Whatever the survival challenges, a knife is your best friend in a tough situation.

Remember that desert island game? As kids when we were sitting around a campfire, resting during a hike, or just hanging out with the gang, someone would begin the desert island game. In the one we played, you had to choose 3 things that you would want with you if you were to be stranded on a desert island. You were not limited to size, tools, anything from a well-stocked armoury or even animals and/or people. Obvious easy escape items, like boats and planes, were off-limits.

This imagination game assumed that you would have instant access to these things if the situation arose and you were deposited alone on an island, like some sort of magical backpack that would follow you in times of peril.

Once the items were pulled out of the bag, you had to defend your choices, battling against a torrent of reasons why your selected items would ultimately leave you in dire peril, with your goose cooked and you ultimately kicking the bucket. So, the gauntlet was laid down and the battle began for the one who was acknowledged as having thought of the coolest items.

Angelina Jolie, or Pamela Anderson for the boys, Brad Pitt, or Tom Cruise for the girls, were unquestionably an outstanding use of one of your 3 items. The remaining items were generally inspired by the latest movie on the circuit. Then, RPGs, heavy machine guns, chainsaws, Chuck Norris’ and light-sabers, were liberally scattered around on the various imaginary desert islands. Oddly enough no one mentioned something simple like taking a hunting knife... Clearly, the survival skills of a kid are limited, whereas the imagination was boundless.

What can a hunting knife do to keep you alive if you needed to survive:

1. First things first, hunting knives are handy, relatively small unless you are of the Crocodile Dundee persuasion, and easy to carry. With a sheath, you are hands-free until you need your knife, and then it's just a casual draw away.
   
   
2. A simple tool is your best friend. There are no locking mechanisms that can jam or ammo worries. The hunting knife is designed to bring you precision in performance cut, after cut, after cut. Easily delivering more service than you would need in any situation.
   
   
3. You can baton wood to make firewood, and spears, and cut down small trees for shelter support poles. Don't use a cheap knife for this. Your knife will need to withstand some hammering.
   
   
4. Perform fine skills like drilling holes in wood and bone to make fishhooks, punching precision holes in a tarp or covering for a shelter. Cutting strips to mark your trail and making feather sticks or fine kindling.
   
   
5. Calling for help. The fine finish acts as a great reflector when signaling for help.
   
   
6. The hilt can be used as a hammer. When desperate times call for extreme measures. The hilt of a hunting knife makes for a decent hammer and can be used to break glass, crack shells, stun skulls, and hammer steaks into the ground.
   
   
7. Striking and iron to make fire. If you happen to have a magnesium iron or flint and some kindling you can set a fire in moments.
   
   
8. Hunt for food and if the wildlife decides to fight back you can survive an attack. 

Looking back, if an Arno Bernard hunting knife was pulled from the magic survival backpack, it would have beaten Chuck Norris hands down as the coolest desert island survival item. In fact, a good hunting knife is really all you need if you have imagination and boundless mental resources. And unlike the desert island game, the final word on a hunting knife is that you would actually have it on you if something did happen.

Bring out the kid in DAD this Father’s Day, and gift him the ultimate survival tool, an Arno Bernard Knife.