Snake Bite Protection for Outdoor Hunting: Snake Gaiter vs Snake Boot vs Snake Chaps

Anyone who lives in or traverses around snake country knows how important it is to protect your legs and feet from snake bites. For this eason, you need to follow safety precautions and invest in protective clothing, like snake chaps, to protect yourself in case you encounter live snakes.

There are different types of protective clothing to help boost your safety while outdoors. These include snake chaps, snake gaiters, leggings, and snake boots. However, snake chaps, snake gaiters and snake boots are the most common, bringing us to the question, which one is better?

Sanke Chaps VS Snake Gaiters

Snake bite is a neglected public health issue in many tropical and subtropical countries. Most of these occur in Africa, Asia and Latin America. In Asia up to 2 million people are envenomed by snakes each year, while in Africa there are an estimated 435 000 to 580 000 snake bites annually that need treatment. Envenoming affects women, children and farmers in poor rural communities in low- and middle-income countries. The highest burden occurs in countries where health systems are weakest and medical resources sparse.

Bites by venomous snakes can cause acute medical emergencies involving severe paralysis that may prevent breathing, cause bleeding disorders that can lead to fatal haemorrhage, cause irreversible kidney failure and severe local tissue destruction that can cause permanent disability and limb amputation. Children may suffer more severe effects and can experience the effects more quickly than adults due to their smaller body mass.

In contrast to many other serious health conditions, a highly effective treatment exists. Most deaths and serious consequences of snake bites are entirely preventable by making safe and effective antivenoms more widely available and accessible. High quality snake antivenoms are the most effective treatment to prevent or reverse most of the venomous effects of snake bites. They are included in the WHO List of essential medicines and should be part of any primary health care package where snake bites occur.

This shows how important it is to watch your steps while in the snake country. Unfortunately, snakes are so good at camouflaging outdoors, so it makes it hard for you to see them at times.

Therefore, it’s necessary to have full protection against the deadly fangs whether you’re hunting or taking a stroll in the woods.

With that in mind, let’s look at snake chaps and snake gaiters and how these clothes can keep you safe and protected in the wild.

Snake Chaps

Snake chaps are designed to be worn over your pants to offer full protection for your legs against snake bites. They are similar to other types of chaps, but snake chaps are made for wear when hunting, hiking, or touring around snake country.

Snake chaps cover the entire leg, from the ankles to the thighs, providing full protection. This ensures that the area above your knees is also protected when you wear them. Additionally, when compared to snake gaiters, snake chaps offer more protection, so they are usually preferred by hunters, hikers, and outdoor enthusiasts.

Snake chaps also have several layers of protection that can help prevent punctures from fangs and subsequent bites. Unlike regular hunting gear that may provide safety from thorns and briars, a good pair of snake chaps can help block the fans from penetrating during a snake attack.

Snake Hunting Boots

Snake-proof boots are a specific style of boot built to repel snake bites. This boot style typically uses a hardened nylon layer or a thick, hardened layer of leather as a barrier to snake fangs.

In addition to offering extended snake bite protection, most snake proof boot models offer similar features found on traditional hunting boots. Those features include waterproofing or water-resistant, added traction and stability, and shock absorption. Since this boot style is generally only worn during warmer weather, most snake boots are unlined and/or uninsulated.

Most popular and mainstream boot brands offer at least one or two versions of snake proof boots.

My experience has been that snake gaiters do work in protecting the area covered from a snake bite. However, as note above, snake gaiters do not cover the entire boot, and some styles do not cover the rear of the calf.

I’d suggest staying away from extremely budget-priced models as they tend to be cheaply made and don’t seem to last very long.

Although I’ve been fortunate enough so far to have avoided testing any snake bite products firsthand, I’ve seen enough videos, spoken to enough vendors in the boot industry, and observed sufficient live demos, to say that snake boots really do work in stopping venomous snake bites.

Snake chaps are an effective method of protecting the legs from snake bites. They also work well to protect the legs from thorns, briars, and other pointed underbrush.

As mentioned before, note that most chap styles do not cover the entire boot, so there may be an unprotected area of the boot.