Faulkner
Member
During the 2019 hunting season I lost my favorite skinning knives. It was custom made by a Arkansas knife maker who uses old saw mill blades, cross cut saw blades, and old files as the base material for his blades, and pairs them with hand crafted handles. His knives are all utilitarian in nature, but some are also beautiful works of art. I own several of his knives.
This particular knife was similar to a skinning knife he'd made for a buddy of mine that I really liked. Several years ago I went to the knife maker and asked him to make one for me, he did, and I've used it on small game and several deer. I usually keep it in a sheath strapped to the shoulder strap of my hunting backpack. Last year, after I'd killed a nice whitetail buck, I dragged the buck to the nearest trail and hiked back to get my ATV. I rode the ATV back to where I'd left the buck, loaded it on the back of my ATV and tied it down, then took off my backpack and strapped it with bungies on top of the buck. Unfortunately, I was not very diligent in strapping down the backpack and the trail was pretty rough. Not far up the trail I turned to check on my cargo and saw the backpack was missing, so I stopped, got off the ATV, and hiked back down the trail about a hundred yards or so and found it laying in the trail. I picked it up, went back up to the ATV and tied it down to the front rack on the ATV.
It was not until a while later after I'd gotten back to the camp and went to retrieve the knife to skin the deer that I found it was gone from it's sheath. Well, shucky darn. Fortunately, I keep a store-bought Old Timer Little Finger in my backpack as a spare, but I hated losing my favorite skinner.
Next day I went back to the area where my backpack had fallen off the ATV and walked the trail hoping to run across the knife laying in the trail. Of course, the ground was covered with leaves and I wasn't positive that's where the knife came out of it's sheath anyway. It was over a mile from where I strapped the backpack to the front of the ATV to the camp and I suppose it could have come out anywhere along that route as well. Anyway, I never found it.
That is, until a few days ago. I've been up and down that same trail several times during the 2020 hunting season. I'd lost all hope of ever finding the knife again, especially a year later, so I wasn't even looking for it. A few days ago, though, I was squirrel hunting in the area and after making a big loop and killing half a dozen fox squirrels, I decided I would cut through part of the woods to the trail and hike back out to my truck. Once I got to the trail I was surrounded by a mix of tall pines, hickory trees, and some white oaks. There was plenty for squirrels to feed on both in the trees and on the ground, so I was slowly working my way up the trail and scanning up and down looking for movement and listening for a telltale squirrel bark.
As I was stealthily moving up the trail, take a few slow steps . . . scan . . . take a few steps . . . scan, I had stopped and looked around. At this point I looked down, and low and behold, there was my long lost knife right at the toe of my boot. Ha, ain't that something I thought. The empty sheath was still on my backpack strap so I picked it up and slid it back home.
I looked around to get a better feel for my location and I figured I was standing right about where the backpack had fallen off the ATV a year ago, and I just didn't notice the knife had fallen out.
When I got it home it wasn't any worse for wear, even after being exposed to the elements for a year, so I took it to my work bench and cleaned it up and then put an sharpener to the edge. Glad to have it back.
This particular knife was similar to a skinning knife he'd made for a buddy of mine that I really liked. Several years ago I went to the knife maker and asked him to make one for me, he did, and I've used it on small game and several deer. I usually keep it in a sheath strapped to the shoulder strap of my hunting backpack. Last year, after I'd killed a nice whitetail buck, I dragged the buck to the nearest trail and hiked back to get my ATV. I rode the ATV back to where I'd left the buck, loaded it on the back of my ATV and tied it down, then took off my backpack and strapped it with bungies on top of the buck. Unfortunately, I was not very diligent in strapping down the backpack and the trail was pretty rough. Not far up the trail I turned to check on my cargo and saw the backpack was missing, so I stopped, got off the ATV, and hiked back down the trail about a hundred yards or so and found it laying in the trail. I picked it up, went back up to the ATV and tied it down to the front rack on the ATV.
It was not until a while later after I'd gotten back to the camp and went to retrieve the knife to skin the deer that I found it was gone from it's sheath. Well, shucky darn. Fortunately, I keep a store-bought Old Timer Little Finger in my backpack as a spare, but I hated losing my favorite skinner.
Next day I went back to the area where my backpack had fallen off the ATV and walked the trail hoping to run across the knife laying in the trail. Of course, the ground was covered with leaves and I wasn't positive that's where the knife came out of it's sheath anyway. It was over a mile from where I strapped the backpack to the front of the ATV to the camp and I suppose it could have come out anywhere along that route as well. Anyway, I never found it.
That is, until a few days ago. I've been up and down that same trail several times during the 2020 hunting season. I'd lost all hope of ever finding the knife again, especially a year later, so I wasn't even looking for it. A few days ago, though, I was squirrel hunting in the area and after making a big loop and killing half a dozen fox squirrels, I decided I would cut through part of the woods to the trail and hike back out to my truck. Once I got to the trail I was surrounded by a mix of tall pines, hickory trees, and some white oaks. There was plenty for squirrels to feed on both in the trees and on the ground, so I was slowly working my way up the trail and scanning up and down looking for movement and listening for a telltale squirrel bark.
As I was stealthily moving up the trail, take a few slow steps . . . scan . . . take a few steps . . . scan, I had stopped and looked around. At this point I looked down, and low and behold, there was my long lost knife right at the toe of my boot. Ha, ain't that something I thought. The empty sheath was still on my backpack strap so I picked it up and slid it back home.
I looked around to get a better feel for my location and I figured I was standing right about where the backpack had fallen off the ATV a year ago, and I just didn't notice the knife had fallen out.
When I got it home it wasn't any worse for wear, even after being exposed to the elements for a year, so I took it to my work bench and cleaned it up and then put an sharpener to the edge. Glad to have it back.
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