ear protection

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newatcallin

New member
I'm curious if anybody wears ear plugs while hunting and if you do what kind do you use.I would like to wear some especially when shooting a ported 44mag but don't want to lose the ability to hear game.Any input would be appriciated
 
I have myself a pair of the same Peltor Tactical 6 ear muffs and won't leave home without them. Yes they are spendy at about $130 but worth every cent in comparison to my hearing! I can actually hear better with them on that without them, and when louder noises sound they are muffled.

In short: They rock, get some!

Matt
 
SoundScopes After reading how many of the PM members have lost some or most of their hearing I did some searching on the web and the ear protector market is pretty vast. Here is a good link for a few different types of hearing protectors www.shotgunsports.com/ear.htm . I am fortunate in that I own my own company and since I work around loud equipment and tools I opted to let the company purchase me a pair of SoundScopes from www.earinc.com. Yea, they were expensive but what is my hearing worth? You only get one go around with your hearing, when it's gone, its gone! We spend big bucks on our hunting gear and ignore our eyes and ears. Hmmmm...is something backward here? Your type of protection will depend on what you do in the field also. I like muffs at the range but out in the field I want to hear if something is sneaking up behind me when I am calling. Do you wear glasses? Muffs can press against your temple pieces and drive you nuts after a while, or can get in the way of wearing your favorite (lucky?) hunting hat. Whatever you do, use some sort of ear protection ALL THE TIME. Thats why I got the SoundScopes. I have read in the PM posts where guys use ear protection on the range but use nothing while hunting. I remember shooting my .357 mag (many, many moons ago) without hearing protection and my ears rang for weeks. I remember that first shot, I thought I blew my ears out. I believe I damaged my ears permanently that day. I wish I could go back, its too late. Summary, buy the best hearing protection you can afford...and use it.
 
I don't wear hearing protection when hunting, but, at the range, I use these ear plugs that have a plate inside of them and a hole the runs through the entire ear plug bodies, They allow normal sound levels in but block out loud sound levels, and, they work extremly well at that. I usually wear them the entire shooting session, my dad, on the other hand, only wears them when he has a target in the sights.
Matt.
 
What RedneckMatt270 described is my absolute minimum when hunting. And that is birds with the 12 ga or small game with the .223. Also, if I don't think I will shoot but 1 or 2 with the bigger (louder) stuff.

On the range I have Muffs and if I'm shooting the BigDogs I also use ear plugs underneath.

Protecting your ears, especially when young, is one of those things that is hard to teach, especially to the young. I was too Macho in my teens and twenties to wear ear plugs when ripping bursts of full auto in the '16, '60, and Ma-duece and now most of my conversations include the words "huh", "what", or "say again".
 
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif Huh? What? Somebody say something? Most of my hearing is gone, Phylo will back me up on this, he says everything to me two or three times. (I think) Ear protection is a good thing and I require it of all students on the range. One of the posts above mentioned "sound scopes" I use the peltors but any of these will do. I know there expensive but come on guys, all of you here are shooters. Show some professionalism and spring for them. They will last forever and the returns you get from them can't be beat.
 
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I wrote pretty extensively about this. Sorry, can't take time to repeat it, but a search with key words should turn up quite a lot.
 
thanks for all the replies fella's .I did a search last night and was quite surprised at all the prior discussion on "hearing".It appears that many people are very happy with the Peltor model. i use traditional muffs at the range but never have used anything while hunting. wasn't even an issue untill i got a ported 44 .one shot to finsh off a wounded deer is to much for me and i want to use this gun for bear hunting this fall . should be a real ear splitter sitting in a spruce tree . thank you
 
You'll be happy you did. Bluedeacon and I drive the ladies crazy when we're all playing cards and sitting around "huh" or "what was that". On the good side we can cheat the women with just looks and gestures since we are both used to these problems. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
Does anybody know where to get these ear plugs that RedneckMatt is talking about? If possible I'd like to know what brand they are so I can pick some up before dove seasons opens.
 
The parking lot of the range I've used for many years is right behind the firing line. Occasionally I would forget to take my muffs out of the trunk, and the time it took to get from
drivers seat to the muffs was fierce on my ears. In the past year or so I've noticed it doesn't much bother me anymore. I finally realized why. My hearing is so damaged everything is muted. I now have a hearing aid, but don't much like it because in every day use the background noises are very bothersome. For heavens sake, protect those ears at all costs. Gone is gone, there's no getting it back. Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal
 
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