Tom reviews the Case XX Trapper folding pocket knife and finds a bird hunters new best friend.
USA -(Ammoland.com)- I used to trap a lot as a kid in Jr. High. A fellow trapping buddy, Richard Jaco one day came to school super excited.
He said he’d found the perfect skinning knife for us at Sears. I can’t remember for sure but I think it was a Craftsman knife.
Anyway, he’d gotten me one too. Turned out it was indeed a great knife for skinning all of our unlucky trophies. Possums, beavers etc.
Years later I discovered that Case made a knife with the same design (or vice versa). I had to get one and test it out for old times sake. I thought the one they made with the Abalone handle looked nice so I grabbed one of them.
Case XX Trapper Folding Knife in Abalone
Yesterday I had to run down to the feedlot and shoot some pigeons and Eurasian doves, line up coyote hunts with the ranch manager and get a map for my upcoming cow elk hunt. It should add up to be a low-key fun day.
At first, the hunting was tough then I found out where the birds were congregated. At one spot they kept coming in and landing and giving me potshots. I love my Marauder tipped off with a Leupold airgun scope and Boyds’ Stock. It is super accurate. I hit 23 out of 24 shots in this one spot alone.
I had only planned to stay maybe a ½ of a day but was having fun with the cowboys and cowgirls and ended up taking of the cowboys hunting with me for a while. Before I knew it the day was coming to a close.
By chance, I’d thrown the Trapper knife in my pocket that morning. While up in Alaska last year brown bear hunting Jayme Jones, one of the chefs had made us duck poppers. They were great and when I got home I’d started making poppers out of doves we were shooting at the feedlot.
So, with the above said, by the end of the day I needed to clean some birds! I whipped out my Trapper and pulled back the skin on the breast and started breasting them. Actually, I didn’t do what I classify as breasting. I sliced along the breastbone and removed the breast meat. The trapper was tailored for this job.
It came out of the box super sharp and sliced through the breast meat super easy. I soon had a pile of dove and pigeon breasts and loaded up to head home.
If you run a trap line and trap small mammals such as muskrats, coons, beavers and such I think you’ll really like the Case XX Trapper knife. What I hadn’t planned on when ordering it was how well I’d like it to clean birds. It will be my go-to bird cleaning knife now. The first of January when I’m duck hunting down in Texas I’ll throw it in for sure.
And while you’re getting one, why not grab one with an Abalone handle so you’re carrying a knife with some class?
Case XX Trapper Pocket Knife Details
The knife has two 3-inch blades. One is a clip point blade which is great for cutting the pattern while skinning animals or boning out bird breast. The second blade has a blunt or I guess I should say rounded tip which is good for skinning out your animal. With the rounded tip you won’t be as prone to cutting through the hide.
It doesn’t come with a sheath, which I wouldn’t want anyway on a small slender pocket knife like this. It does come nicely packaged in a felt covered folding box. I think that you’ll find it a handy knife to carry for your small game needs, whether skinning small animals on your trap line, boning out birds or boning out small game such as rabbits and squirrels.
Case XX Trapper olding Knife Specs:
- 4 1/8-inches closed
- 3-inch clip blade
- 3-inch spey blade
The curved tip of the blade is close to perpendicular with the axis of the blade, (it doesn’t have a point) so you are not as likely to cut through the hide while skinning. That is why this blade is popular on folding Trapper knives.
About Tom Claycomb:
Tom Claycomb has been an avid hunter/fisherman throughout his life as well as an outdoors writer with outdoor columns in the magazine Hunt Alaska, Bass Pro Shops, Bowhunter.net and freelances for numerous magazines and newspapers. “To properly skin your animal you will need a sharp knife. I have an e-article on Amazon Kindle titled Knife Sharpening for $.99 if you’re having trouble”