I go through the woods each fall and cut every vine I see with a hatchet. Normally by the next fall I can pull it off bare handed and not have an issue. Sometimes I even leave it on trees I've dropped and burn it, but I've got a boiler in the basement so there's less of a chance of getting anything in the house. But I'm not very allergic to it, there's some summers when I could roll in it and not have issues, but other times my ankles and wrists have bumps every time I touch it. My brother on the other hand has had his throat swell almost shut when he was at a bonfire and somebody threw some logs with old poison ivy vines on the fire. He won't even burn wood that's had vines on them anymore. Sounds like you'd be fine to pull them off with a hatchet and cheap throw away cotton gloves and a long sleeved shirt. The vine typically pulls away from the trunk pretty easily. Might not be a bad idea to wear latex gloves under cotton gloves as well.
Get some old gloves and old clothes and pull off as much as you can. When you're done, throw the gloves and clothes in the trash.
Don't forget to wash your hands after handling hot peppers too. The burning might not last a week, but it will seem like it!
I gotta remember that one! I get poison ivy even if I see it on TV I might get it now talking about it!... Go to any big box store, "lowes, home depot, menards, etc.. and get one of those cheap white painters suits for about $5.00 and as others said, gloves and face protection. I keep one in the truck if I come across that and here it grows like, "well it is a weed" That way you can just trash the suit and cheap gloves when finished. Also, I would not burn it... I'm no Doctor but they say you can get it if you breath it, if thats the case, for me that might be a death sentence.
I got poison ivy from smoke once (brush pile fire). It didn't bother my respiratory system, but my entire head/face was completely covered. I had to get several steroid shots before it went away. After that, I don't really get it that bad anymore.
They say the urushiol takes 2+ years to break down once the vine is dead, but burning it makes the stuff extremely potent compared to getting it on your skin. Since the vine has all of those hairy roots in the tree bark I strip off all bark before burning it. While you might not get as sick from it anymore, there are still plenty of people who are deathly allergic. A distant neighbor burning poison ivy is their living nightmare. A friend of mine once was hospitalized like that. They never did figure out where the airborne source came from but his lungs all but closed off on him even with EMT support.
I got it really bad as a kid. Well dad and the neighbor and I cut all the brush along the fence line when I was a teenager. There was 5 acres of fence line that we burnt all the weeds and trimmings. I ended up in the ICU with it in my throat, lungs, sinus cavity, etc. It was not a fun time. Since then, I'd be deathy leary of it, but being a kid, and a kid that loved outdoors, I'd only ever get a few bumps here and there after that hospital/major reaction to it. I bought my house a couple years ago and was cleaning the fence line. there were a couple apple trees that I cut up and used for firewood. Dad came over as I was cutting it up and stacking the stuff big enough for firewood. He flipped out when he saw the hairy vines. I had no idea it was poison ivy. I spent two days cleaning/trimiming my fence line in 90 degree short sleeve sweating weather and only ever got a few bumps. I burnt the wood that winter or the next after stripping the vines off with gloves.
Our neighbor up the road here stopped by and gave me some of his thoughts on PI, which is all along the road. Said he got it in his lungs when he was a kid. damm near got him. He doesn't like PI all that much... Don't blame him.
They say your body changes allergies every 7 years. i know the older I get, I don't have the allergies in the summers i used to. Used to have to take shots for pollen/ragweed stuff. The last week of august was miserable for me and working on a farm bailing hay didn't help matters any. Now a days I might get a sniffle on really bad pollen days.
There are a few "Ivy Blockers" out there that are very effective in preventing poison ivy. Basically they're a cream or lotion you apply to exposed skin, like sun block, about 30 minutes before going into the woods, that keep the oils from getting into the skin. there are also, as mentioned in another post, wipes that remove the oil if you come into contact with the plant. Me, I've never had it. As a matter of fact as a kid in summer camp I won a lot of money the first couple of summers betting guys I wouldn't get it when I picked a bunch and rubbed it up and down my arms and legs. By the third year most everyone had heard I didn't get so all bets were off.
Ugh... ragweed just destroys me over the last few years. Not fun. Apple trees remind me every spring now (once I wake up from hybernation) that I can't go sleeveless picking up apple branches... I get ichin' like crazy. My BIL found out he was very allergic to PI one summer. With just shorts on (beer might have been involved ) he wailed into a patch of it with his weed whacker. Wasn't good for 3 weeks...
