Hey everyone,

I am new here and this is my second trapping season. I love the outdoors, love to go hunting and started to fall in love with trapping. I trap beavers, muskrats, coyotes and the occasional fox here in North Dakota. I love sweating the traps and spend a lot of time out there but when ever it comes to the skinning and fleshing of coyotes and foxes all I think a bout is rabies. It really steals my joy. I am typically not a safety sally at all. I hunt grizzly country, I have travelled all over the world and love adventures but when it comes to the this rabies thing I have a hard time dealing with the danger of it. I wear glove and only use snares ( so not much blood or brain matter) and am very clean but not matter what precaution I take I still have a hard time with the fact that I somehow could get rabies. I don’t trap enough to justify spending the money on the vaccine so my question to you guys is if anyone here had to overcome this fear? If so how? Do you guys have any advice for me? What are the chances? I have heard even deer could have rabies. I have gutted plenty of deer and am never worried about it. It only comes when trapping.

Thank you for your time.

Any warm blooded mammal can contract rabies. Some debate on our marsupial opossum.

Rabies virus can only survive certain conditions, in our case warm blooded is the key. Once fully room temperature or lower it dies. But without the preexposure vaccine you are taking the proper safety measures with gloves and avoiding brain splatter or contact with nerve tissues.

The actual risk varies by region and species. Here in the southeast it's raccoon and fox that most often show up rabid. Also it is seasonal and not long lived in the sense of an individual animal carrying and spreading it long term due to its fatal nature. The animal lives long enough to spread it but not much longer than that. Skunks being somewhat of an exception as their metabolism slows when denned up. Also being communal denners can spread easily among skunks. Typically here it shows up early summer.

As for the vaccine, you can get it through the VA if you're a veteran. Also some insurance companies will cover if you can prove that you're at legitimate risk.

hopefully you have taken a trapping course and they addressed the rabies at that point.
check out your local heath authority web page most report local cases of rabies as most cases show up in the milk samples from daily dairy samples

I've had Rabies shots...nothing to them

I've had a titer test and it was low after 5 years so I got a booster shot

If I had your worry...I'd find a way to get the shots.

peace of mind

Get the pre-exposure shots for your peace of mind and then get your titer checked. Different results for different folks. I know folks who had the pre-exposure series 20 or 30 years ago and their titer is still good. I had to get two additional boosters after the pre-exposure series to get my titer up to the recommended level.

The greatest danger of exposure is from contact with saliva from an animal that is infected. So bites or saliva on cuts or scratches is the biggest risk of exposure. Rabies is not blood borne so blood exposure is not an issue.

I agree with 330-Trapper.

most US military that have served over seas has had the shots for rabies

Probably more chance of dying in a car wreck while checking traps then ever having to worry about rabies, but I hear you. Basic precautions should be fine.

I've also thought about this subject a bit.

All along the west coast of Alaska (the part that fronts on the Bering Sea) there are jillions of foxes, along with these foxes are rabies. Trappers have trapped trapped thousands and thousands of these foxes over the past several decades, and I've never heard of anyone contracting rabies from contact with one, and I'll bet 99% of these foxes have been skinned without latex gloves. FWIW.

You probably have a better chance of getting stuck by lightning than contracting rabies. Wear gloves and watch what you’re doing around trapped animals. We make choices everyday and those choices have risk associated with them. Get after them.

I got vaccinated through workers comp. Got bit by a critical cat in our hospital who had only ever had one vaccine when young and was now 11 and we didn’t know if she would make the quarantine period. Obviously someone’s pet. If I hadn’t been on the job and needed to get these vaccines, even WITH insurance it would have cost me near a thousand dollars because of my ER co-pay.
I never understood why they pushed the Covid vaccine so much and it was readily available , but a virus much more deadly…you have to jump through hoops to get.

I'm in the same boat. I have trapped in areas where rabies signs have been posted warning of a rabid animal in the area. A simple scratch while moving an animal COULD give you rabies. I have always made sure to wear long sleeves and two sets of gloves when handling animals.

I did get the rabies shots last year after cutting myself when skinning. I had a lot of shots initially, but they weren't a big deal. Didn't feel any of them and I don't know why they have always been made out to be so terrible.

Use common sense and basic hygiene in the shed. Glove up and clean equipment as you proceed. You will be fine !

I dont worry about it at all.
Every 15-20 years there is a small outbreak,in those years I use common sense when skinning or handling carcasses.
Like someone said much more of a chance being killed by a lightening strike while sitting in your Lazy boy than dying of rabies from trapping and fur handling.
There are other pathogens you should be more worried about such as hydatids disease.

Saliva, spinal fluid and brain matter are where rabies is located. Blood from an infected animal does not transfer the disease.

I think the odds of rabid critters goes up in road kills rather than critters that are caught following their normal routine. Excluding skunks/bats.

If you have insurance just call them and see if they cover it. Mine did 100% and found out where I needed to go to get the vaccination (not every clinic carry's it, or even know it exists).

I've been told that if you had the "vaccine" and get bit and need a booster, it's covered. If you don't have the "vaccine" and get bit any treatment is not covered because a vaccination is available to you. I know someone who had to pay 5k to get their kid the series of post exposure shots.

A week after I finished my shot series, I had an eyeball on a coon pop while I was skinning it. Yep the fluid shot right into my eyeball. I was glad I had taken the time to go get the shots. Peace of mind like been said.

Just checked my titer levels after 15 years. Still good. I know guys that are still good after 30 years, but it's up to you to get them checked once in while. Mine are free via routine physicals.

Just make sure when skinning a animal to put gloves on and don't worry to much.

Gloves are good, bad habits are not. Quit touching your face, rubbing your eyes, picking your nose, smoking, scratching your bum when handling potential infectious material.

Get into the habit of washing your hands more than once a day.

Good training for this is in the kitchen. Break out the cutting board and a handful of peppers, the hotter the better. Get to cutting and see just how many times you scratch that itch, lol.

I'm The Same way... but my titer level was low after ten yrs... sobI just got the booster

I live right outside of Fargo N.D. We had some kittens I was taming down to give away. One of the kittens bit me really good and it got away from me. I didn't think much of it till the next day I came in the barn and the kittens and cats were eating food on one side of the dish and a Skunk and Coon were eating on the other side. I shot the Coon in the back and Skunk got in the bales. I called the North Dakota health dept and they said bring in the Coon and Skunk when I catch it. I caught it in a live trap the next day. I was going to drown it in the river and they said no. As the testing they do may not be accurate. I just didn't want it to spray. I took both animals to NDSU testing faculty. Its a 50.00 charge for them to be tested. They both came back negative so that was a good thing.