Who wears rubber gloves to clean game ?

[North Idaho Stickbow]

I like the dexterity and precision of not wearing gloves. Sandwiches and snacks taste best on the pack out with blood caked hands. I do not understand how some people get so much blood on their clothes though.

I did exactly that one time. Dragged out a deer and skinned it and ate a sandwich. I had the dribbles for days afterwards.

 

[MTPipeliner]

Always wear them butchering meat in the garage and usually when cleaning birds ( usually in the garage as well), but I’ve never used them for field dressing big game. No particular reason other than I never have them in my backpack but I have several boxes in the garage.

 

[Maverick1]

Nitrile gloves. Don’t weigh much. Keep my fingers relatively clean and the animal fat/grease from under the fingernails.

 

[Andrew.c]

I prefer to wear gloves. That way when I get hungry In the middle of cutting an animal up I can pull my gloves off to eat a snack with clean hands

 

[Acidbraker]

I always have a set of the shoulder length cleaning gloves and some Nitrile Ravens in my pocket. Long ones go on first, with the ravens over the top. I'm good to go at least elbow deep. Takes two seconds to remove them, keeps my hands and clothing clean.

 

[jhm2023]

The benefits of using nitrile gloves or similar for me are these:

-Keep hands clean. Most of my hunts are 7 plus days in the backcountry and thorough hand washing isn't an option. Its nice to have reasonably clean hands throughout the hunt. The is more important during very cold weather, so I can quickly put warm gloves back on without getting them all bloody on the inside. Obviously clean hands are nicer for eating, personal hygiene, touching eyes, taking a leak, first aid needs etc.
-Avoid Trich. I seem to kill more bears than any other species and I'd really like to continue life without having trichinosis.
-Sacrificial layer. Accidental nicks and cuts that would otherwise cut your skin, only cut the glove. Obviously this doesn't matter if you're hacking away like a lunatic.
-Multi use. Having gloves available for use in treating any sort of open wounds seems like a pretty good idea to me.

Besides, I'm confident enough in my masculinity that I don't feel the need to "be tough" and get blood on my hands in front of my friends and eat my food with my finger nails caked in misc. fluids from inside an animal. To each their own though.

 

[Dwnw/theAltitudesickness]

I utilize a rubber tiger grip glove on both hands. And then a cut proof fish cleaning like glove on my left hand.

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Solo deboning meat at 1 am on a mountainside can lead to some wild knife movements. And is what lead me to this setup.

 

[Lytro]

No worries about CWD here, but I usually just wear one on my non-cutting hand. Hair and everything seems to stick to a bare hand covered in blood more than a nitrile glove. It keeps the meat cleaner and then I turn the glove inside out over my knife so it's not getting blood inside my pocket. Sometimes I'll even do that over a deer heart so I can just throw it in my pocket.

Also being able to swap gloves out after detaching lower legs seems to keep some of the stink off the meat. Definitely helpful when breaking down a rutty bull with piss covered back legs.

 

[LongWayAround]

Like a few have mentioned for wrapping a heart, etc in a glove. I do the same for the evidence of sex.

Skin out the nuts, grab em, and peel the glove over.

It's interesting to me how consistent the poll numbers have stayed. Also interesting to me is the number of comments saying they wear gloves for some species but not for others.

 

[AKBC]

I am shocked at the high percentage that wear gloves. I don't even like wearing them for vehicle/boat/toy maintenance.

 

[bigmike23]

Always. Guy I know cleaned a pig with no gloves. Sliced his finger open inside. His finger got severely infected and almost lost it.

 

[rideold]

Yea, prevention of infection to cuts is a big one for me. It's not the chance that I might cut myself while field dressing that led me to wear gloves. It's all the skinned knuckles and little cuts that I seem to always have from hunting in general that I worry about. Seems like I never escape a week in the field without banging my hand on a piece of granite or something else sharp and abrasive!

 

[bsoliday]

This was the first year I used gloves on al of the animals I field dressed. Many of our hunts are late season, so cleaning up with snow at -10 is really not an option. I keep 2 pairs in my side pants pocket now and will continue to do so.

 

[cusecat04]

Yes, have for a decade or so....
My old man almost lost his thumb after going bare with a decent cut on it from work. My hands are usually dried out and cracking half way through fall so it's easy insurance to avoid issues.
As others have said cleanup is quick and easy afterward as well.
Hands, gear, everything stays cleaner saving me time at the end of the day or trip.

 

[GringoBling]

Sometimes I wear them. Sometimes I don't. I recently dressed, quartered, and boned out a couple WT does without gloves. It's no big deal if you have water handy, but that's not always the case.

 

[dsotm]

Always use 3 mil gloves. Super thin and don't lose any feel or dexterity. Use them all day at work though too so I'm used to them.

 

[Mk44]

I have never worn gloves to clean game. Even when I was young, I would clean game bare handed. I remember when I was young, simply wiping my hands in the grass to remove some of the blood & reaching in my pack for a sandwich because I was so hungry. I would bite into my sandwich and still see blood on my hands (it's didn't bother me) and continue eating.
If there's snow or a stream nearby, I will clean my hands in it.

 

[Bowfisher]

I do now, never used to....I'm wiser now. Lots of pathogens out there, I don't have time to be down with a bacteria/viral infection, and I don't need anymore parasites, I already have the IRS and stupid people sucking energy out of me.

That being said, I think an immune system is built when folks are younger, I had quite the aversion to washing my hands as a kid. Mom would tell me to go wash the cow manure off before breakfast and I would just run the water and shut it off without ever cleaning anything...now I'm more adult-like.

 

[Z Barebow]

Don't use them for field dressing. Started using them for skinning and meat processing. (And mechanic work) If I need a break, strip them off and do what I need to do. Grab a new pair. Also hair doesn't seem to stick to them like bloody hands (Minimizing hair transfer to meat) Makes life much easier at clean up.

 

[TheCougar]

I wear gloves. First is to help protect from infection. I usually have cuts on my hands from hunting and it’s a small level of protection. It obviously doesn’t really help if I cut myself during the quartering process. It also seems to keep less hair from sticking to my hands. I also am just trying to keep my hands clean. Usually I’m in the backcountry and don’t have a lot of water to clean up, so it keeps my hands and all my other gear I touch cleaner than it would be with bloody hands. Once my hands get bloody and it starts getting on everything else, it kinda snowballs. If I have running water or I am at camp, I may forgo the gloves.