What is the deal with latex gloves?

[Texizona]

I always take them with the intention to use them, but never do. I guess that I'm in too big of a hurry to started and forget. It happened this year on the 2 caribou my wife and I killed.

 

[Gumbo]

I chew my fingernails so the last thing I want is crusted blood under them. Gloves for me!

 

[Backyard]

Leptospirosis.
A buddy of mine got it from a deer one year. Had a small cut/scratch on the back of his hand prior to handling the deer. he missed a few weeks of work that year. He was a big tough guy too until that.
As easy as they are to use and carry, why not?

 

[VernAK]

A friend nicked his finger while skinning a black bear last year. He spent a week in teh hospital
as he nearly lost his hand/arm. Those bears are playing around in carrion so there has to be some nasty
bugs involved.

 

[5MilesBack]

I chew my fingernails so the last thing I want is crusted blood under them. Gloves for me!

Exactly, and I never even know when I'm doing it. I haven't had to cut my fingernails in decades, they always just seem to stay short somehow. LOL.

 

[silverbullet555]

I've never used them until recently. Just seemed to make more sense to use them, easier to keep your hand clean and keep the animal's blood out of any small cuts I have. To me the better question is, why not use them?

Exactly. Our parents and grand parents did all sorts of things that didn't turn out so good. And, they didn't have access to much of what we do now.

I don't know why you wouldn't wear them. Keeps you cleaner, the animal cleaner and reduces risks just a little. I now bring a cutting glove too though I didn't have a chance to use it this year. Not sure how that will work out.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

[Gumbo]

Exactly, and I never even know when I'm doing it. I haven't had to cut my fingernails in decades, they always just seem to stay short somehow. LOL.

Everyone says it is a bad habit, but it is damn convenient, and I never have to waste time trimming them. Glad to know that there are others out there who have realized the truth.

 

[wytx]

Brucellosis, reason enough for me on my bison hunt.

 

[Riverdog]

I will say that I am damn tired with finding them out in the field and next to gut piles. No one here would do that of course but a lot of people seem to leave them out there when they are finished.

 

[Ozz08]

I should really start using them. I have a bad habit of nicking myself with my havalon at least once every time I’m work on an animal even when breasting out ducks. I also chew Copenhagen and usually midway through or right after I’m done I’m throwing in a chew with dirty bloody hands. Nasty! The desire for a chew always seems greater than the grossness. I pack 3 pairs of latex gloves in my kill kit and for whatever reason overlook putting them on. I haven’t gotten sick or known anybody that has but why risk it?

 

[Bubblehide]

Trichinosis contracted through eating under cooked or raw meat, is not the only way to get it, it is just by far, the most common manner in which one gets it. Obviously wearing gloves or not is a choice, and simply risky if you decide not to. But like a few here, for the life of me, I don't get why and average intelligent person wouldn't.

As for me, I wear two pairs, the first being Vet or insemination gloves. They fit a bit lose, so I wear latex gloves over them, so I don't have any dangling ends to unknowingly cut. And, those longer gloves allow me to be much more aggressive about getting the job done without getting bloody.

We generally contract diseases through very few ways such as open wounds/broken skin, or through mucus membranes being in contact with the disease; splatter and inhalation. But I suppose there are those out there still encouraging others to eat the heart or drink the blood. and obviously with uncooked or undercooked meat and organs, so obviously ingestion is on that list too. But the list isn't limited to bacteria and parasites, there is also viruses and fungi. However, some nasty things are capable of being contracted, or spread, through skin contact, usually limited to areas of thin moist skin linings.

Gloves or no gloves, I'm choosing the protection of gloves, as I want to remain healthy. But obviously they do not provide total protection, but way more than nothing. But hey, getting sick is one way of finding out just who really loves you.

 

[KoolBreeze]

I didn't wear them back when I was young and bulletproof. Now that I'm old and frail I take a lot of precautions that I use to not take, like wearing latex gloves when cleaning/handling game. I think I'll try these next, since they are taller:

Amazon.com: Infi-Touch, Powder Free, Hypoallergenic, 12" Length, Disposable, 6 mil Thickness, Steel blue (100 Gloves Count/ Bag) - Extra Large: Home Improvement

 

[AZGUY]

I wear them not only to protect from blood borne stuff but also to help keep the meat clean. It's nice to be able to pull the hide off one side of the animal and change the gloves before you start touching the meat.

 

[92xj]

I wear them because I have severe allergies to deer and elk dander. Call me soft, call me whatever you want, I do what I do to continue to experience my passion.

 

[Blockcaver]

I got Tularemia from a rabbit I shot 30 years ago in NW CO. Had a cut on my index finger from boning the antelope I'd arrowed earlier in the day. Went rabbit hunting that PM and shot a few. Ended up with a flu type illness a few days later (forget how many). When I wen to the Dr he said flu...put me on Amoxicillin, despite me telling him I'd been rabbit hunting. I felt bad for 10 days but got really sick when the prescription ran out...105*F fever, blood poising streak up my arm, lesion on my finger next to the cut, swollen lymph node in the arm pit, etc. Ended up in hospital for a day and a half on IV'd Gentamicin after being properly diagnosed that time...at my insistance that he look up Tularemia. That cured it, but I don't wish Tularemia on anyone. Pre-antibiotic days its was about 1/3 fatal. So yes, you can get it from blood getting into cuts, and yes latex gloves would have prevented it. And no, city Drs don't typically see it nor diagnose it.

 

[5MilesBack]

I will say that I am damn tired with finding them out in the field and next to gut piles. No one here would do that of course but a lot of people seem to leave them out there when they are finished.

I'm sure that's pretty common. I keep mine in a ziplock and when I'm done they go back in the ziplock, along with any broken Havalon blades stuffed back into the packaging.

Three years ago I found a cow elk that had been shot and the only thing taken was the backstraps. But there was a bag laying there along with used latex gloves, rope, and a few other things. I sent the coordinates to a buddy of mine that is a game warden in there for him to check out. I have no idea what means they go to, to do any type of forensic testing etc but I'm sure they could have gotten fingerprints at least.

 

[JWP58]

I have shot a lot of animals in my day and have never once worn a pair of latex gloves while skimming, gutting or cleaning an animal. I have never seen anyone I have hunted with in Tx use them either. But seems everyone out of Texas is scared to get bloody?? I don't have any disease from it. Guess I don't get it.

Cool, you're badazz. I'll keep wearing gloves, you keep being badazz. When you're miles from the pickup and dont want to have blood covered hands for a couple of hours, why not wear gloves?

Most folks in texas load their critter in a pickup and drive to a processor 10mins after they shoot it. I've even seen them leave the guts in.

Plus I get boxes of them fo free. I see no reason not to wear them, besides ego.

 

[Scoony]

I use them only because it makes clean up easy. It's nice to pull off the gloves and suddenly have clean hands. I am not particularly worried about infections so I use the cheap blue ones. My son does get me the nice heavy duty medical ones, but I use those when I am applying finish to one of my woodworking projects.

 

[Fatcamp]

Ya, I even wear them when taking apart greasy old mechanical parts.

I've done enough in my time on Earth to not need dirty hands to prove anything.

 

[hodgeman]

I guess it depends... ungulates, I usually don't bother. There are few diseases that will cross between an ungulate and a human and most of the time with caribou and moose I can stay reasonably clean skinning and quartering one. If a carcass has been gut shot, I'll glove up before digging out the mess.

For bears I bring out the gloves and a wolf smells so bad you wouldn't want to barehand it for all the tea in China. Hares- definitely as well since we live in a major tularemia area.