I used to wear them when I was gutting deer, those long up to the elbow type, when I was at camp. Keep the hands and clothing cleaner. When you have limited warm water and no laundry for the week is just made good sense.
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No gloves, I find the orange mechanics hand cleaner with pumice does a great job cleaning up afterwards.
Always have a bottle in my truck or at home.
If they are handy, I’ll wear nitrite gloves as they keep my hands clean. Can also keep the meat clean too.
For gutting deer, I picked up a method I saw a Vet buddy of mine use. I put on a pair of those shoulder length plastic "examination goves" and then a pair of black nitrile gloves over my hands to hold them tight. This way, I can get right into the deer and not worry about being up to my elbows in blood. When I am done, the long plastic gloves get turned inside out in the doffing process and become a method of cleanly packing out the heart, liver and tenderloins (if you remove them at the site).
For butchering, I wear a pair of those yellow "cut resistant" cloth type gloves and a pair of nitrile gloves over them. The yellow gloves provide a bit of warmth and protection from a slip with a sharp knife. The nitrile glove keeps them warm and dry and allows for a good "feel".
For coyotes, I carry the same "slash under nitrile" set up, along with a tail stripper and a dog "choke chain" to hang them up. I like to pelt them immediately when they are hot.
I went decades without any gloves but wearing them almost daily for work I started packing them into the bush and putting them on now when gutting an animal. I was always more concerned with human blood than wildlife for some strange reason.
The finger nails also stay a lot cleaner...lol
Just because its what we used to do and you never heard of issues doesn't make it a good idea and doesn't prove that nobody got sick.
Hooved animals are pretty safe, but lots of animals can carry disease that can be quite harmful to humans. I did lots of things years ago that I don't do now.
I've been bloody many times and still do so from time to time depending on the situation, but if I have nitrile gloves handy, just the ease of cleanup alone makes them a good idea.
At camp when running water isn't handy, its an even better idea. Eating a sandwich with dried up blood under my fingernails just isn't that appealing.
For gutting large game as mentioned above the long gloves are great for keeping clean and are a great storage bag for organ meats.
Nope.........I just use my bare hands and clean up afterwards with soap and water. During the deer hunt we keep a jug of water and soap by one of the barns for this reason.