Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Poison Oak

Isn't a big deal until it is. LOL Damn, you can always tell it's poison oak, it has a certain kind of intense itch. When I was a kid I used to get it horrible when I went fishing down at the crick.

Nowadays I try to cut my firewood where I don't have to worry about it getting on the wood. The other day I cleared a giant madrone from a road and set the wood aside for later. It'll have oil on it. Looks like I got some on my arm from some wood I carried in yesterday. Thinking I need a wood tote to bring madrone in the house rather than cradle it on my arm. Or throw on a flannel shirt for bringin in wood.

I can wade through it when I'm hunting, but generally go up high to avoid it. Carrying baby wipes just a swipe or two if you brush up against it and keep going. Don't sit down to glass and rest your arms on your knees though! Poison oak and ticks, don't know which is worse.

Definitely a learning curve to living in the low country. Great hardwood here, but comes at a price.

Where latex gloves when you pee!!

Poison oak, sumac, or ivy all have the same oil - urushiol. It's easy to remove if caught early. Alcohol takes it right off. Those tiny sanitizer wipes with alcohol will work but it takes a lot of them. They make larger ones, like 5x7", that do a good job and are a very useful item for a pack or 1st aid kit. Baby wipes usually don't have alcohol.
Rubbing alcohol also works fine.

I get poison ivy/oak systemically. Meaning if I get it anywhere on my body it pops up in random places. Usually it goes away with time like you’d expect but every 4-5 years I get a case bad enough to require shots

I’ve had it bad a few times. An old black woman told me when it comes up, scratch it raw with bleach. That will kill the cshit. I’ve done that many times when I’ve gotten that crap. It works!

I’m not sure if they make it still but Tecnu soap works well. They made the stuff as snake oil to wash off nuclear contamination. I had the stuff really bad when I was young and while cutting timber I would be wading through and cutting the stuff just get a small spot on the wrist now and then. I’m fortunate to have a good tolerance to it and feel for the people who do not.

Costco baby wipes in a ziploc when in poison oak country. They work fine. Gettin it between your fingers after lacing up your boots can be avoided with a good wipe down.

Blue Dawn dish soap to remove the oils as soon as you can after exposure. Witch Hazel and Fells Naptha to dry it out there after.

Hate that schidt but the above makes things a bit more tolerable.

I'm in the Clorox camp, works for me..

I used to have to work on flails/brush hogs/masticator heads...in the spring they would be just dripping with poison oak oils. I used to suit up just shy of level three hazmat..paper coveralls over regular coveralls, face shield (impact wrench flings the oils), surgical gloves. Much to the amusement of the equipment operators...but, they never volunteered to help I noticed.
Anyway, after trying every product advertised, I gotta say, nothing is as effective for immediate exposure where there is no running water, as aerosol brake cleaner. I'd wash my tools with it, my exposed body appendages, boots, hands, wrists, and rule number two should be obvious, take a piss before you suit up.
I have often wondered if the diabolical Noah took poison oak seeds aboard the ark with the mosquito larvae and yellow jacket nest.

If it's on your property, burn it every couple years.

Sustained war each spring with brush killer is pretty effective at keeping it at bay.

All a part of God's plan to punish us for the Sin of Eve for eternity...............or at least until we're no longer on Earth

Used to get it all the time as a kid. Now days I can walk through a patch of that stuff and it doesnt bother me at all.

Seems like I get blamed a lot for stuff women screw up, one in particular.

I got into poison oak a couple years ago while I was hanging a tree stand. I hate that stuff!

Dawn dish washing liquid

You have about 30 minutes from time of suspected exposure to get it washed off.

Damn Bobmar you got it pretty good.

Dont be in the smoke, the oil can travel in the smoke, lungs too

When / if you get it that bad

Go to your Doc or Urgent care and request a steroid shot.
Usually clear it up fast, 3-5 days

No sense in risking a secondary, opportunistic Staph infection with that much open skin.