Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Poison oak/ivy/sumac

Got into the stuff Friday and the left arm and hand is breaking out. I don't break out unless I touch it or if burning, get in the smoke. I moved some chunks of wood and touched it. I've got some prescription Cortizone left over from when I had to go to the doc. Catching it early and getting the meds on it is the key.
Prescription Cortizone is expensive, but it works.

How many are allergic to this stuff?

Me, I stay away from it.

Sorry to hear of that, Randy.

I know it can make you miserable...

Fortunately, I've never been affected by any of the above. Don't know how I dodged that bullet...?

I hate the stuff. I do not walk in the woods without long sleeves & pant legs anymore.

I do not walk in the woods without long sleeves, long pants, and gloves. Got into it one year in southern Colorado one spring turkey hunt. Had to get cortisone so I could finish the turkey hunt.

It used to break out on me when I was kid, but I haven't had a problem with it in years, and I'm around it a lot.

One of my nephews was out with a girl, and she said she'd always wanted to do it out in the woods, so they did one night.........right in the middle of some poison oak. He said the itching he went through was not worth what she gave him.

It's the oil that gets into ones pores.

A quick but good soapy wash of the area will stop it when this is a viable option.

Damn mountain biker and dog blasted around a very fast down hill blind turn as myself and my horse were entering the main trail. Khanaan moved to get out of the way of the threat and I ended up shoulder down in the dirt and a large poison oak bush. The ladies were tearing the cyclist a new azzhole about his speed around a blind turn after getting their mounts settled. Dusted myself off remounted and returned to the barn. Got home and slathered my self with Tech Nu waited 2 minutes and showered.
No eruptions so far but boy does the shoulder hurt.

Eats me alive! A shot is all that cures it

Poison Ivy is evil. I'm pretty good at spotting and avoiding but on the occasion I can't avoid it so the first thing I do when I get home is shower with Tecnu Scrub. Best invention ever for removing the urushiol oil from the skin. My cloths go right in the wash (my wife is blessed with no reaction to it) and I make sure I wash hands with Tecnu after tying my shoes until the oil wears off (could be days). Did I mention Poison Ivy is evil?

I could roll in that stuff till I was about 40 and it didn't bother me. One day that all changed. According to the doctor, your allergies change with age. Now I have to be very careful. Regardless, I got into it again hanging tree stands in early Sept. My right arms was swollen double the size and oozing. I had to get a cortisone shot and it cleared up pretty quickly. I'm always on the lookout for poison ivy but this time it was the poison oak and the fuzzy vine that got me. It was a small one too. I went back to the tree wearing latex gloves took care of the problem. I seem to get into about once a year no matter what I do. Its miserable!

Same here. Pulled a branch out of a oak tree and snapped it to get a 3 foot stick. Next day I had poison oak all over my face except where my sunglasses covered. Had a cortisone injection but still went through Christmas gatherings looking like the elephant man.

I hate it,...to the point that I went on several excursions on my property with a 2 gallon spray bottle of glyphosate to get rid of it,...and I'll do the same in the spring.

Poison Ivy is pretty much all I have to worry about. Poison Oak is very uncommon around here. I've learned to spot Poison Ivy with nothing more than a glance.

I used to get poison ivy every summer as a kid. I got it so bad one year I landed in the hospital. I found a patch of poison ivy and stared at it for at least 30 minutes, I did that on and off for the next few weeks, burning the image into my head. Ever since I've been able to spot the crap at a minim of 10 paces and I never got it again.

I get it bad. The dermatitis is caused by an oil called urushiol that poison oak/ivy has on its leaves.You can buy a product called Tecnu that removes the oil from your skin and that will prevent you from getting dermatitis if you wash with it within a few hours of exposure. I always wash with this product if I get into poison oak.

When I was a kid one of the kids in the neighborhood went on a scout camping trip, after taking a dump in the woods he grabbed a handful of leaves which included some poison ivy. Poor b astard had poison ivy all over his butt and his junk, just about drove him crazy before he got rid of it.

used to get it pretty bad using a tree stand to hug a tree up 25-30 ft to the sky and there be a vine on that tree.

Started wearin a shirt deer hunting after a few rounds of it on my nipples.


bought a two piece Summit stand, no more tree hugging

A little 'she shed' with a comfy chair, sack of chubby treats and a corn pile 25 yards upwind will remove all possible contact with the icky things while deer hunting.

I was in my forties before I ever got even a few bumps from it.

Went camping with Scouts at about age 12, we got to camp late, I just tossed my bag on the ground away from the cars and foot traffic, went to sleep, woke up surrounded by poison oak. No way out of it except to go right through it, bag likely had it all over it. Never an itch.

No poison ivy in SoCal, but learned to ID it in PA. Never got any of it there.

Was a 40 year old returning student in NorCal, and poison oak grows REALLY well there. Have seen arm thick vines going 100'+ up redwood trees. Ended up working for a gal pulling the poison oak out of her yard, cats kept getting in it and bringing it to her. I pulled lots of yard bags full of it out. I got to where I could ID the roots if they were exposed, even when I couldn't see the plant. (Probably still can, like Walt, I think it's burned into memory).

A year or two later we lived on a property with bunches of it, goat, cats, and dogs would bring it up and give it to the wife. I eventually ended up with a little bumpy itchy patch that we could only determine was poison oak. Had never had it before in 45+ years. Seems I developed an allergy, or think I did. I'm not going to test it.

10+ years after living back east I moved to E WA. Saw some bare twigs sticking up on a hillside, then red leaves there in the fall. Never before knew poison ivy grew West of the Rockies, but was pretty sure that's what I was looking at. Looked it up and found out it is indeed in WA.

Fortunately, we don't have any around our place, too cold and dry here. 50-60 miles east and the poison oak starts again.

Sorry to hear about you guys that get it bad. As others have mentioned, TecNu is good stuff.

Geno

I've spent quite a bit of time clearing my piece of property this year,..a little at a time.

My standard procedure after coming in from time spent working out there is a good wipe down of my face, neck, and arms with a cloth soaked with rubbing alcohol.

Poison Ivy sap is very sticky. Soap will clean it off,..but a solvent is better. Rubbing alcohol is a good solvent to use on your skin. Besides,..it disinfects all the little scratches and scrapes that I typically get when working out in the brush,...makes them heal quicker.