Ok, so it's been 10 years since my last hunt, but I'm back in the game. The last ten years I hunted I really enjoyed camping out in luxury lodges with 5-star chefs, and having an outfitter and guide, and in Africa trackers and skinners as well. Oh course it wasn't always that way. I started hunting like everyone else probably, doing everything on my own. And since those were my broke days I owned whatever I could afford at the time for everything surrounding the hunting experience. Fast forward all those decades and I can afford mostly what I want, and what I want is the lightest, best gear available.

I never had any good hunting/skinning knives so I thought I'd start there. Two things important to me are weight and the ability to hold an edge. I'll be hunting things like Sheep, Goats, Caribou and Deer mostly. Being smarter now then when I was younger I'm looking more to what guides and outfitters use since their jobs depend on excellent equipment. So after much searching and reading reviews I've settled on a set of Kestrel Ultralight Knives.
https://www.kestrelknives.com
And boy are these things ultralight. Like lighter then the box they shipped in. Perhaps as light as the hat you see in the picture or the accompanying T-shirt. Crazy light. Outfitters talk about using them an entire season without having to resharpen, heck back in my broke hunting days I spent more time sharpening then skinning. The paracord handle wrap was a no cost option which I gladly opted for both for ease of knife use as well as having some extra paracord with me. Anyway here is what they look like.

Nice post Phil. I hadn't heard of them but they are apparently light as a champagne burp.

I look forward to a report on edge retention and comfort after you've skinned a couple critters. Without the paracord handle I don't think I'd like the feel of the bare knife.

I'll also be curious to hear Hammer's take on them as he is more of an expert than me.

As a skinning knife this looks like a winning combination of light weight and quality steel.

Those are nice! I have the buck knife pack light set. Kinda like this set only different.

Nice set of knives! Worthy of passing down to future generations. I like the laminated wood handle on the Ovis. One of my favorite knifes is an old Lakota, similar in dimensions to the Ovis. I've done a lot of work with it. I guess if your proficient in quickly wrapping and unwrapping the para-cord handle for cleaning, then its an ok idea. Seems like it could get a little funky though.
Ya sound like you've got some experience.

Those look amazing! I'm pretty keen on light/durable gear as well. Benchmade is jumping on the ultra lightweight wagon with their new Altitude knife. Similar minimalist design and it's made of S90V, so it should hold an edge for a good long time. Similar price point too.