Poison Ivy

[HighDesertSage]

So I have been in Iowa over a year now and never really had any run ins with the stuff. The decade before that I was in CO so I never really gave it much thought. This past Sunday I got a major attitude adjustment while out setting tree stands. One hell of a rash and a shot of prednisone later I now have the utmost respect for poison ivy. The doctor told me with how severely allergic I am, I ought to just avoid it all together. So I promptly put my house up for sale and will be returning to Colorado.

I made that last sentence up, but I am looking for some tips, tricks, and ideas on how some of you guys deal with poison ivy and mitigate the hazards while out in the field.

 

[Pucky Freak]

There are carpets of it in IA on and near field/timber edges. Learn to ID it by sight and step around it as much as possible. It does vine up trees, but more commonly exists as a short plant. I often wear muck boots when setting deer stands. I am very allergic. I put latex gloves on to remove my boots, and then scrub boots with dish soap when I get home. My pants get washed alone with Tide, extra deep and extra rinse cycle. The oil floats to the top and down the drain. I have truck seat covers I wash the same way if I think I contaminated them. If you accidentally step in it with leather boots, you can scrub them with dawn as well, and remove and wash the laces in the washing machine. When I first moved down here I didn’t have much of an eye for the plant and I had a couple of terrible exposures. Now I watch carefully where I walk and I can spot it aways off easily.

 

[BirdManMike]

This song gives some suggestions:

 

[HighDesertSage]

ElkFever2, Thanks! You know I didn't think about the truck. I may want to go scrub the seat/steering wheels/arm rests etc.

 

[Jwill]

ID and avoid or 2 4 d, Glyphosate, etc.

 

[HighDesertSage]

This song gives some suggestions:

I definitely know better than to touch...but nobody told my dumbass not to go out there with a weedwacker.....

 

[HighDesertSage]

ID and avoid or 2 4 d, Glyphosate, etc.

Now that I am educated to not use a weedwacker, that might be an option. Thanks

 

[Nutrioso]

We have its cousin, poison oak, around here. It is an occupational hazard for crews doing outdoor work, especially in the late fall and winter when the leaves are off and the vines and roots are harder to ID. When we know crews will be exposed, we will often put them in Tyvek suits that can be stripped off and disposed at the end of a shift. Not practical for a day hunting or hanging stands, but shows how bad the stuff can be. Here are some other ideas:

First and foremost, learn to recognize it in all seasons and avoid it. The old “leaves of three” thing. In spring poison oak has white berried. In late summer the leaves turn red. There are guides to poison ivy ID as well.

Disposable gloves can help, as long as you remember not to touch your face while wearing them.

If you come into contact, there are various soaps the promise to wash away the oil that causes the infection. Tecnu is one brand. YMMV.

The oil sticks to clothes and dogs, so you can get a rash by secondary contact. Get all that stuff washed well as soon as you get out of the woods and handle as little as possible until then. The oil seems to have a long half-life.

Be especially careful cutting vines and roots in the dormant season. They can contain a lot of the oil and the cutting and handling process exposes it and makes it easy to spread.

Mild cases can be relieved with topical lotions, but like you I’ve had to take steroids for the bad ones. No fun.

 

[HighDesertSage]

We have its cousin, poison oak, around here. It is an occupational hazard for crews doing outdoor work, especially in the late fall and winter when the leaves are off and the vines and roots are harder to ID. When we know crews will be exposed, we will often put them in Tyvek suits that can be stripped off and disposed at the end of a shift. Not practical for a day hunting or hanging stands, but shows how bad the stuff can be. Here are some other ideas:

First and foremost, learn to recognize it in all seasons and avoid it. The old “leaves of three” thing. In spring poison oak has white berried. In late summer the leaves turn red. There are guides to poison ivy ID as well.

Disposable gloves can help, as long as you remember not to touch your face while wearing them.

If you come into contact, there are various soaps the promise to wash away the oil that causes the infection. Tecnu is one brand. YMMV.

The oil sticks to clothes and dogs, so you can get a rash by secondary contact. Get all that stuff washed well as soon as you get out of the woods and handle as little as possible until then. The oil seems to have a long half-life.

Be especially careful cutting vines and roots in the dormant season. They can contain a lot of the oil and the cutting and handling process exposes it and makes it easy to spread.

Mild cases can be relieved with topical lotions, but like you I’ve had to take steroids for the bad ones. No fun.

I tried tecnu, zanfel, and dawn dish soap, before finally having to go see the doc this morning. I didn't have good luck with it. I like the disposable Tyvek suit idea. I think for me, my best chance for success is to stop it before it ever hits my skin. I'm going to pick a few of those up and give them a try.

 

[NoWiser]

I’m one of the fortunate ones who doesn’t get it. It seems that none of the males on my dad’s side of the family do. I’ve seen what it can do to a person and it’s ugly. Hope you start feeling better soon.

 

[Elkmagnet]

Don't just wash after contacting. Scrub with dish soap! Like as if you are covered in axle grease. Change wash clothes and then Scrub 10 times harder. Now change wash clothes and do it again! Until your skin is raw.
It works and will be better then the rash.

 

[mottlet]

A weed whacker? Yeah, that likely did it...

But definitely learn to ID the vine without the leaves, that gets a lot of whitetail guys messing around in tree stands. Good news is, it's pretty identifiable. If you see a "hairy" looking vine, avoid it. If it's a tree I think I'll hunt in for a while, I'll carefully cut the vine and leave it. Come back a few months later and carefully pull the dead vine down. But I'm fortunate to not be that allergic to it. If I needed a steroid for just looking at it, I'd probably be a bit less cavalier and find a different tree.

 

[Elkmagnet]

I tried tecnu, zanfel, and dawn dish soap, before finally having to go see the doc this morning. I didn't have good luck with it. I like the disposable Tyvek suit idea. I think for me, my best chance for success is to stop it before it ever hits my skin. I'm going to pick a few of those up and give them a try.

I may be wrong but washing only seems to work if you do it before the blisters appear.

 

[HighDesertSage]

I may be wrong but washing only seems to work if you do it before the blisters appear.

The zanfel claims to help eliminate the rash, but I did not have those results.

 

[HighDesertSage]

I’m one of the fortunate ones who doesn’t get it. It seems that none of the males on my dad’s side of the family do. I’ve seen what it can do to a person and it’s ugly. Hope you start feeling better soon.

Thanks, It's no joke. It's on my eyelids, ears, in between my fingers, chest...I can't even have any fun with my wife because...nevermind.

 

[HighDesertSage]

A weed whacker? Yeah, that likely did it...

But definitely learn to ID the vine without the leaves, that gets a lot of whitetail guys messing around in tree stands. Good news is, it's pretty identifiable. If you see a "hairy" looking vine, avoid it. If it's a tree I think I'll hunt in for a while, I'll carefully cut the vine and leave it. Come back a few months later and carefully pull the dead vine down. But I'm fortunate to not be that allergic to it. If I needed a steroid for just looking at it, I'd probably be a bit less cavalier and find a different tree.

Problem now is I got to go back in there and get them down...can you imagine the look on neighbors faces when I walk in there in a hazmat suit and respirator.

 

[HighDesertSage]

Don't just wash after contacting. Scrub with dish soap! Like as if you are covered in axle grease. Change wash clothes and then Scrub 10 times harder. Now change wash clothes and do it again! Until your skin is raw.
It works and will be better then the rash.

I scrubbed my arms pretty good when I got home, but that was it. I sure I got re exposed somewhere. I had no idea how nasty the oil is. And that it stays on everything.

 

[Bullshot]

I am one of the very lucky ones who never get it. I work outside and cross it, touch it, touch boots, equipment, etc, without a thought. The only thing I won’t do is set a treestand up a vine choked tree, if I rub it into my skin that way, I doubt I’d be totally immune. Easy to ID all year, even without leaves, so just be aware and assume after a day in the field it is all over your boots and lower pants.

 

[406Born]

I have never worried about it because I was never been allergic to it. Something changed though and this summer I have had it 3 times and was on steroids for the worst case. I really hate poison ivy now.

 

[SO7mm]

Be especially careful cutting vines and roots in the dormant season. They can contain a lot of the oil and the cutting and handling process exposes it and makes it easy to spread.

I've followed a lot of the same advice you have here for crews and myself. Breakouts from the roots seem to have been the worst ones. I've paid for a lot of Kenalog shots.