Glove Recommendations

Sounds like wearing gloves when maintaining traps is highly recommended

Any suggestions what type to use? I would think ones that aren’t too thick but easy to put on and off.

Thanks

Depends what you are doing, rubber/nitrile gloves offer the best protection but rip if you are doing bush work and grabbing branches. Gardening gloves are great but I am not sure what sort of protection they offer against lepto etc.

I find these from mitre10 really comfortable and reasonably priced ($16) the are just quite weak in the breathable area between fingers. They are touchscreen sensitive so that may be handy for people using phones and tablets in the field.

If long lasting is important and bush-bashing is involved in your trapping then maybe avoid, but if its easy-going and you are after comfort give them a try and update us :slight_smile:

I have used light leather ”riggers” gloves when handling traps, mostly to avoid leaving human scent on the bait and to avoid contact with the kills when releasing them in DOC200 traps.
I use gardening gloves with rubber coated fingers when handling the broady in bait stations. I used these for the traps also initially but wondered whether the stoats may avoid the smell of broady.
I take my gloves off to enter the data on my phone and don’t wear any while walking. I’m fortunate not to have much wait-a-while along my route.

Just carry hand sanitizer, gloves just hinder your technique and create more rubbish in the land fill

We had our best trap catches just after we started wearing thin leather gloves, may have been a coincidence. I use a notebook in the field, I only need to write down occasional catches then, and enter data at home. Our trap lines are easy enough to follow without GPS data. So I don’t take off my gloves at all, it’s a bit fiddly with Victor traps, but we’re switching to T-Rex for rat and mouse traps, they are easy to use and will usually tell you what has been caught, and easier to set onto fine trigger without the hassle. The gloves protect your hands when you get sloppy with the DOC200s on occasion, and your nearest and dearest might appreciate it too.

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I have tried a few of the close fitting partly rubber coated textile gloves. I tend to leave them on while trapping, I just wash my (waterproof) phone when done. Best have been the ‘Ninja’ brand as they work well with a touch screen. Available from Blackwoods.

Clint

I agree, the Ninja gloves are the best I have come across, and they last a lot longer than the slightly cheaper options.