Electronic muffs while hunting?

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vit said:
Make sure hearing enhancing devices are OK where you hunt. Here in WI it is not.
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According to WI DNR, the only time sound amplifying hearing devices are illegal is when used to contact another hunter under the group hunting rule.



From the hunting regs........


Hunters may not use cellular phones, special free radio communications, or other
mechanical or electronic amplifying devices (except hearing aids) to get someone to
tag a deer. It is legal to use electronic devices for reasons other than getting someone
to tag a deer.
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Jedreaux said:
I ran into a old timer (90+yrs) in the hills of eastern Kentucky some years back while I was doing some water quality research. He seemed quite lonely, so I ended up talking to him for awhile. He talked about hunting squirrels in the surrounding woods all his life. His hearing gradually declined over the years; having a negative impact on his success at squirrel hunting. He had just gotten some new hearing aids, and was very proud that he could hear everything. Bad thing was, when he hunted he could hear all kinds of squirrels in the woods, but couldn't tell which direction the noise was coming from... :cuss:
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Poor guy! I bet one ear is so bad he no longer has the stereo hearing he used to. I feel his pain. I have to turn-up my left ear amp over twice what my right ear amp (electronic muffs) is set, to be able to sense noise direction, and equalize output. That's the neat thing about separate volume controls on the muffs.

Also, I wear the muffs microphones forward when shooting solo, and wear the microphones rearward when following barks from the RSO behind me.
 
That's a tough story to hear. Both my grandparents lost their hearing and you could see that it took a toll on both of them not being able to hear during family functions. My grandfather was too proud to wear his hearing aids. Tough old bugger.:)
 
I ran into a old timer (90+yrs) in the hills of eastern Kentucky some years back while I was doing some water quality research. He seemed quite lonely, so I ended up talking to him for awhile. He talked about hunting squirrels in the surrounding woods all his life. His hearing gradually declined over the years; having a negative impact on his success at squirrel hunting. He had just gotten some new hearing aids, and was very proud that he could hear everything. Bad thing was, when he hunted he could hear all kinds of squirrels in the woods, but couldn't tell which direction the noise was coming from...
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At 55 I'm not an old timer yet, but have a similar problem and have seriously considered some type of amplification device when hunting. About 1 1/2 years ago I suffered complete hearing loss in my right ear because of undetermined medical reasons. Went to bed one night with perfect hearing in both ears and woke up completely deaf in my right ear.

A conventional hearing aid won't help and a Bone Anchored Hearing Aid would be of minimal help. A BAHA would set me back $6000-$8000 and is not covered by insurance.

I've adjusted quite well and hear fairly well with my good ear, but locating things by sound is near impossible. I haven't killed an animal since and have had numerous get within range, but could not locate them before they spotted me.

In the past I've been pretty good at wearing ear protection at the range, but never hunted with any ear protection until this happened. Being down to one good ear is inspiration to really protect what I have left.

I've been considering one of these. It still won't help locate game by sound, but a bit more advance warning might give more time to locate game by sight. Turkey hunting with one good ear really sucks. I used to hunt alone, but am finding a turkey hunting partner a necessity now.
 
I would love to be able to wear electronic muffs when hunting but my ears get sweaty after about an hour, especially in warmer weather.

This is really annoying when I'm shooting at the range (outdoor) in the summer since it gets pretty warm here (Ukiah).

If they could figure out some way for these to breathe without compromising the db reduction, I'd be all over these.

Dan
 
They make sweat absorbing liners for them, but if you put antiperspirant on your ears it will help resolve the problem.
 
Those that consider it unfair advantage should start deer hunting with a spear to make it a more fair chase scenario!
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It wasn't a spear, but I did make my first deer kill with a trap I built for survival training. Does that count? :D

I typically hunt with just ear plugs, Surefire EP3. They still allow me to hear non loud sounds a great deal.
 
For deer hunting with a rifle, no. But when I am hunting with a handgun, I've taken to wearing them for the last few years. Tinnitus has been getting worse.
 
I've used Peltor 6 electronic muffs for years. I've found that they work best when adjusted down to as close to normal level as possible. When turned up it becomes hard to identify where the sound is coming from.

I've used just the muffs when shooting my 20" barrel 12 ga ported choke turkey gun and it turns the shotgun's BOOM into a faraway boom.
 
2954 said,
Just be careful, it makes squirrels sound like moby
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You got that right. I haven't figured out where to set the volume yet, so I put them on full volume. Try flipping the safety off a S&W M&P15 with those things on. It sounded like somebody hitting a wheel rim with a hammer.

Natman said,
I've found that they work best when adjusted down to as close to normal level as possible
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There are no gradations on the knob. How do you know where "normal" is?
 
SunnySlopes said:
There are no gradations on the knob. How do you know where "normal" is?
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The Peltors have individual knobs for each ear. Part of the setup is to turn the volume on each so that it sounds as close as possible to ambient. This is done by turning the knob on and then adjusting so that there is as little difference as possible between having the muff cover my ear or not.

Then I do it for the other ear.

I've considered rewiring it so that one on-off switch shuts off both ears and leaving the adjustments set, but I've done it so many times by now it only takes a couple of seconds each.
 
Electronic muffs are required equipment for my hunts. The benefits are just too numerous to NOT use them.

In summer, they often sit on top of my head, but not always. When the bugs are heavy or in winter when it is cold, they protect my ears just great and the sound amplification is a real benefit. I often go between the muff and my ears when verifying sounds as each adds its own aspect to what I hear.
 
The Peltors have individual knobs for each ear.
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I'm looking at those on Amazon. They look too bulky to get a decent cheek weld for shooting a long gun. My Leight's are slim profile and they're still almost too bulky for a decent weld.
 
My thoughts on it as someone with normal hearing:

I have MSA Sordin Supremes. I don't know how others work, but these don't cut out during a gunshot; you still hear everything at normal volume except the gunshot.

They are earmuffs with microphones on the outside and speakers on the inside. Even if they wanted to, the little speakers can't make a "boom" anywhere near as loud as your gun can. Even at full volume you are much better protected than without ear pro.

The Sordins are 18db reduction which is not that much compared to most sets of muffs. My comfort level with them is that pistols outdoors is fine with muffs only. A few rifle shots, fine. If I'm going to be shooting more than a handful of rifle rounds, or doing any indoor shooting, I double up with plugs as well.

For just a shot here and there hunting, I wouldn't hesitate to just wear the muffs and no plugs, personally.
 
Hearing aids will not help my hearing loss. The Doc says I should use hearing protecting when doing anything that makes noise. Lawn Mower, Chain Saw, Skill Saw, table saw, and of course shooting.

My range that I can not hear is where most women voices are. 2 ear docs have said the same thing. Right ear is worse, but crowded rooms are bad too. 80 % is work related before anyone thought of any such thing. One was where my office-work area was under a air handler.

It just can not be undone. I hate plugs but do not have a problem with muff.
When we took the kids to the tractor pulls monster trucks in the Astrodome, we all wore ear muff.
I have always wanted to try the electronic muffs. I think the guys that work staging tree in drag racing use them. I use muff when I watch my best friend race.
 
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