Gotcha. I've seen different ways people process deer....like popping joints, etc. I use a bit more finese than some techniques I've seen (not clear exactly how you do it)...but I get up in the joint and literally cut out the tendons / surrounding connective tissue, thus allowing it to just fall apart.

I guess the shorter knife just feels like a natural extension of my forefinger. Maybe it's just a matter of what you learn on....but you didn't learn on big knives, so I dunno.

I've tried an S5 before...just felt "clumsy" to me....I was cutting meat all over the place. Not like a surgeon, more like Jason