A gut hook blade is a special type of blade in which the spine has a sharpened semi-circle ground into it. A "gut hook" is more of a blade feature than it is an actual blade shape. Most gut hook knives are actually trailing point skinners with the gut hook feature added to the back spine.

Often used by hunters for field dressing, the "hook" in the spine is placed in a small cut in the the underside of the animal and pulled like a zipper. Its purpose is to split the skin of a game animal in gutting operations of field dressing by hooking over the skin, and being pulled along to sever it. The small hook opens the abdomen of the animal without slicing into the muscle, possibly affecting the quality of the meat.