Melee knife remaining equipped after skinning animals

Last Updated: April 13, 2024

Question: After skinning animals in Red Dead Redemption, sometimes my knife stays out and I have to re-equip the weapon I was using before. What can I do?

Answer: We are aware of a confirmed issue that involves the hunting knife sometimes being drawn after skinning an animal, rather than reverting back to the weapon the player had equipped before skinning. 

This issue occurs when skinning two animals in a row without drawing a weapon in between.  If you draw a weapon after skinning once, the game correctly looks to the last drawn weapon before skinning.  However, after skinning a second time and then drawing a weapon, the game incorrectly looks at the previous skinning animation and uses that to determine that the knife is the last used weapon.

We are looking into the issue now and will update this support article when more information becomes available.  In the meantime, to avoid being caught unprepared in the case of animal or player attack immediately after skinning, we recommend drawing your gun in between skinning each animal.