What Differentiates a Hunting Knife and a Bowie Knife?

The term "hunting knife" is a bit of a misnomer. After all, very few people actually hunt with a knife-if any at all. These knives are actually used to clean game. Bowie knives are not designed exclusively as hunting knives, though some models are ideal for that purpose. Most often, the question of what defines a blade as a hunting knife or a Bowie knife depends on the shape of the blade.

Hunting knives come in many different forms and it's not uncommon for a hunter to have more than one on their belt. They may have specific blades for gutting, skinning and filleting. Bowie knives have their origins in a time when steel was very expensive and when people had to travel light. This meant that everything one carried was better if it fulfilled more than one role in one's life. To that end, there were, and are, few better implements than a Bowie knife.

One of the major differences between hunting knives and Bowie knives is further observed in the different parts of the blade. On a hunting knife, there may be places on the blade designed to aid in skinning, cutting sinew and hacking bone. All of these adaptations are made for one purpose, however, hunting. On a Bowie knife, the Spanish notch is strong enough to cut sinew or rope. The back of the knife oftentimes has a serration which can cut bone as easily as it can cut small firewood.

The larger Bowie knife designs were intended to be used for all manner of purposes, and their blades reflect as much. The blades on a hunting knife oftentimes have different features, but they will universally be intended for use in cleaning game. On Bowie designs, there may be a saw on the back of the blade, a Spanish notch at the base and many more very versatile adaptations. Not all of these will be for hunting, though they can serve such purposes. A Spanish notch, for instance, is useful for cutting sinew.

Bowie knives purchased for hunting oftentimes have very expensive blades. Buy a separate Bowie for rough work. One of the real wonders of this blade design is that, where other blades have to be changed completely to perform different tasks, a Bowie only needs to be increased or reduced in size to change its wide range of applications. For an all-purpose knife in addition to a hunting tool, one would be hard pressed to do better than a Bowie knife.