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The Newbies Arena Are you new to knife making? Here is all the help you will need.

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  #1  
Old 04-16-2012, 11:55 AM
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Eli Jensen Eli Jensen is offline
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Knife for squirrels

Anyone have any suggestions on a good knife design for cleaning squirrels? Hoping to take up squirrel bow hunting next winter.
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  #2  
Old 04-16-2012, 12:06 PM
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WynnKnives WynnKnives is offline
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Now there's a hobby for someone who loves being accurate! I've hit a couple with a bow whilst deer hunting but never went out for that purpose lol.

Practically I would go with an almost parring knife type with the thickness of a filet knife. I would want something small, thin, and dexterous. As I'm sure you well know you don't need it for skinning and would want it thin as there is not much meat, anything over 3" I think would be overkill, no pun intended. Maybe some kind of loop of sorts at the bottom of the handle you could use for the skinning process so you could get good pulling leverage, with a guard to prevent your hand sliding downward into the blade (I don't know, maybe not such a great idea the more i think about it). Maybe a hole in the top of the blade for this purpose instead???
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Old 04-16-2012, 12:25 PM
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Eli Jensen Eli Jensen is offline
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make sense. anyone have picture examples?
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Old 04-16-2012, 03:35 PM
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Ray Rogers Ray Rogers is offline
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Squirrel bow hunting? Do you have any idea just how small a squirrel's bow would be? That hardly seems like a worth while past time for a full grown man.

Just sayin' ....


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Old 04-16-2012, 04:55 PM
Doug Lester Doug Lester is offline
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Ray, behave yourself.

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  #6  
Old 04-16-2012, 05:55 PM
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imperial hunter.jpg

I got my first Imperial Hunter with S&H Green Stamps as a gift from my mom and dad when I was 13, showing age now. It was made in Japan and had plastic handles and very light weight for its size. It would get to a razors edge and hold it very well. This knife was the best squirrel knife I could ever ask for. The key was the very sharp and pointed blade. It was easy to get under the skin without damage to the meat of the squirrel.

Works well on all small game, although you can't find this knife anymore the design works really well for me. My hands are just too big for a real small knife.

I hope this helps.

Jeff
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Old 04-16-2012, 06:38 PM
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Eli Jensen Eli Jensen is offline
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" Do you have any idea just how small a squirrel's bow would be?"

I imagine a squirrel would use about an 8" bow. I've made one that small before as a toy maybe I could teach him how to use it.

But seriously, the smaller the target, the greater the skill, especially with a home made bow like mine. Anyone surprised that a chap that makes his own knives makes his own bows and arrows? Didn't think so.

If it makes you feel any better, I full intend on hunting larger animals but I've never been hunting before so need to start small, particularly with learning how to clean it.

Plus I've found its not that uncommon among traditional bowhunters (and compound archers too but seriously at that point use a rifle).

So perhaps a knife design like:

http://www.knifenetwork.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=56793

How would you change it to make it a better squirrel knife?
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Old 04-16-2012, 06:49 PM
sdeering sdeering is offline
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Sooo what does squirl taste like? Do you shoot them out of the tree? Might need a few extra arrows.

Stephen

Last edited by sdeering; 04-16-2012 at 08:23 PM.
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  #9  
Old 04-16-2012, 07:50 PM
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Eli

I should have posted this when I posted about the Imperial Hunter type design. But if you are going to go small game hunting with a bow and especially squirrel hunting in trees I would suggest you get a set of Flu Flu Arrows with blunt tips and Day Glow Knocks. The impact is enough to knock the squirrel out of the tree. A clean head shot will kill the squirrel.

A Flu Flu fletched arrow is a SPIRAL WRAPED FLETCHED ARROW, it will allow the arrow to fly flat and straight for 30 to 40 yards then drop off dramatically, and the blunt tip will not get stuck in trees as easily and the Day Glow Knocks helps you see the arrow in dimmer light.

I will post this link to give you some ideas.

http://www.trueflightfeathers.com/flu-flu.htm

I hope it helps.

Jeff
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  #10  
Old 04-16-2012, 08:28 PM
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Yes you are correct about the flu flu fletching, its like a badmitten birdie. I haven't decided how I want to do those yet if I want to go with a plume type or another. One though is I have these 2-3" left overs from cutting regular fletching, cutting them to uniform length and not trimming the feather. The extra height of the feather will help create that effect. Possible doing a second row, or six together.

And a squirrel is small enough, but a squirrels head? That's a small target. But squirrels are tough critters, if you pierce them they can pull themselves off the arrow and escape. Enter, broadheads. I've got a bunch of cheap drawn steel practice tips I'm going to convert into small broadheads. Probably about 60 grains total, I hope. Also, using self nocks.

I'm cutting my own shafts and my own fletchings, so that brings down the arrow cost significantly. Probably from $80-120 to buy a dozen, to $60 to assemble a dozen (premade shafts etc), to $25 per dozen to do it all, and then the highest cost is feathers.
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Old 04-16-2012, 08:30 PM
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I was still trying to figure out how the little beast would carry a knife and still climb.......now we got him toting a bow?
You think about it, the woods would be a right scary place if them buggars knew just how deadly they could be......your skull cap or neck bone isn't near as tough as that old hickory nut.
Here are a couple of pics of knives that some of my customers have bought for squirrel skinning (or trout slitting).
The blacksmith knives have flat pouch sheaths with dangler clips, that also ride easily in the pocket. The neck knives are pretty convenient, but might get a bit interesting if left outside the clothing when shooting a bow.


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  #12  
Old 04-16-2012, 08:43 PM
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Oh good. My design (the link) looks spot on. Maybe a half inch or so longer.
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  #13  
Old 04-16-2012, 08:59 PM
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I always got along skinning squirrels with a stockman style pocketknife and they make better dumplings than a chicken ever thought about.

Robb
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Old 04-16-2012, 09:31 PM
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You guys must have different squirrels then where I'm from, the only ones worth eating (grey squirrel) can be easily skinned by pulling it right off. Now if you WANT to get fox squirrels... thats a different story, may need a knife for them but the taste isn't worth it. It tastes much like dark chicken for those wondering (atleast all that I've had). I guess I never considered using a knife to skin them.

Also, I will preface this with, I'm not an expert squirrel bow hunter, but I would have to agree with xspook, I would go with the blunt tips if I were going specifically for squirrel. I've shot them with a broad head, and while it does the job (he even ran about 20 yards after), the broad head does quite a bit of damage to such a small creature. Without the perfectly placed shot you would ruin alot of the meat I feel. And if your going to do a perfectly placed shot, might as well use the blunt heads and save the mess.

They make delicious "pulled squirrel" sandwhiches... never had dumplings but I imagine would be equally as good.
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Old 04-16-2012, 09:37 PM
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Emphasis on small broadheads. The design I was favoring was a practice tip or field point with a nail wedged under it when putting it on. Definitely not the sort of broad head for large game that are specifically designed to destroy flesh. More the of barbed part than the broad. But I don't know. We'll see.
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