Remember to protect from the sun when you are hunting
Even when many hunts take place at dawn and dusk, sun exposure is still a major concern among hunters, not only because you may expend many hours walking on open land but also when you remain still on your tree stand.
The risk of sunburns is a real concern, particularly during wintertime when a combination of two factors increases the odds of getting injured by UV exposition.
The first one is the temperature. During hot days usually, it's easier to get aware of sun exposure because we feel the skin hot but that's different in cold weather when the skin remains cold despite being exposed to UV radiation, being harder to notice the sun exposure.
On the other hand, when there's snow in the surroundings UV radiation comes not
only from the sun but also from all the reflecting snow-covered surfaces.
That's why it's so important to protect your skin from UV-A and UV-B radiation, and to do so there are several strategies.
1. Proper clothing
It's a fact, the exposed skin is always facing UV radiation aggression, so covering it with a proper garment is one of the most effective ways to avoid sunburns. The type of fabric will depend mostly on the environment. For hot wheater, a thin, respirable, light fabric will be the best choice while in cold weather something thicker will be better, same as clothes layering.
However this is not 100% effective and some rays still will contact your skin through the fabric, especially during long exposures, and here it is when additional protection remains paramount.
2. Sunblock cream
Yes, you are not on the beach but UV rays are around there even at the top of the mountains and it's necessary to protect your skin, being one of the most effective methods the sunblock creams.
There are many kinds of them but the most extended is the zink oxide formulation because of its low toxicity and the physical effect of the chemical compound acting like a mirror to reflect UV rays away from the skin.
Obviously, the critical areas to protect are those exposed such as the face, hands, and arms but ideally, the sunblock cream should be applied over all the skin surface, even the non-exposed.
In this regard it's important to use a scent-free sunblock to keep your stealth otherwise, animals in the area will notice your presence as soon as you step into the forest.
For most enthusiasts, there are available camo sunblocks that allow you to protect your face, arms, and hands while covering them with camo paint. Certainly a useful gadget but not the most convenient to use on the whole body because it will take a lot of work to remove all that colored sunblock cream!
With the aforementioned, it will be enough to protect your skin from harmful UV rays however, if you need extra protection, especially when sitting or hiking for long periods, the use of specialized garments such as caps is not a bad idea, the same as the use of solar screen camo nets.
At the end of the day, the protection against UV rays will be useful not only to avoid sunburns but also to diminish your odds to suffer from skin cancer.
