Trad Gang

I'm not talking about going out on the town for a formal dinner....  :)   just wondering if you wear gloves when cleaning deer etc...  if so why?  and if not why?

no one did when i was growing up but seems that lots of folks do now with the threats of CWD etc...  just wondering what everyone else thinks.

enjoy the day,
Kyle

I always try to wear gloves.  I guess I figure why not? I'm not so much worried about CWD as much keeping my hands and arms clean and dry...especially when it's cold out. It may not be the tough guy thing to do, but it works for me.   If I don't have any along then I'll dress the deer without them, but I prefer to use them if I do.  You enjoy the day too Kyle. Cheers, Matt

Yes, if I remember to pack them.  Mostly to keep clean but it seems a prudent thing in general.  I'm not a big fan of mixing body fluids with most animals.

Always use 'em when field dressing unless I forget 'em. I'm not really concerned about disease, but after trying them once, the type that come up to your shoulder + latex on the hands, why mess with bloody shirt, watch, everything again? I also wear latex gloves when butchering, just to make clean-up easier.

I bury them when done (on my own property) or take 'em out. Only thing I don't like about 'em is you don't have quite the feel for the knife, so be careful when cutting the trachea, stuff like that.

i started wearing gloves last year. they had some for 50 cents a pack at bass pro that came up to your shoulders. much easier and cleaner.

i also started to wear them because i had heard stories of people gutting deer that had eaten poison ivy.

I never have and have field dressed about a 100 deer and thousands of rabbits, squirrels,fox, coons, coyotes,mink, muskrat etc..So far so good, Im more worried about what Ill get from the food we import from Mexico and China....

I have never used gloves either and agree with you.

I wear dish washing gloves for guttin deer.  It's not for health reasons for me, just faster as far as the clean up goes.  I don't wear gloves for doves, squirrel, rabbits or anything else.

I do. More to keep my hands clean than disease protection. Besides, as a Nurse I have ready access to them.

I don't use them but understand why some do.

I don't, I'm a Chef so I'm used to gutting and cleaning, butchering animals. although, in Alberta in Oct gutting an Elk i wished I had!!!! it was Oct 31 and COLD man!!!! It took us awhile as we had a bear lurking around trying to get our animal at the same time.
Not sure if it was a Brown...could have been as we think he came in from the sound of gunfire as they do out there sometimes. gunfire = free food!

I have worn them for several years now. Field dressing gloves and fletch tape has gotta be two of the best ideas to come along in a VERY long time.

Wasn't there a guy that got a parasite from a bear while cleaning it and it was pretty nasty from what I hear? Why risk anything like that.

I wear a paiir of the shoulder length gloves (mostly to keep the blood off me) covered by a short pair that fit tighter than the long gloves with enormous fingers.

I began wearing gloves while field dressing and processing several years ago when a friend contracted leptospirosis from getting bacteria from deer feces in a broadhead cut on his hand.  He nearly died.  His doctor couldn't accurately diagnose his illness.  My friend was hospitalized and his body functions were failing.  The doctor noticed the laceration on my friend's hand and questioned him about it.  He ran some tests that confirmed his suspicion that my friend had leptospirosis, a condition that is sometimes associated with veternarians and meat cutters who get bacteria from animal feces in their bloodstream.

John Stockman

I do not wear them, I have managed for this long without them and I really dont need another piece of gear with me in the field.

I have used them in the past.  Mostly to try to keep clean.  I don't use them now because for the most part they don't fit well (the long plastic throw away ones) so they make gutting very cumbersome and I think I have broke or ripped a hole in them every time and never stayed clean.

- Dave

I use them, both styles for large and small game. I seem to pickup poison Ivy in the winter. As some of those rabbits, seem to like it a little to much!


                  Brent
One folder style knive I use a lot. Goes inside one of the turned inside out latex gloves when the job is done. Then in the pack! And hearts and livers travel well inside one of the arm lenght ones turned inside out also!  :thumbsup:

The lifeguard association that we use at our pool has a saying..."if it is wet and not yours don't touch it and certainly don't eat it." I try to live by that rule, if for no other reason than I don't have blood caked all over my hands.

I find it funny as I think about it.   I've never worn gloves while cleaning small game, never even occured to me,  but I always have when gutting large game.

I usually have a pair or two in my pack but I'm not going to freak out if I don't.   It's more for keeping my clothes clean and dry than anything else.

If it is warm I usually wear them as parasites are more prevalent in the warmer weather. If its been cold for awhile I don't use gloves, just strip to base layer then use baby wipes to clean up.

no

I normally have about ten sets in my pack and usually forget to use them. But at least they are there.

Nope.
Pigs and bears might maybe make me nervous, though.

But I hunt deer and squirrels. Might get an unlucky bear someday.

I woulda missed out on a lasting memory if I had worn gloves the day I dressed out Oddball, though. Oddball was a three-pointer that I killed up near Slabcamp. He ended up upside down ten yards from the trail. I dressed him out and went to the beaver pond to clean up. The pond was iced over, so I broke a little hole and washed up. There were bugs swimming in the water. Little not too little water bugs about the size of potato bugs, just having a ball. I didn't know that. But there they were, sharing their pond with me, and me, I'm feeling all alive with the cold water and chilly air, the dancing swimmers and the huge gratitude for the gift of the deer, with his hot blood warming my hands as I worked to turn him into meat for my family.

I take it as a part of the experience that makes it stay fresh and whole in my memories.

Killdeer

Never did but have been the past few years. My job supplies me with great gloves to use. I'm also never without Baby Wipes...neat way to clean up any blood....plus they work great on those mother nature calls!!

I have never worn gloves either ,probably a good idea but,have pulled alot of calves without them too.Like Indy says, probably alot more to worry about from food from Mexico and China than from most animals over here.  Ben

Gloves are something I always buy or borrow to take hunting,but for some funny reason they are never there when I get something down.It's about like my buck knife,I always forget it and end up having to gut a deer with my swiss army knife.Funny how when you're unprepared is the day you kill something.I think maybe I leave that stuff at home on purpose,lol.

One halloween i was working 3-11 and i saw a yearling get tapped by a car. I drove my cruiser over to where it layed and the driver stopped i did a report and he left. I looked that deer up one side and down the other and couldn't find a scratch! I pulled out my good EMT gloves and field dressed the little doe. I hung it up in a tree and went back to work. That was the only time i ever used a pair of gloves to field dress an animal. I have to admit it was nice not getting messy, but i don;t carry them in the woods with me. I'm not worried about the deers bodily fluids.Hey, I couldn't let the backstraps go to waist after i couldn't find any bloodshot damage, I know it sounds like a redneck roadkill story but, oh well whats the use, i'll never hear the end of this one anyway.  :banghead:

I do!. Know of a person who got a viral infection that cost him his life. So now I wear them. It's a small price to pay. Before I found out about that person's misfortune I never did!

I don't but might after reading 3under's post. I would have liked them the first time I had to gut a deer. Boy that is a lasting impression,LOL!!!  :scared:

In my younger days I didn't but I do now. In my younger days I never wore a safety belt but I do now. I guess as we get older we get wiser.
Jack

i always use them if i have them in my pack...seems  like a easy decision..they cost hardly anything and keep your hands clean...and if they do help with disease or parasites...then that is more reason to ... i see more harm in not using them than using them....just my 2 cents...

Never have used them either but I would if I had an open wound on either hand.  I have nicked myself a few times on sharp bone and immmediately clean after dressing.  So far so good.

Even with gloves a sharp bone cuts right through 'em.  I always seem to wind up with a cut on my hand when cleaning animals.  Even if it is just squirrels or rabbits.  Still wear them 'cause it is easier to clean up.
-Charlie

No

I always try to wear em. Easy to clean up and why take the chance at being one of the unlucky ones that gets ill or worse.

I do`nt on deer,but do on hogs and javelina,the hogs always smell bad and the javelina always have fleas. Note to Killdeer; reply to more things more often,as I just love to read the thoughts you have and your descriptions of them.

I was one of the unlucky ones last year.  Spent a week in the hospital after a small cut on the knuckle while dressing my son's deer got infected. Went from my knuckle all the way up my arm.  Might bit painful and the fever, well, lets just say I know why the sweat lodge invokes visions!

I've worn gloves, but most times don't.  Truth is, gloves wouldn't have made a difference.  The knife would have cut through them too.  The infection came from the mud puddle I rinsed off in, not the deer.  I'll be carrying baby wipes and Purell from now on.

When taking care of a deer, I will use them if I have them.

When skinning a yote or coon, always.

I never have but after watching my brother dress a deer last year I think I will now. He had them at the time, and after he was done we were bothe suprised on how much cleaner he was after wards.

No. I don't wear gloves.
I can't imagine allowing the plastic snickety sound of the latex into the woods with me. Makes my stomach queezy thinkin' about it. I'd rather be bloody! The deer gave his life so I could live, the least I could do is gut it with my own hands. You are more likely to pick up somethin' in a public restroom than while gutting a deer.
Course all this flies out the window if yer gutting something that has shown signs of some kinda communicable disease, use yer head. To each his own path ya know!I won't hack on ya too much if I see ya gutting one with full length latex gloves on , might have to call you Dr. Deer for awhile! Or if the timing was right , tell you "the deer doesn't need a rectal exam, its dead."

I never used to wear gloves, just went ahead and go bloody.  Got two kids now, getting older, I guess I started wearing them just because it is easier to get cleaned up afterwards.  I use just regular surgary type gloves.  Come half way to my elbows, and I can still feel the knife real good.

Never have but as I get older I wait for my son in Law or nephew or hunting buddy to show up , figure they need the practice.

If I have them in my pack, which I try to keep a pair or two, I will use them.

If not, I don't sweat it too much.

I do it for disease prevention, parasite prevention, ease of cleanup for me, and to prevent myself from getting diarrhea (sp?), which I have noticed on more than one occasion happens within 24 hours of cleaning and processing a deer.

So obviously there was some sort of tiny bug of some type that got into my system, and you can take that as you will...nothing drastic, just enough to let me know I got something in my system that was "not right".

More than likely, it was just some microbe riding around in/on the hide of the animal, and not necessarily something internal to the deer.

Oh, and after it's hung, and skinned, I don't wear them while I'm processing the deboned meat.

See Ya,
Marc

I do, I wear those funky long orange ones that come with the rubber ones that go over the top. They keep my hands and shirt sleeves clean, I like them.

What indianalongbowshooter and minuteman said, besides I can't get a good grip with them on  :D    :D    :D

Gloves are a form of protection that should be used considering just how much our knowledge has grown over the years.

For many years, those cold, clear mountain streams were considered as a "champagne treat"...until it was determined that it was a source of the parasite Giardia protozoa, the cause of "beaver fever". Now, one routinely treats water to prevent infection.

Wild game can be carriers of numerous diseases that can infect humans...diseases we knew little about years ago, but have a much greater knowledge about them today. Ticks in the fur and biological materials in the blood and body fluids can infect even the healthiest hunter.

There are a wide variety of gloves available for use. Someone who has "gripping" problems could use kitchen style gloves with rough fingers...giving up the sense of feel that latex or nitrile gloves provide. Long sleeve veterinary exam gloves are great in keeping blood off the sleeves.

There has been reported in APHIS a wide outbreak of EHD (Epizootic hemorrhagic disease)in deer in a number of states (inc. KY and TN)in recent weeks. As hunting season nears, EHD, WNV, BTB are just a few of the transmissible diseases that have been found in cervid populations this past summer.

Why take the risk when gloves provide the first layer of prevention?

jack

I have worn gloves for the last 15 years or so because of the presence of Lyme Disease in the areas that I hunted followed by the presence of Rabies. I find that the surgical gloves are great and your hands don't slip with the knife. Makes sense to use them, at least from my viewpoint.

I wear them to keep my hands clean in the field & have never worn them while proccessing.
I wear the regular exam gloves from wal-mart & the last few I have field dressed stayed on the gloves. I just turn the gloves inside out on each other & pack them out to the trash. If it keeps me from getting a parasite or something & getting sick, so much the better. I'd druther spend time in the woods than laid up in bed sick.

QuoteOriginally posted by sswv:
I have worn them for several years now. Field dressing gloves and fletch tape has gotta be two of the best ideas to come along in a VERY long time.

I think both of them are a pain myself...espeacilly fletching tape

I've got a wicked allergy to whitetails and always end up with itchy hives on my hands and face, sneeze like mad, weeze like hell, and my eyes swell shut.  So when I have them handy, I try to wear a pair of latex gloves, a bandana pulled tight around my forehead, and a respirator for organic vapors.  Benadryl is always on hand, or at least is required as soon as I get home, in double dosage.  Sucks, but it's my penance for taking a life I guess.

So when I score on a quickie morning hunt before work, Oh yeah, I'm in real great shape by the time I roll into the office...itchy, sneezing, half-blind, barely breathing, and nearly unconscious from the antihistimine.  I've grown accustomed to the annual October question of, "Jesus, what happened to you?!"    

Dang Adam! You're one devoted feller!

Tried gloves and they got full of blood, so what was the point. I just clean up with the handy wipes after. I never used fletch tape for gutting though.    :biglaugh:

I dont use them.Because my mother tells me that I should!  :banghead:And you get a better feel without them.Hmmmmmm? I feel like Ive said that before for some reason.     :knothead:

Several years ago, we all stood around my father and poked fun at him when he pulled out a pair in preparation for dressing his buck. The chiding seemed to subside along the way, and by the time he pulled them off and buttoned his shirt cuffs without a speck of blood or guts on him, everyone was telling him what a good idea that was, and asking him where he got them. I've used them ever since.   :notworthy: