stainless, High Carbon) - Handle materials - Coating I have been working on my own knives and some for friends for a while now. I have come up with a knife that I have EDC carried and cleaned many animals with. But what I like, definitely isn't what everyone else likes, so it is nice to see what other people who actually use their knives in the field prefer.
In the field being field dressing as the primary purpose: I go with steel that can be reasonably easy to sharpen and hold an edge. Handle with high traction grip, not slip when covered in blood and/or what not. Gut hook is nice but I now carry a zipit. Back when young one of my kids challenged that name ( seeing it in use) saying it should be called unzipit. I passed that gem along to nice folks Kershaw who comped me with it but they only laughed at me.
