It is true the knife predates the gun in the hunting field by thousands, maybe even millions, of years. It is also very true that although the gun is very proficient as a game getter, it is worse than useless for putting the game in the pot. It is not unusual when reading hunting tales of old to read that the animal was dispatched with a knife, the same knife that later dismembered said beast and made it ready for the pot or spit. Try the latter with a firearm, a firearm of any sort.

As has been true with hunting instruments of any description, the hunting knife over the years has been subject to much improvement. While there has not been much improvement in design over the eons, the hunting knife has advanced from the stone age into the space age in the materials from which it is made.

Meyerco’s Game Shears are serious scissors, one of Blackie Collins’s brainstorms. Blackie is well known for his innovations in the cutlery field, some of which have stood the test of time, others made a splash for awhile and drifted away. Some of Blackie’s ideas just aren’t quite ready for the real world, but when he came up with these shears, he did himself proud.

It’s no secret that large scissors have been used in the kitchen to dismember chicken and various other fowl, in gardens and in industry when precise, heavy-duty cutting needs to be done. Large scissors have been used on small game, too, when it’s been convenient.

Meyerco’s Game Shears will be great for kitchen use, small game and in contrast to other large scissors, big game. At first glance the Game Shears look like some large gardening tool, and they could be that too, but the gut hook on the back of one of the blades gives an indication that gardening is not just exactly what the designer had in mind.

Then there are the serrations along the back of the blade opposed to the gut hook blade, not exactly what we expect to see on gardening or kitchen tools. There’s also a semicircular cutout, sharpened, of course, on the back of the serrated blade. Its cutting edge meets with the cutting edge of the other blade making it perfect to snip small, and not so small, items like the legs off small game.

Those of us who don’t limit our hunting endeavors to large mammals but like to waste money and ammunition on doves, ducks and other flying objects and enjoy the fruits of that pursuit can appreciate what these shears offer.

The wings, legs and backs of doves offer very little, if any, sustenance. All the meat is in the breast, and in my country at least, that’s all we save. When “breasting out” doves for instance, there is a problem with the wings. Meyerco’s Game Shears will handle this little problem quite readily.

One of the great advantages of the Game Shears is they come apart at the pivot. Open them all the way and the blades can be separated. Then the Game Shears become two tools, one a fork or probe, the other a knife.

My first thought was this would work well in the kitchen, and, guess what, it does. It happened I had some venison loin that needed to be sliced. Using one “blade” of the shears as fork to hold the meat and the other as a knife, it was no problem to cut the loin into convenient bite-size pieces.

And there’s another advantage. The knife blade of the Game Shears can double as a very effective hunting or skinning knife. It’ll be especially attractive to those who want their skinning knife sharpened on one side of the blade only.

A little extra thought went into designing this “knife” blade of the shears. The flat ground side of the blade is on the left side so that in the slicing exercise mentioned above, used in the right hand, the flat side of the blade is against the material being sliced resulting in a clean, even cut.

Lest anyone have an idea that we’re not talking about a serious tool here, the overall length of the Meyerco Game Shears is 9 1/2 inches. The cutting edge on the “knife blade” is a full 4 inches, just about right for a hunting knife.

Even though the blade opposed to the “knife blade” shouldn’t be considered as a viable hunting knife, it will definitely suffice in an emergency. The aforementioned serrations coupled with a rather sharp edge could be pressed into service should all else fail.

The hand-filling handles are made from Fiberesin, a modern man-made material that is, for all intents and purposes, indestructible. There are subtle finger grooves on the outside of both handles as an aid when things get slippery and help the grip when the “blades” are used separately.

The blades are made from 420 “surgical stainless” steel. It’s not one of the high alloy stainless grades and in some cases isn’t considered a cutlery grade since a lot of 420 doesn’t have a great deal of carbon in it. It depends, however, on the source of the steel, what the steel company producing the steel puts in it and how it is labeled. Meyerco’s Game Shears come in a sturdy nylon sheath with a Velcro closure.

There’s a lifetime warranty on the whole package. While the Game Shears won’t be taking the place of my trusty hunting knife, I can see where they will definitely be taken along on many hunting trips, especially where an extended stay is contemplated. Their very versatility will demand it.

The Renegade hunting knife, another of Blackie Collins’s designs, has a 4-inch, flat-ground, drop-point blade made from AUS8 stainless steel, one of the better cutlery steels going these days. It has a hand-filling, Kraton thermoplastic handle giving it an overall length of 8 1/2 inches. While it is large enough to take on the biggest game, the Renegade weighs only a bit over 4 ounces without sheath. The Renegade is not going to chop down many trees or be all that effective against marauding bears, but it’s really hard to see how any hunter would need more knife than this.

The Renegade comes with either a Cordura nylon or a Kydex sheath, both space-age materials. In keeping with this, our stone age implements have now become as modern as tomorrow. They still perform the duties for which they were designed, but they do it easier and better. This is what progress is all about.