Bow River for Skinning, or...

[ZMW]

I am going on my first hunt in Oct, a good buddy of mine is showing me the ropes. Whitetail. I have a bunch of folders but no great skinning knives. I love my Bow River as a kitchen knife, but will it stay sharp long enough process a deer? Besides that, I have a waterway and a couple of mules. What knife would you take?

I love Phil's designs and the knife was made for it, just curious from others experience if the steel does the job without needing an in field touch up.

Thank you!!

[PeptoBizmo]

I have done a handfull of roedeer, halfish the size of whitetail I would guess, and a single fallow, 2/3 the size of a whitetail, again a guesstimate, with the Waterway.
So bring the Bow River as primary, take the Waterway as back-up and You'll be golden

[Coastal]

I'm sort of with Pepto, but I might go Waterway primary. The handle is a lot more grippy when wet or slimy. i think either would be very good.

[Airlsee]

Bow River with a way to quickly touch up, especially as a first time hunter (no one is expecting you to glide through your first field dressing). The design is what you want, and people have been processing deer with 1095/420 or similar forever...8cr is more than up to the task and the Bow River is an extraordinary design. Just make sure you are able to touch it up quickly when needed for the most seamless process. If you can quickly hone your blade you will be more than supplied, and honestly better than most...

[Gtscotty]

Should work fine for whitetail they aren't too big, on elk I've general taken my two main hunting knives (a custom in O1 and an old Benchmade fixed in D2) and wind up using them both, but elk are much larger.

Waterway might be my choice, and mules make good hunting knives too, I boned out my last whitetail with my Magnacut mule, worked fine.

[Kambei]

Good replies here. Should work fine but having a nice sharp backup can facilitate the field dressing process.

I’m an ardent fan of the Moran drop point. Although in VG10, I did the gutless method on a big blacktail last weekend and it still was popping arm hairs afterwards. I had a Stretch XL as a backup but never needed to use it. I’m guessing the Bow River would perform fairly similarly to the Moran.

[jmj3esq]

It certainly wouldn't be my first choice. I've had a Bow River in the kitchen since Spyderco released them a couple years ago. I am not a fan of the 8Cr13MOV steel. It holds a terrible edge and I find myself sharpening it often. The tip is also a bit sharp and pointy for skinning a deer. You may find yourself poking through the hide. On the other hand, if you're just gutting the deer and cleaning it up, the Bow River may work fine.

I am leaving for a Colorado elk bowhunt in 2 weeks. I personally use a Spyderco Shaman for gutting and skinning. I've never had the slightest hiccup using this knife. You have to watch your steel. I prefer stainless, high toughness, and a thick stock. Last year I used a Spyderco Manix 2 in S110V. The knife edge got chipped to **** when I got into bone. S110V is not tough enough for this task and the Manix 2 blade stock is too thin. The Shaman's thick stock is perfect.

Sorry to rain on your parade, but im just not a big fan of the overall performance of the Bow River. Im sure it will work fine, but just not as well, imo.

[RazorSharp86]

Bill Moran’s fixies are great for the task.
Though I used my Waterway plenty, mostly because of how grippy it is and how well it feels in bloody hands.

[Manixguy@1994]

If I was just starting out deer hunting and wanted to use a Spyderco fixed blade it would definitely be a Drop Point Moran . Not too b and not too small , feels great in hand . MG2

[Wandering_About]

Bow River should work OK for deer. Will probably need a touch up or two if you go through the full process with it, but for field dressing it shouldn't be a problem. Handle is a bit on the small side.

I'll echo that the Bill Moran drop point is an excellent deer knife. It gets far less attention than it deserves.

[holokai]

Anyone use the Moran Upswept for processing game? I’ve been using a SPY27 mule but would like a little more belly and less pointy tip. Was considering modifying the mule but the Moran in either configuration is tempting.

[skeeg11]

Skinning deer is pretty light duty work. The tip is a little pointy but you should be fine with a sharp Bow River. Might have to sharpen a couple times if you've got three pigs on the ground, but for just one deer, you should be able to handily skin it without having to resharpen. Personally, I use a SpydieChef for skinning. Happy hunting.......

[ZMW]

Thank you all for the input, it is much appreciated