No need for a special knife.
I have a small cheap Coast knife that I have used on about a dozen bears. It was a gift many years ago and has worked very well. It is only about 4 inches closed and has a plastic handle, but it is easy to sharpen and since it is on the shoulder strap of my day bag it goes everywhere. I have also used it on a ton of deer and even an elk.

I have a remmington that quite frankly is probably too big. Have you seen those Vermont knives? Kingdom knives I think they are called. Very expensive, but they come with a lifetime warranty and the design is great. I saw their ad in the BEAR Hunting mag. The ad was good, because I wanted one as bad as a new rifle after reading it. But I'm no expert, so I won't give advice. Hey blackbear, are you taking your .35 Rem?

I sure like my Marlin .35 Rem. but I have an 1895MR .450 that will go into the swamp with me this year. I saw the Kingdom Knives ad in Bear Hunting too and looked up their website. Very nice.

I started collecting carbon steel Marble's Brand knives recently.
I have carried my fathers Marble Knife for over 40 years. I put it away so I would not lose it. I have never had a better knife for holding an edge so I decided to pick up a few more.

I had never heard of Marble Knives before. I just looked at their website. There is ALOT there to look at. I'm going to try one out for my next pocket knife. I go through pocket knifes too quickly from the abusive carving on horns and such. I havn't found a blade that will hold a good edge yet, or easily get it back.

About that rifle... I guess if I was going to crawl into the swamp I might want the Marlin 450 in my hands too! By the way, happy father's day.

jfrench, Marble's carbon steel blades are great. I understand that some are now made overseas that are not as good. If the blade says "Marble's Gladstone Michigan" they should be the good ones. I have not had a pocket knife of theirs yet. Happy fathers day back at ya.

Same style knife that one uses for deer,elk what have you will work for any other big game. I prefer as do most other guides I know to be drop point skinner or hunter with finger guards

Black Bear are tough on knives if you clean several of them a day. Their underside always seems to have sand or grit material that quickly dulls a knife blade. I have never cared for gut hooks but it might be worth using a different knife to slit them open than is used to finish the job. I can clean deer all season without sharpening my knife because deer are cleaner than bear.

I have dressed several in my life, never had a problem except for one which was a factory knife

I use a filleting knife for field dressing and for skinning I have my folding knife which takes and holds an edge fairly well. I'll do about 15 each season with this system.

All this talk about knives got me to go down and pick up a new Buck knife for camping.