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Backcountry Hunting Podcast

BEST HUNTING KNIFE: A Blue-Collar Northern Shrike

Backcountry Hunting Podcast

Joseph von Benedikt

Sports, Wilderness

4.81.2K Ratings

🗓️ 6 February 2026

⏱️ 38 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

It's been six years since the Northern Shrike custom hunting knife was conceived. Incredibly, there's no corner of the (legally huntable) world remaining where it hasn't been carried by intrepid hunters. This episode takes a look at why it's so extraordinary, and gives a sneak peek at what our Spring 2026 "Blue Collar" edition is going to be like. ENJOY! 

 

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

If you have the right hunting knife, you only need one.

0:05.0

And that's kind of what we're here to talk about today.

0:08.1

Years and years ago with a top-notch blade smith named Evan Simbita,

0:14.6

I co-designed a knife based on one of his really popular models called the Metal Lark.

0:20.1

Now, Evan's business based all of the names of the knives on various birds, birds of

0:26.8

prey, other birds and so forth, ranging from a little tiny knife, he calls the finch,

0:31.6

right up to some giant hog killers and chef knives and so forth.

0:36.0

They all have different bird names.

0:38.5

And so we settle on the Northern Shrike.

0:41.2

And it's been an incredibly popular knife that we only sell through our podcast in limited

0:47.6

edition runs a couple times a year.

0:50.7

And it's been long enough now that I wanted to revisit the actual design, a little bit of the inspiration behind the genesis of the knife and so forth.

0:59.5

So we've got Evan Sambita on the line, and we're going to talk through the knife and also tell you about the next iteration that's coming before bear season in the year 2026. So Evan, my friend, welcome back on the show,

1:14.5

buddy. Hey, man. It's good to be here. How you been? Real good. Yeah, just trying to keep up with life.

1:21.6

Real busy time of year, what with the shot show and all the various trade shows? But it's one of my

1:26.1

favorite times a year. Get to see a lot of friends face to face that throughout the rest of the year I just kind

1:31.9

of correspond with, you know, and it's good times. We're planning hunts and adventures and

1:38.1

trying to make good things happen. How about you? It's great over here. Our deer season ends

1:44.1

here in just a couple days. And as much as I love hunting deer, I'm kind of glad it's going to be over because every time we have a free day, it's like, we got to go sit in the blind. And it's, you know, it's zero outside right now. So fun. It's awful cold. I'm excited to get back in the mountains and follow the snow melt, you know, chasing bears.

2:01.5

Yeah, sure. You're in Ohio. And as I recall this morning when we exchanged text messages about recording today, you said, yeah, I'm working. My wife's out on deer hunting. I was like, she's got her priorities straight, man. Yep, she does.

2:18.0

Good for her.

2:19.2

Anyway, you guys shoot a few a year if you need to, right?

...

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