Ear protection and hunting

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MrWesson

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I will start off saying that I am not a hunter. Its not by choice but locale,didn't grow up around it, no truck, no mentor.. blah blah

Do you guys wear hearing protection or do anything to protect your ears?

What about duck/bird hunters?

I also hear about people shooting snakes,rats,squirrels,etc with this or that and same question?
 
In situations when I may be doing a high volume of shooting such as dove or quail hunting, I wear ear plugs. But when hunting big game, no.
35W
 
Say what?

Hearing protection value can not be over stated. When I started shooting ear muffs were referred to by the old timers of the day as "sissy muffs" or "Mickey Mouse ears".

If I only knew then what I know now.The ringing never goes away. Damaged ear nerves do not regenerate. Sweet soft voices are no more.

Some styles of electronic muffs can be worn when shooting a long gun, allowing you to hear and providing ear protection. The Dillon's are one example as they are dished out unlike Peltors. There are others styles also.

Depending on the style of hunting and hat, I sometimes use a pair of plugs on a cord. I insert the plug in the left ear and hang the other one around my neck. When I see a possible shot coming I insert the right ear plug.

We only get one set of ears to last a lifetime. How well they last is up to us.
As I told my son, "You can learn from Dad's mistakes, or learn from your own".
 
I have worn my Peltor's while hunting. Keeps the ears warm and increases what you can hear. They also can enhance your directional hearing being stereo.....
 
Believe it or not, the body provides an auto immune hearing protection during periods a heightend adrenaline. There is a great book by Dave Grossman, an Army Col. that describes the mechanism. I can go to the range and fire my deer rifle without hearing protection, and the ringing lasts the rest of the day, but take a shot while my heart is racing and it is all I can do to keep my arms still and the big buck in my crosshairs, and I dont even hear it.

I would suggest anyone who hunts, or wants to prepare for the possibility of a self defense situation read Col. Grossman's book. Very good read, and loaded with pertinant information for people that shoot for any number of purposes.
 
inclinebench spot on . When I am hunting 4 legged game by my self I hunt with out protection I hear and feel nothing when I shot. Not so with other hunters near by like when bird hunting, have to wear plugs or muffs then .
 
Yes, I wear my electronic muffs. In fact, you can turn them up and have super hearing. I didn't start hunting till recently for the same reasons u mentioned. U could likely find a local group who would love to introduce u to hunting.
 
Believe it or not, the body provides an auto immune hearing protection during periods a heightend adrenaline. There is a great book by Dave Grossman, an Army Col. that describes the mechanism. I can go to the range and fire my deer rifle without hearing protection, and the ringing lasts the rest of the day, but take a shot while my heart is racing and it is all I can do to keep my arms still and the big buck in my crosshairs, and I dont even hear it.

I would suggest anyone who hunts, or wants to prepare for the possibility of a self defense situation read Col. Grossman's book. Very good read, and loaded with pertinant information for people that shoot for any number of purposes.
Click to expand...

Hard to believe that even though you dont hear the damage that it doesn't happen but I will do some research(I have heard about this before).

Seems to be a strange coincidence that most hunters aged 55+ are deaf or getting there.
 
Mr Wesson, it may seem that many hunters 55+ are losing their hearing, but it does not mean it is just hunting. I know many older folks that have never hunted, yet they are now experiencing a loss of hearing. Many things in our everyday life can contribute to hearing loss. Additionally, like all senses, with age some people see a natural degredation despite no easily correlated outside factors.

I would suggest people read Col. Grossman's book. He does a much better job of explaining the physiology behind this phenomena than I ever could. Additionally, it provides amazing insight, from the psychological and physiological standpoints, into the training practices of our best combat troops and law enforcement officers. I cannot say enough how important his book is for shooters in general. It made me a much better hunter.
 
I keep a set of plugs on a string hanging around my neck. Not the soft spongey ones but the rubber ones with the baffles. They don't block noise as well, but they go in real easy and you don't have to wait for them to expand. If there is a possibility of shooting, the left one goes in. When I'm pretty confident in a shot, such as a dog on point, the right one goes in too.
 
inclinebench said:
I would suggest people read Col. Grossman's book. He does a much better job of explaining the physiology behind this phenomena than I ever could. Additionally, it provides amazing insight, from the psychological and physiological standpoints, into the training practices of our best combat troops and law enforcement officers. I cannot say enough how important his book is for shooters in general. It made me a much better hunter.
Click to expand...

Is that in On Combat? I have On Killing (which is pretty much purely psychology and doesn't go into the physiology), and I've been meaning to pick up his other book.
 
read Col. Grossman's book.
Click to expand...
Col. Grossman must be the only "expert" in the world who believes the ear is protected by adrenaline.
It simply is not true.

Hearing damage from shooting is cumulative, and irreversible.
Excited, or scared, or not!

I agree an excited person may not remember "hearing" the loud noise afterward, due to adrenalin rush, but that is not to say the ear isn't damaged just the same.

Once the hair cells in the inner ear and the auditory nerve are damaged or dead due to loud noise exposure, they are damaged or dead for life.

Here is more on the subject from some real experts:
http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/noise.asp

rc
 
I wear ear protection when hunting with my big bore revolvers. Anybody here that says it not necessary has never shot a .460 or .500 S&W Magnum. I use good electronic muffs that amplify subtle sounds and block out harmful noise. They are a cheap investment for your future. Coupla years back, my oldest son called my cell phone while I was on stand. I pulled the muffs up in order to talk when a deer appeared outta no where. I told him I had to hang up, but forgot to pull my muffs back down. One shot I'll NEVER forget.
 
Mr Wesson, it may seem that many hunters 55+ are losing their hearing, but it does not mean it is just hunting. I know many older folks that have never hunted, yet they are now experiencing a loss of hearing. Many things in our everyday life can contribute to hearing loss. Additionally, like all senses, with age some people see a natural degredation despite no easily correlated outside factors.

I would suggest people read Col. Grossman's book. He does a much better job of explaining the physiology behind this phenomena than I ever could. Additionally, it provides amazing insight, from the psychological and physiological standpoints, into the training practices of our best combat troops and law enforcement officers. I cannot say enough how important his book is for shooters in general. It made me a much better hunter.
Click to expand...

Still not buying it. Does this colonel happen to be an audiologist?

Its going to take more than 1 book written by 1 guy to convince me of that.

I could find 10 books about how the earth is flat, aliens living under the sea, and that guns murder people.
 
Not noticing the noise of a gun going off when you are full of adrenalin is the same as not feeling the recoil. When I am shooting at game even with a heavy rifle I never notice recoil or mind the noise.

But your ears will still be damaged that's why they ring after the shot whether you were excited or not and you still took the same amount of recoil to your body whether you felt it at the time or not. The damage is is being done no matter what your state of excitement is.

Have any of you guys ever been in a ring fight, or a street fight/school yard brawl for that matter? How about a hard hit in a football game? When you get hit you know you've been hit but you don't really feel pain until about an hour or two after the hit. The damage has been done but you don't register the pain until the adrenaline wears off. Same deal just because you didn't feel/notice it at the time doesn't mean you didn't get damaged.
 
I have two young stepsons that i take hunting on occasion. Their mom, (my wife) insists that they have to wear hearing protection whenever we go out with a gun, regardless if target shooting or hunting... I wear hearing protection when target shooting or practicing, but never in a hunting situation. This can cause confusion especially to a young hunter, when getting mixed signals about shooting safety.

Last year, while deer hunting during doe day, a doe offered a 25 yard broad side shot, and i kept asking my stepson to shoot...shoot... shoot... He had to place his hearing protection on first, (after waking up) and he never got the opportunity to shoot, but the doe was happier... I could not believe it, and we went home empty handed. I agree that in practice it is safe to use protection when shooting, regardless of situation, though it can cost you shots, both in time and in not being able to hear game animal sounds.
 
Seems like an issue that can be solved by comfortable electronic ear muffs/plugs.
 
Perhaps Walkers Game Ears are the best alternative to nothing when hunting.

They allow you to hear game, or other hunters, but block gun noise.

Expensive for sure, but still probably the best solution if you are worried about it.

rc
 
Things have changed some, when i went hunting we had two options-

1 Wear ear pro, but not hear the deer and not eat

2 Dont wear ear pro hear the deer and eat

we always opted for 2

now days theres all kinds of electronic earpro that preserves stereo hearing, but muffles gun shots, even SF wear them now at times
 
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