Alaska Caribou Success – Tools of the Trade
Andy Husek 11.06.20
This summer, we were able to travel to Alaska’s remote tundra and chase barren ground caribou. It was a welcomed getaway given all of the craziness going on in 2020. The caribou cooperated and we were all able to fill our tags on some really nice bulls. We used a flight service to drop us off remotely, and the hunt itself was completely DIY and unguided. On top of that we were all restricted on weight, which meant we had to be strategic on what gear we brought, rather than casually throwing the entire hunting closet in our suitcase.
Multi-purpose items win the day in these types of scenarios and often take precedence in the packing process. This was 100% the case for me, and specifically why I chose to bring Outdoor Edge cutlery products.
With the replaceable blade system on most of their knives, I could easily swap out blades to keep things sharp and at no point in time did I have to worry about carrying a knife sharpener. You will see in the video below that I was able to use two different knives; the RazorPro and the RazorMax – Having both knives was definitely a luxury while breaking down the caribou, but the blades hold up so well on these Outdoor Edge knives that I’m confident I could have easily done it with just one.
Here are some of my thoughts after completing the job on my first caribou: I really like the RazorPro because it folds and you have both the replaceable 3.5” blade but, also the collapsible gutting blade as well. It comes with a carrying case that will easily hold enough replacement blades to gut, skin, quarter and cape several animals. You can easily carry way more blades than you would ever need in a single hunting trip.
I was also carrying the RazorMax, which can do all of the same things, but features a slightly different style.
This is a great carry knife for hunters who prefer fixed blade knives. Again, it comes with a carrying case in which you can store plenty of replacement blades but a really nice feature about the RazorMax is that you can use two different blade sizes. The 3.5” blades are great for skinning, quartering and caping. It also comes with a really nice 5” boning and filet blade.
This larger blade is great for removing meat from the bone in the field and also for finer cuts when finishing and processing meat for final packaging. It’s really functional to have the two different blade types be compatible with the knife for different applications.
Outdoor Edge also has a 3rd, relatively new blade that is sold separately from the RazorMax; the gut hook blade. By adding this component for purchase, the RazorMax can easily be your one-stop-shop in terms of cutlery from the point of harvest all the way to the dinner table.
For more information on either knife you can head over to OutdoorEdge.com and check them out for yourself. You can easily order either knife as well as replacement blades right from their site. The Razor Pro retails right around $84 and the RazorMax comes in at about $80. You can get a six pack of the replacement 3.5” blades for under $15 bucks.
