Not the "LOL" type, but I just woke the wife laughing at that... Now I have to put the phone away for the night.

the REAL reason you need a knife ...

This summer someone was killed by Mountain Goat in Olympic Peninsula, somewhere near Hurricane Ridge I believe.

That person should have carried a knife as in your picture.

That gave me a good chuckle

When I was in Enchantment Lakes in 2008 there was this Mountain Goat that came right up to us. I had to shoo it away. If I knew then what I knew now, I would have been more fearful:

That's why God gave us rocks! Or the brains to get out of harm's way. Anything with pointy things on it's head and sharp hooves is a threat. Far more campers are injured by deer than predators. It's the WILD part in "wildlife."

I like to carry a pocket knife, but I'm not about to take on wildlife with it, even if I had the time. I've read all kinds of posts on survival threads concerning the possibility of taking on a bear or cougar with a knife. Good luck.

Knives are just tools, like spoons or scissors or potty trowels. You see a need for them within you weight budget or you don't. Some carry two band-aids and some tape and call it a first aid kit; other may have a more complex kit. It's the same difference between carrying a single edge razor blade or a 3oz folder. Obviously, no hiker needs a 12" Rambo Special.

I think you either are used to using a knife or not. If you are, a knife is part of your SOP for any number of daily activities. If you're not, you're used to doing those same activities some other, knife-less way. A knife to me meets the literal definition of a utility item: I take it to use. For someone else it might be a luxury, or just superfluous. Is a knife strictly necessary? I would say no (though some sort of edged tool ought to be--razor blades seem to be the UL choice?), but neither would I encourage someone to ditch their knife unless it was clear they were treating it like dead weight instead of as a tool.