Rubber gloves and Hogs????

[Over&Under]

I have never used gloves for dressing and skinning elk and deer, but have noticed that quite a few of guys are using rubber gloves when field dressing and skinning hogs and javi's.  Is there particular reasons for this?

I have never hunted them, but will be soon, so I thought I would ask.  

Thanks
Jake

Down here in Texas it is recommended to use the gloves when field dressing hogs. I use them sometimes, and I forget sometimes. There is some kind of disease (the name I can't remember) that hogs carry that can cause a problem. I have taken a lot of hags and never had a problem but I try to use the gloves when dressing hogs.

Bisch

[Chris Surtees]

Jake,

I would go out a buy a box of surgical gloves or cheap dish washing gloves. Better safe than sorry when it comes to skinning hogs.

I now carry a pair of thin blue dish washing gloves in my pack. After skinning I just clean them up with some bleach solution, put them in a zip lock, and back in my pack.

CS

[ishiwannabe]

My wife is a hair stylist, I always raid her stash and have a few pairs in my pack. Better safe than sorry, but it also makes it a heck of a lot easier to clean up after the work is done.
I have heard bears can be "risky" too...anyone know?

[tradtusker]

reason i wear gloves when skining and dressing howgs and javi's is it makes cleaning up after so much easier expecialy out in camp.
 and helps keep meat clean and uncontaminated..dress hog, chuck away gloves and clean knife...then, skin hog, chuck away gloves and clean knife again, then sort out the meat.

[Leo L.]

You should be wearing gloves for any animal.  When you come in contact with blood anywhere, you're exposing yourself to an array of bloodborne pathogens.

[Bjorn]

If you don't wear them for deer there is not much point in wearing them for hogs! Either you wear them or you don't LOL!
It is a decent precaution to take; and anything you fear in a hog is also just as likely to be present in any other animal.

[knife river]

A good buddy of mine contracted "relapsing fever" on a hog/javelina hunt.  He thinks he contracted it from the lice and ticks on the animals he cleaned.  The fever was nasty stuff -- he dropped over 40 pounds in one month and took almost four months to completely shake.  He now swears by rubber gloves and insecticide.  Cheap precautions against some very undesireable consequences...

[NorthernCaliforniaHunter]

Trichinosis - nasty stuff.

Read this link for information:

 http://www.state.nj.us/health/cd/f_trich.htm

[rice]

I have skinned a lot of wild hogs without gloves. The other day I heard of a local that contracted swine Brucellosis and was having a lot of trouble getting over it. I will wear gloves from now on. This is what I found from a search on the net.
CKR
Swine Brucellosis
Swine brucellosis is caused by bacteria very similar to the organism that causes brucellosis in cattle, and both diseases are a public health concern. Swine brucellosis causes abortions in sows and infertility in boars. Although this disease does not kill pigs outright, it causes losses in reproduction that decrease profits for swine producers.
 
The swine brucellosis organism is transmitted in reproductive discharges, particularly the afterbirth, from infected sows or in semen from infected boars. Infected swine are disease carriers for life, and there is no effective treatment. Detecting infected swine through blood tests and culling these animals is the only way to remove the disease from the herd.
 
Swine brucellosis has been reported in wild pig populations in at least 14 States based primarily on serological prevalence. The disease can be spread to domestic swine if wild pigs are introduced into local herds. Introduction could be intentional, or wild pigs could break into pastures or pens to breed with domestic sows.
 
Pigs infected with swine brucellosis can serve as a source of infection to domestic animals. Cattle can also become infected if they come in close contact with infected wild pigs.
 
Humans can get swine brucellosis through handling infected tissues of wild pigs. Hunters are at risk when they field-dress and butcher wild pigs and should take the following precautions:
 
1. Always wear disposable plastic or rubber gloves when field-dressing, cleaning, and butchering a wild pig carcass. Avoid direct contact with blood and reproductive organs.
 
2. As soon as possible, wash hands with soap and hot water after dressing wild pigs.
 
3. Burn or bury gloves and remains from butchered wild pigs.
 
4. Cook wild pig meat thoroughly.
 
The symptoms of swine brucellosis in humans are not distinctive enough for a clear-cut diagnosis. Most people report recurring fever, chills, sweating, weakness, headaches, pains in muscles or joints, loss of appetite, and weight loss. People with these symptoms who have been exposed to wild pigs should consult their doctor about swine brucellosis.

[George D. Stout]

Bisch.....those "hags" can also be dangerous I hear 8^).

[wtpops]

Trichinosis, Swine Brucellosis, The two reasons i wear gloves when taking care of hogs. Its just like dealing with any pork porduct. I dont handle pork or chicken for that matter from a store with any knid of cut on my hands.

If i have forgoten my gloves out in the field i just take extra care not to nick my self and wash up as soon as i am done.

[Over&Under]

Thanks for the info guys, sounds like a real good idea, like it was said, a cheap precaution.

Some of those things mentioned sound pretty nasty!!  It might be a good idea for deer and elk, as CWD is getting more and more prevalent.

Better safe then sorry, I guess.

I will be picking up some gloves.

[stickhorse]

Over& Under--go to a vet or vet supply and get the gloves that go up past the elbows and use rubber bands to keep them up. makes cleanup very easy & keeps sleeves clean. $4.00/ dozen

[Notso]

Stickhorse has a great idea. Use the long "artificial insemination" gloves as he suggests - but put a pair of regular surgical gloves on over the top of the long gloves. The tight surgical gloves give a better feel when doing the field dressing - and the long gloves keep your sleeves or arms clean. Remove by turning the whole mess inside-out. Be sure to take them with you for proper disposal later. 8^)

[Weedhopper]

Unless you know that hog VERY well,,,,,I'd use the gloves....   :D    :cool:

[Killdeer]

George, glad you caught that too. I had it copied and pasted. Priceless!

I helped slaughter and butcher 5 pigs on the 28th of February. Trichinosis is only able to getcha if you eat the organisms. I used no gloves. I ate no raw pigparts.

Perhaps one needs more care with wild hogs, I dunno. I have never used gloves with deer, as the thought disturbs me. The pig below is now part of the scrapple that is in my freezer. A tiny girl watched me getting the eyeballs out of a pig's face after I skinned it. Asked if she could have some. She loved them, and ended up taking four of them to play with. I loved her!  

[Daddy Bear]

Bacteria and other microorganism can enter your body through very small cut on your hands. Your skin is the only barrier, and a small sore, chaffing, splinters on the skin, and even microscopic cuts that you don't even feel can be used by bacteria to enter your body or blood stream. I don't even anchor my finger in the corner of my mouth when I'm hunting wild hogs, I keep my mouth shut and anchor on my jaw bone. Pigs and bear can be nasty.

Read the story at the below link about "Bear Hands". Nine hours of surgery to clean out the infection followed by 2 1/2 months of physical therapy. All from skinning a bear without gloves while having a minor cut.

 http://www.alaskaadventurejournal.com/PWS_2005Page3.htm

[The Vanilla Gorilla]

Sometimes I wear em, sometimes I don't.  If I have an open cut on my hand, or something, I'll wear em. (I know, I know...you can't always see open cuts)

To be honest, the ticks, fleas and hog lice that come crawling up my arm when I'm cleaning a pig wanting to make a nest in my armpit hair creeps me out a lot worse than any pathogens that could enter my body. Yuck. A disease could kill me in a short while, but lice in my armpit hair would guarantee that I'd be single for the rest of my life!

I will ALWAYS wear gloves when I clean rabbits and nutria, though.  A buddy of mine got bit by a tick near his jewels when he was a kid, and contracted Tularemia. His junk swole up something awful. After that, "rabbit fever" has always been in the back of my mind when I handle rodents.

[Chester Thompson]

I have never used gloves to clean hogs, and I have not gotten anything from them, but for a couple of dollars I will probably start wearing them just to be safe.