What ear protection do you use to hunt?

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Dove hunting is more'n one or two shots, more like one or two boxes. However, shotguns in the open don't bother me. They might slowly work on the ears over time, but as yet, I have no hearing loss, and I've been bird hunting from 11 years old to my present 55. I've never put a decibel meter next to my head when firing a shotgun, don't know the level of noise. For most of my hunting life I've not had the option of "game ears" because the didn't exist. I really don't like muffs when shooting long guns, much less while hunting, but use 'em at the range. And, expensive electronics might not survive in the marsh, so I'll continue to chance it and just wear the muffs at the range.
 
I do not use hearing protection while hunting. for some reason I rarely hear the shot like I do when target shooting. Im not sure how you would hear stuff in the woods with hearing protection, unless ofcourse you had a pair of those electronic ear muffs.
 
I thought only constant noise damaged hearing, I've never heard of hunting harming somebody's hearing.
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Depends quite a bit on the noise, acoustics of the area, and the condition of your ears. My uncle drove a tank over a land mine in Vietnam and is now deaf in one ear.

A shotgun blast inside a VW would probably have a similar effect. :D

--Len.
 
Depends quite a bit on the noise, acoustics of the area, and the condition of your ears. My uncle drove a tank over a land mine in Vietnam and is now deaf in one ear.
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Would that be because a shock from an explosion is more powerful than sound?
 
Would that be because a shock from an explosion is more powerful than sound?
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There's no meaningful distinction between a "sound" and a "shock wave." The latter is simply a sound so powerful that it vibrates not only your little ear bones, but your skull, teacup and the floor as well.

My uncle's deafness was caused by the sound, not by trauma such as hitting his head or other secondary effects of the sound--which was, I imagine, powerful enough to be describable as a "shock wave."

--Len.
 
I thought only constant noise damaged hearing, I've never heard of hunting harming somebody's hearing.
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I guess no one read my post. It is constant noise. However the time period of exposure before damage is dependent on amplitude. My first post on this thread shows an extended table of exposure time. A wrap up shows that unless you're shooting a long barreled .410, you will experience hearing damage after 1 shot. If you wear a 19db attenuating muff, you can experience hearing damage after 7 shots per day with a .357.
I totally believe it's up to an individual, but personally I can't see a reason to wear hearing protection for hunting.
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You listed an incomplete table. Gunshots go well beyond 150db. I listed an extended table in my first post.
 
Dove hunting is more'n one or two shots

McG ~ You have obviously never had the misfortune to try hunting doves where I live, lol . . . good point, tho. If the numbers were here, I WOULD wear hearing protection in that case.
 
I totally believe it's up to an individual, but personally I can't see a reason to wear hearing protection for hunting.
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?? Your own chart shows exposure to less than a second of dB's over 130 is enough to cause permanent ear damgage. A .308 cranks out dB's over 160!

http://www.guns.connect.fi/rs/308measured.html

I'd say you'd have to be crazy or in a dire emergency to not use some form of protection hunting. Cap off a .338 WM with a break without hearing protection and your hearing WILL be damaged. That ringing and deafness you experience afterwards is the tiny bones inside your ear ceasing to function. Most of the function returns, but some of it never does. If you fire several shots per day you increase that damage more and more.
 
Gunshots go well beyond 150db. I listed an extended table in my first post.
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OK, but wouldn't it be much less on the non-firing end? Would the sound wave follow the cone of muzzle blast? Thus rendering the true maximum db an ineffective measure of the sound from shooter position?
 
OK, but wouldn't it be much less on the non-firing end? Would the sound wave follow the cone of muzzle blast? Thus rendering the true maximum db an ineffective measure of the sound from shooter position?
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That's true if they measured at the muzzle. For argument's sake let's take off 3db (that's half the power) from the measurement to say you only experience half of the noise from a gunshot at the muzzle. That still leaves you well into the hearing damage zone for the majority of the guns, assuming a gunshot lasts 2ms.
 
I don't mean to be a pain, I have no scientific evidence either way, just bits and pieces I've picked up.

I did my final military physical less than six months ago, after seven years of gas turbines, slow speed diesels, outboards, helicopters, hydraulics, grinders, carbon arcs, and gunfire from all calibers imaginable (many unprotected), I still have above average hearing. The corpsmen laughed when I asked if my hearing was ok.

Maybe I'm special :confused:
 
Maybe I'm special
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Me too maybe, Been shooting and hunting almost half a century, Never hunted with any hearing protection and no telling the number of shots fired plinking without. Far as I know I can still hear fine.
Mom didn't keep me in a car seat and I didn't wear a helmet on my bike as a kid either. How did I live?
 
Remember Jarts, AKA lawn darts? I survived those, too. LOL! Didn't know what a seat belt was until 1966, have ridden the bike without a helmet, but wear one anymore even though there's no longer a helmet law in Texas. I've fallen a lot racing, don't wanna risk it on the street without a helmet. But, I have, before. Heck, I've even gotten sunburned before.

Think ear plugs would help THIS guy?

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=13810772
 
Some folks are lucky and seem to have tough ears. Some are not. If you are not, you won't know until it's too late, like me. Protect your ears.
 
A thanks to everyone who has answered so far. I'm leaning toward sing some hearing protection but don't know the level I'll be satisfied with yet. I'm sure I'll wear someting.
 
i agree with Koja48. hunting anything but buck and such with a high kill count where your going to be blasting a lot. i wouldent bother. a single shot here and there isnt going to do a hell of a lot. im 27, and generaly never wear hearing protection shooting. (unless its in a competition then i do) and my hearing is perfect.

if your duck hunting. then im not sure what you need to hear to much. general talk and stuff you can likely hear with protection on. and your going by sight not hearing i think for duck hunting.
 
Buy yourself some hearing protection as soon as possible. I'm only 30. but I have perm. damage to both ears. I hear the "ring" all day long.

I'm using a set of Walkers now, their camo quads. Well worth the $250.

I'd pay a lot more to make the ringing go away.
 
None. I really think the effects of one or two gunshots at a time is over stated. It probably does you worse to drink a soft drink.

Besides, we'll all be deaf at some point.
 
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