I hate to trigger the fury of romantic bird knife folks but here’s my modern version- handles snipe to goose. (:

So, does anyone actually use a gut hook to dress their birds?

Fifty odd years ago when we had loads of quail here in MD, I was harvesting a fair number of birds and an older gent who got me started on quail gave me a gut hook fashioned out of a metal coat hanger. He insisted that as soon as I had the bird in hand you removed the entrails. Worked pretty slick and the hook was cheap.

Same Story here in TN. Back when we had birds we removed the entrails with a bird knife hook. The only thing I use the hook for now is cleaning trout.

I carried a buck bird knife in my vest for 25+ yrs. I never used it . I finally donated it to Mr. Hall's collection.

I’ve still got a Buck around here somewhere only thing I ever used it for was to scrape my teeth a bit .

I haven’t picked/gutted a bird in about 40 years , everything dove quail partridge pheasants and ducks have the breasts popped out and the remainder discarded for the local fox population .

Does anyone actually use the gut hook when cleaning birds?
Whoops! Sorry to duplicate Garry's post. Great minds think alike

Have carried a Case bird knife in my vest for 25 years and never used the hook. Use the knife blade to breast out. Next bird i got to remember to try it.

https://i.imgur.com/Q8kakkQl.jpg

Me too Chris!