Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Allergy to Whitetail Deer?

Just got back from a successful whitetail doe hunt and my 10 yr old son started sneezing and having a full blown allergy attack with the usual itchy eyes and nasal congestion about an hour after skinning and quartering the doe.

Was wondering if any here or younger family members have had similar reactions and whether they grew out of it. My son is wanting to get into hunting in a big way but having an allergy to deer could put a damper on things for him, at least for deer(elk will have to wait a few years til' he gets bigger).

So any of the experienced here have any ideas, prognosis?

Thanks,
SBTCO

I believe Ingwe has some form of allergy to deer hide. You might check with him.

Thanks Steel, I'll see what comes of this thread and check with Ingwe if he doesn't jump in.

You may want to talk to your Doc. he may be able to give your son something so he can continue his interest. Cheers NC

SBTCO;
First off sir I'll send you a tip of the hat for taking your son hunting, though it's too bad he's got an allergy to them.

Our eldest daughter has had increasingly worse allergic reactions to deer hair as she's aged, to the point that now she uses nitrile gloves when skinning and carries a Benadryl type anti allergy medicine in her hunting pack too.

Once we get the deer gutted and peeled she's fine to cut meat - so the allergy for her is definitely the hair.

If there's too much dust in the deer's hair, then a paper type dust mask combined with nitrile gloves might work for your son too.

It sounds like a lot of trouble perhaps, but it's really no big deal once one learns to work around it or so we've found.

Hopefully that was useful information to you or someone out there tonight. All the best to you and yours and good luck on your remaining hunts too.

Dwayne

I am the same. Deer dander. I get red bumps on my hands, fore arms, neck, and chin. Sneezing, and watery eyes... Same thing. I take a benadryl when I shoot the deer so it's in my system by time I'm fixing to touch it. Then make you a little drowsy but I'm a mess without it.

Yes, a big help BC30cal, thanks, and pretty much what I thought ie. the hide. I still have a buck tag and we may use the situation as an experiment if I'm successful and keep him at a distance from the carcass until I get the hide off and down wind.

Your daughter sounds determined and obviously enjoys the hunt, many would abandon the process with the troubles involved in her situation.

Buddy I grew up with has a horrible allergic reaction to deer. I think it's the hair. He has to load up on Benadryl before he can even think about field dressing or skinning. He can just walk through a deer bedding area and start sneezing like crazy!

No bumps as of yet but the benadryl may be the ticket in the future. Thanks

Same here. Big problem killing and gutting an elk at dark then kicking back to camp with deer or elk on my skin. I need to take a loratadine and cimetidine and try and work on the animal with a side wind.

I hang deer in the back yard oak and stay to the side with a cross breeze to waft the dust or whatever away.

He will need rubber dish washing gloves to keep blood from scratches on his skin.

Nowadays it is recommended he have allergy shots to treat this. Problem is many allergy specialists don't know anything more than the AVERAGE cookbook approach and don't tailor TX to the specific sensitivities of the pt.

It has been enough of a problem to make me pass on cows and small bulls in archery season to avoid the misery of the allergic reactions and just head back to camp for a relaxing evening of whiskey , ice and water, rather than be covered in blood from packing a piece out and laying in a tent smelling elk all night with the smell growing stronger as my allergic reaction develops stronger.

Good luck.

Thanks for the tips, although we'll just go for the rubber gloves for now and save the whiskey for some important event after his 21st.

Go to Home Depot and get a quality face mask filter, cut a piece of the microfiber towel and rubber band it over the two separate filters (dust filters) (35-40$ for mask). Loratadine OTC is non drowsy, add Tagamet for H 2 blocker.

You must realize in cases of extreme hypersensitivity anaphylaxis and shock are a possibility.

A dr can discuss the possible necessity of an epi-pen. Also monitor for the possible development of hives after exposure. Highly allergic individuals may suffer severe reactions to musk fragrances (Brut, Stetson, etc ) or other frequent allergens such as strawberries or peanut butter or repetitive exposure to wasp or bee stings.

You may want to pm Doc Rocket on this.

My buddy uses the Face Masks along with his allergy medicine.

SBTCO;
On the gloves question, I'd say the average "kitchen gloves" are about a 15mil thickness and while they are tough, one really looses all tactile feel.

The hospital type gloves - latex, vinyl or nitrile are typically 5-6mil thick and allow great tactile feel - but are easily torn.

A nice compromise is a "mechanic's grade" nitrile of 8mil thickness.

These are available up here at most industrial supply houses for less than $20 for 50 pair.

Hopefully that made sense and was useful information. Good luck whichever way you decide.

Dwayne

BC, my preference for the DW gloves is for the benefit of when gutting and reaching up into the chest cavity the long cuffs reduce the chance of wrist and forearm abrasions with animal tissue from the split chest while working to get out the viscera from the upper chest cavity. Also, being thicker they seem more resistant to punctures and tears.

I agree, decreased sensitivity require some real concentration with regards as to what you are about to slice with your knife.

Most the time I make do without them and suffer the itchy hands and wrists for a while.

Also, a good wash with hand soap ASAP seems to help immensely.

I'm also allergic to deer hair. Couple of Benedryls usually keeps me functional when skinning, but I have to work fast as it makes me sleepy

Loratadine is your friend.

If your buddy had a good friend, his buddy would skin it out for him.

Ha, just kidding, Barry.

Curious if there still is an allergic reaction to deer hair/hide afterward with taxidermy mounts.

I've got the same problem, deer hair and cat hair have common protiens in them that I am allergic to. I get shots but make sure I minimize the amount of exposure to the hair / hide.



Some things that helped me -
I take Allegra before heading out, and use allergy eye drops from CVS.
Get some liquid Benadryl which absorbs faster for reactions - it's kids dose but the same concentration of adults.

Also get some sure safe gutting gloves from Cabelas, it will held eliminate transference from his hands to his face.