Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Camas Valley, Oregon poison oak

A couple years ago my buddy invited me down to Oregon for a deer hunt. His family has a pretty big private ranch. The area was beautiful. We smoked a couple blacktails, did some bass fishing, and road fourwheelers all over the place. Had an absolute blast for the first three days. I started developing this rash on my wrists. Then on my neck, then my sides, then it was all over my entire freaking body. Apparently I am highly allergic to poison oak. The chit is brutal. His whole family was looking at me like a leper. As a life long Alaskan I had never been around it.
I really want to go back and do it again minus the poison oak. My question is; do these anti poison oak creams really prevent it? Is there any better preventative measure? Do you build up an immunity to to plant?

I live and hunt in it and heres my formula.

First off, it's not magic. You have to come in contact with it to get it. I wade thru it at times but when I do I weave and bob as much as possible. When you sit down to glass be aware it's on your pant legs. Keep your arms covered if you lean on your knees to glass.

I wear thin lightweight Primos camo gloves to keep it off my wrists and hands. If you think about the outside of your clothes having the oil of poison oak on them you can avoid contact with your exterior clothing. When you brush against something look backwards to see what it was. If it was poison oak and it slapped you in the face, don't panic. I carry Costco baby wipes in a ziploc in my pocket and I just take one out and wipe down good. That's the ticket, remove the oil. It doens't take fancy and expensive preventatives, just cover your skin OR wipe down anytime you get brushed up against.

Baby wipes are the biggest single thing that save you in poison oak country. Be aware your boots and laces are covered with it, so after you take your boots off wash your hands. After you remove your clothes drop them straight in the washer and go straight to the shower. Be aware of your ankles from removing your socks and brushing against your pant legs. I hunt in it often and rarely get it anymore.

*Forgot to mention, your game is covered with it as well, so wear disposable gloves when cleaning and handling the fur. I generally hunt up high to avoid poison oak and ticks and find a better overall experience doing that, although there is more game down low.

Adding to the above, if you or your buddy has a dog you can be pretty sure they have it on them.

I hunt, hike, camp in it constantly and am one of the lucky ones in that I can't get it. I've literally rubbed it on my face: nothing happened.

Friends of mine who are susceptible like Technu products, soap and wipes.

Dr. Brohners soap has been the ticket for me. As a kid I was immune to the stuff now the reverse. As Fireball2 wrote treat your clothes like they have toxic contamination on them, as they do in a way.. Bring the wipes or a washcloth soaked with strong castille soap. If your really got into it bleach or vinegar in addition to the soap in the shower. Rubber boots help as you can hose them off. The preventive creams help some and the water less scrubs do actually work, the kind made for poison ivy. Bring a change of gloves and remember to not wipe off your face with anything but the towelettes or wash clothe. Some people duct tape their pants to their boots for ticks, if your really sensitive to it this might be worth a try. Take Benadryl and calamine lotion with you.

Strange you got it on your neck first, I can only guess branches were hitting you when you were 4-wheeling or from your hands to your neck and face and sweat carried the evil oils down to your collar.

Anything that gets the oil off will help like alcohol (topical), Listerine and the bleach or vinegar.

Like FB 2 I live in this stuff. Our timber land is covered in the stuff and when you are logging you are in constant contact with it. I always wear long sleeve shirts, gloves and a hat. If you around it a lot like I am you become aware when a poison oak branch hit your face or neck, and then you treat it as FB 2 mentioned. Any time I come back to the house, my logging clothes and boots never go beyond the garage, and I immediately head to our utility room sink where I wash my hands and forearms with a product called Tech Nu. It helps to break down the poison oak oils. At our location (about 30 east of Camas Valley) the poison oak starts to lose its leaves around the start of deer season. Since I've had poison oak a lot as a kid, I am not as sensitive to it as many, but I can still get very mild outbreaks. My mom would get it off our clothes and our dogs and it would blister and weep like crazy.

Good stuff guys. Thank you.

All good advice.

Another thing you can do to prevent getting it is to liberally apply sunscreen lotion to exposed skin.
The poison oak oils will float on top of the sunscreen and not your skin.
Also, taking a cool shower rather than a hot one, keeps your skin pores from opening up and getting the oils in them.

I rarely get it, but caught a good dose on my arms this last season.
I broke my blacktail down gutless, to load on the quad in a t-shirt.......
The oils are all over the deers coat!

Wash down with Dawn dish washig liquid before you use the regular soap.

Highly allergic to that [bleep] myself as a matter of fact all of the poisons sumac, ivy, and oak I have gotten. If I stare at it to long I’ll start scratching. Fireballs info is spot on and to add the dawn dish liquid as Louis B stated is the finale. Those plants make a heavy oil that has to be thoroughly washed to be removed. Once I catch the rash my only way out is a cortisone injection, all the Technu products work but the cortisone for me cures it in about 24 hours. The biggest help to me was studying what the leaves of the plants actually looked like from sprouts to full blown hanging vines, also what they look like in the dead of winter when some leaves aren’t present. Knowledge is power when it comes to identifying these plants, since I have learned what to look for I can count on one hand in the last 5 years I’ve gotten it, as before it was every trip I would catch it.

While not poison oak, at my place in Ohio we have a fairly aggressive poison ivy. I though I was immune til I moved here. My trick is Gojo, the mechanics soap. If it will take truck grease off your hands it will take plant oils off no problem.

I never got the shot because I didnt know it was an option. I would have cut my pinky finger off for something that would have cured it in 24 hours. I had it on 95% of my body.
A guy up here told me a great cure for it is plain type 1 Portland cement. Make a clay type ball of it with a little water and rub it all over the areas. I could see how it would work. Wet conrete always dries my hands out terribly. Hopefully it never comes to that again.

Also a few dips in a highly chlorinated pool will dry it up, but the shot is the only way to go for results. I’ve had it so bad on my fave I couldn’t open my mouth or eyes. Best defense is a good offense, learn the plants in all phases of its growth. If you know what to look for you can avoid it.

tag

Maybe your doctor can get you some Epi. pens just in case. These might need to be refrigerated but there will always at least be an ice chest around. These and Benadryl help after the fact. Some of the other over the counter antihistamines might help too. I would make up a kit with all the soaps and meds suggested here. Calamine and topical Cortisone help a lot too.

A wash cloth dampened with Hydrogen Peroxide, applied to the affected area will dry it out quickly.

An old cowboy friend of mine turned me on to that bit of wisdom and I was amazed at how well it worked.

Just the opposite...you do not react to it the first time that you're exposed. It takes multiple exposures before you develop the "allergy".