Why do guides use surgical gloves when skinning in the field

daisygordoninc · Post by **daisygordoninc** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 6:15 pm

Last year in BC I noticed my guide wore surgical gloves when skinning the animals we killed
in the field. What would they be protecting themselves from ? I have skinned animals my
whole life and have never thought I needed to protect my hands. Has anyone seen this before?

AJMD429 · Post by **AJMD429** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 6:18 pm

There are doubtless some infections we know about that are rare, but no fun to get, from exposure to blood or other body fluids from animals, and some we've yet to discover. In addition, if your own skin has breaks or scratches, you may trigger allergic reactions if exposed to 'foreign' proteins like during field dressing.

Certainly there are not as many organisms that can 'cross-over' from animals to humans, as there would be if exposed to that much blood and guts from a fellow human, but too many unknowns and not that big a deal to slip on a pair of five-cent gloves.

daisygordoninc · Post by **daisygordoninc** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 6:19 pm

This must be a fairly new practice, I have not seen it before.
That makes sense however.

octagon · Post by **octagon** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 6:34 pm

If it is a chest shot deer, there is a ton of blood in the chest cavity when you field dress it. Gloves mean you can peel em off and not have to wash hands, or pack towels to clean up with.
If it's a neck shot (my preference) there is no blood in the cavity and no gloves are needed.
If it's a pig, they have multiple bugs that can get ya, brucelosis, trichinosis, and killyourassinosis.

Gascozark · Post by **Gascozark** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 6:49 pm

I wear them when I skin Whitetail Deer during our deer season here in Missouri. I guess I have some sort of allergy to the hair on the deer or something that's on the hair. If I don't wear the gloves, my hands and wrists get very itchy.
It's also pretty nice to be able to peel a glove off if you need a clean hand for something, without being forced to stop and wash up.

Mich Hunter · Post by **Mich Hunter** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 6:53 pm

I have been wearing gloves for years mainly for ease up of cleanup. Due to having to pack animals out for several miles, it may be a bit before I can get to some soap.

M. M. Wright · Post by **M. M. Wright** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 6:59 pm

I've used them for years when dressing deer. Easy clean-up is my reason.

Tycer · Post by **Tycer** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 7:18 pm

M. M. Wright wrote:I've used them for years when dressing deer. Easy clean-up is my reason.

+!

Griff · Post by **Griff** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 7:42 pm

Tycer wrote:
M. M. Wright wrote:I've used them for years when dressing deer. Easy clean-up is my reason.
+!

+2. Plus, I don't transfer my bacteria to the meat.

Old Ironsights · Post by **Old Ironsights** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 7:44 pm

Griff wrote:
Tycer wrote:
M. M. Wright wrote:I've used them for years when dressing deer. Easy clean-up is my reason.
+!
+2. Plus, I don't transfer my bacteria to the meat.

+ More E^!

vancelw · Post by **vancelw** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 7:49 pm

Tycer wrote:
M. M. Wright wrote:I've used them for years when dressing deer. Easy clean-up is my reason.
+!

Yep. And they are so cheap, there's no reason not to use them. Beats getting blood all over my gun and steering wheel. With CWD and Blue tongue and whatever the disease of the day is, why take any chance whatsoever? I keep 2 or 3 pair in an old WW II compass pouch on my belt. I've received much gratitude when giving a pair to someone who didn't come prepared.

I'm still going to wash my hands with soap and water as soon as I get a chance, but that might be a while. And I don't have to scrub to hard to get the blood out of my cuticle and out from under my fingernails....because it isn't there.

BrentD · Post by **BrentD** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 7:56 pm

Put me in the easy clean up group. Add to it that my hands come out dry or at least drier, so when it is brutal cold long after sunset on a January night, they warm up faster too. No reason not to use them.

BigSky56 · Post by **BigSky56** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 8:48 pm

when I skin predators I wear them never know if rabies is floating around , a buddy was cleaning a pheasants about 5 years ago and poked himself with a broken sharp bird bone was tested at a annual physical tested positive for west nile he never out and out got sick just felt kinda puny for a couple weeks. danny

AJMD429 · Post by **AJMD429** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 9:02 pm

Gascozark wrote:It's also pretty nice to be able to peel a glove off if you need a clean hand for something, without being forced to stop and wash up.

That too...

Old Ironsights · Post by **Old Ironsights** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 9:08 pm

I also like to know when the blood is mine. The Glove gives you an extra layer for a properly sharp knife to cut through, and if there's blood IN the glove it's probably a good bet it's yours...

I also come at it from this angle... They make OB gloves for Calving. Placental Fluid may be pretty slimy, but it ain't excreta.

Why wouldn't you wear gloves for disemboweling?

vancelw · Post by **vancelw** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 9:12 pm

I also use them when working on greasy stuff, like oil changes and lube jobs.....for the same, easy clean up, reason.
For field dressing I buy Nylon gloves that are several mil thick. Very hard to tear, even on purpose. Otherwise a rib will nick it and you might as well not have a glove on. Reminds me I need to restock. Bow season starts in 3 weeks and then it will be hunting season until January

Old Ironsights · Post by **Old Ironsights** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 9:15 pm

People always asked me why the Nitrile gloves I bought for myself to use as an EMT were Black and not the typical cream or blue...

It's because it doesn't show the blood as dramatically.

Believe it or not, if you are teaching a newbie how to Gut, some find the chore easy enough to look at but blow a headgasket when they see their hands covered in blood.

Black Surgical Gloves fix that problem.

7.62 Precision · Post by **7.62 Precision** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 9:52 pm

There are some pretty nasty infections you can get from messing with some animals like bear, seals, pigs, etc.

I wear gloves now, if I can, especially with bear. I know some people who got pretty messed up.

I had a guy who was teaching a first aid course one time say that they always considered the skin of the hands to be broken, whether you notice it or not. You should always assume you have broken skin.

Old Ironsights · Post by **Old Ironsights** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 9:58 pm

7.62 Precision wrote:...

I had a guy who was teaching a first aid course one time say that they always considered the skin of the hands to be broken, whether you notice it or not. You should always assume you have broken skin.

EMT 101. BSI. (Body Substance Isolation) My cuticles usually look like I fed my fingers to a meat grinder...

jkbrea · Post by **jkbrea** » Mon Sep 08, 2014 11:10 pm

I read in RMEF that it was recommended when dressing out an elk because of possible unknown blood diseases and Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) even though there is no proof it has affected humans. I guess better safe than sorry. To be honest, I never use them.

ndcowboy · Post by **ndcowboy** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 6:27 am

I do it all the time to keep my hands warm. When it is 20 degrees and the wind is blowing, wet hands are COLD. Dry hands are much warmer.

bdhold · Post by **bdhold** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 7:22 am

my friend and Alaskan guide Brandon Maes filleting my king (the fillets were 12 lbs)

he never took his gloves off

here's a CDC Alert on feral hogs
http://www.cdc.gov/brucellosis/pdf/bruc ... unters.pdf

Old Ironsights · Post by **Old Ironsights** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 7:26 am

When Filleting, I didn't wear surgical gloves... I wore Kevlar or woven metal. Fillet Knives are not fun when they meet the meat of your palm...

BrentD · Post by **BrentD** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 7:27 am

fantastic looking fillets.

bdhold · Post by **bdhold** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 8:00 am

it looked pretty good before, too

JB · Post by JB » Tue Sep 09, 2014 8:16 am

A cousin of mine got a pretty nasty infection from a whitetail deer. He nicked his hand, so a glove probably wouldn't have helped, but the his whole hand swelled up and he had to go to be put on antibiotics to clear it up.

BrentD · Post by **BrentD** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 8:20 am

Here is a significant understatement. That's a hell of a fish.

bulldog1935 wrote:it looked pretty good before, too

vancelw · Post by **vancelw** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 9:10 am

JB wrote:A cousin of mine got a pretty nasty infection from a whitetail deer. He nicked his hand, so a glove probably wouldn't have helped, but the his whole hand swelled up and he had to go to be put on antibiotics to clear it up.

Forgot about this...my BIL who has ranched in Montana his entire life, wears gloves when handling wild game. It seems he reacts to the blood in an allergy-like fashion. Pronghorn blood gets him the worst, but mule deer affects him, too. One of his kids has the same reaction, but the other does not.

bdhold · Post by **bdhold** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 9:46 am

fwiw, surgical gloves don't take up much space in you pocket or field kit. You can put a half-dozen in a ziplock bag, squeeze the air out they'll disappear in any field bag, but be there when you need them.

KirkD · Post by **KirkD** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 11:31 am

I've been using wet-wipes to clean up afterward, but might try surgical gloves. I don't touch any varmints with the Mange.

Rusty · Post by **Rusty** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 3:17 pm

When Jr and I took our advanced bowhunter class put on by the state they had a fellow come in to talk about care of game after the shot. He was a taxidermist so he could tell what he needed to make a good mount as well as taking care to make sure the meat stayed good. He brought in pictures of his hand after a bone chip from a hog scratched him while field dressing. He got an infection in the hand that caused it to swell twice it's normal size. E.R. had to slit the skin to relieve the pain and pressure. He had a long and painful recovery. It made believer out of me. Your call.

.45colt · Post by **.45colt** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 4:29 pm

In My job as a Meat cutter we are required to where cut resistant gloves under plastic throwaway single use gloves. long ago in the dark days when I started the job there were no cut-proof or plastic gloves to be had. blood poisoning and bad infections were a common thing. we were always getting small cuts and no one would give it second thought, put a band aid on it and get back to work. I had blood poisoning twice. cutting chicken parts with a knife was the worst. most of the stores then were filthy...... today the stores are extremely clean .
The cut resistant gloves are available just about everywhere as are plastic or surgical gloves. If I am going hunting the cut/ and plastic gloves always go with Me.

jeepnik · Post by **jeepnik** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 6:29 pm

Don't know if it's necessary or not, but I've done it for years. First to keep all the gunk off my hands, and second I guess it does provide some protection against blood borne diseases. Not sure, but their are probably a few that can move from one species to another. Cheap insurance if nothing else.

draperjojo · Post by **draperjojo** » Tue Sep 09, 2014 9:01 pm

A friend of mine got poked by a turkey bone while claning a bird and got a nasty infection. His hand was twice normal size.

7.62 Precision · Post by **7.62 Precision** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 1:57 am

ndcowboy wrote:I do it all the time to keep my hands warm. When it is 20 degrees and the wind is blowing, wet hands are COLD. Dry hands are much warmer.

This is actually the reason I first started wearing gloves - sometimes it's -20 degrees when we are hunting.

7.62 Precision · Post by **7.62 Precision** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 2:08 am

.45colt wrote: The cut resistant gloves are available just about everywhere as are plastic or surgical gloves. If I am going hunting the cut/ and plastic gloves always go with Me.

I need to get cut-resistant gloves for cutting both game and fish - it is a really good idea. I have not yet been cut really bad on the hand while cutting animals or fish, but growing up in a commercial fishing village and being around subsistence hunting all my life, I have know a tone of people who got serious injuries to the hands, often well out of town on a boat or in the bush.

However, cut resistant gloves would not have helped with this:

Pegged the femur, and it is still stiff and aches sometimes almost a year later. I still have cool bloodstains on my boot, though!

Panzercat · Post by **Panzercat** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 2:20 am

Blood is stupid hard to wash off in large quantities. Wear some gloves.

horsesoldier03 · Post by **horsesoldier03** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 8:25 pm

Gloves would hardly block all the blood I get on me. Unless of course they are the type you use to preg check a cow!

Old Ironsights · Post by **Old Ironsights** » Wed Sep 10, 2014 9:19 pm

horsesoldier03 wrote:Gloves would hardly block all the blood I get on me. Unless of course they are the type you use to preg check a cow!

OBKits are cheap enough at your local CoOp... I sell them (to CoOps) by the case...

Gallo Pazzesco · Post by **Gallo Pazzesco** » Thu Sep 11, 2014 6:07 pm

daisygordoninc wrote:Last year in BC I noticed my guide wore surgical gloves when skinning the animals we killed
in the field. What would they be protecting themselves from ? I have skinned animals my
whole life and have never thought I needed to protect my hands. Has anyone seen this before?

I do believe I remember reading somewhere or seeing a show somewhere a year or two ago where there was some sort of disease going around killing large game .... that could be transmitted to humans. It wasn't tularemia or chagas but it was something along those lines. Check out this link: https://www.avma.org/public/Health/Page ... nters.aspx

But this show, I think it was a TV show, in particular, was addressing a particularly virulent strain of something that's been going around ... blood borne. They sent someone from disease control to where one herd was completely decimated and I remember the guy's face after he found out it was what it was. I just cannot remember what it was.

Old Ironsights · Post by **Old Ironsights** » Thu Sep 11, 2014 8:27 pm

FWIW, I not only like to use "Surgical Gloves", while cleaning, but also Surgical Scalpels. I really like the Havalon Piranta pocket knife as it uses standard Scalpel Blades and is therefore insanely sharp... and never needs resharpening (blades are about .22 each - and STERILE). It's not the best on hide, but for cutting out organs without slicing them open....