Another stupid question from new hunter: Why no earmuffs when hunting?

[NHSHOOTER]

I am 57 and my hearing is nowhere near what it used to be, construction work, welding shop noise, shooting with and without hearing protection. This coming season you will see a set of electronic muffs on my head, that is if you walk out in the woods and find me in my tree stand. I was in my tree last season and a friend of mine was a ways away, a buck was grunting and he heard it, I didnt. I want to hear those deer walking up behind my tree and a grunt from over the next hill. Really, who cares if it "looks foolish"? Its not a fashion show, its hunting!! So..I vote for hearing protection at all times.

[JohnKSa]

...you're not going to develop serious hearing issues from one or two isolated incidents...

It depends on your personal tolerance and also on the noise level. It is true that some people seem to be more resistant to hearing damage than others, but it is also true that a single incident can cause hearing damage under the right circumstances.

Mr. Pfleuger is one example of that according to his comment earlier in the thread. I am another. I had an incident involving a single shot from a .357Mag revolver that has left me noticeably hearing-impaired in one ear.

[Brotherbadger]

Ugh, you guys are gonna make me go out and pick up some electronic muffs now. I honestly have never thought about hearing protection while hunting, but now i can't believe i haven't thought of it sooner.

[natman]

Ugh, you guys are gonna make me go out and pick up some electronic muffs now. I honestly have never thought about hearing protection while hunting, but now i can't believe i haven't thought of it sooner.

Good. I have some tinnitus and I can't tell you how much I wish someone had told me what I'm telling you now:

Protect your hearing.

[g.willikers]

Someone mentioned electronic ear plugs, rather than muffs.
There's some advertised in the gun mags, lately.
Very small, about the size of a hearing aid, but with a little knob for the tuning.
Unfortunately, they were advertised as costing over $400.
Ouch.
But they are supposed to be as good as full sized muffs for enhancing sound and blocking gunfire.
Has anyone tried them or something similar?

[ezmiraldo]

i think this is extremely important info any new hunter should hear. i'm glad we had this discussion for all hunting newbs, like myself, to read.

[A400 Fan]

2. The muffs alway seem to be in the way of the stock when shooting anything other than off the bench. When bench shooting I will wear both plugs and muff over the top and can maneuver tham around so the stock doesn't hit them.

I wear them for sporting clays which can be a gun up start and also for FITASC which is a low gun start. They have never gotten in the way for either shooting game. Gun fit plays a role there.

[Brian Pfleuger]

Originally Posted by g.willikers

Has anyone tried them or something similar?

I have a Walker's Digital Game Ear that retails for about $350 IIRC. It works great. It even has a special wire that plugs into a radio but transmits wirelessly to the Game Ear. It allows you to wear a hat and shoot unhindered, although I've never found that shooting with muffs bothered me and/or got in the way of the gun. I only got it for the radio feature and everybody I hunt with finally went to texting for communication that year. It's sits on my fridge, unused, virtually brand-new.

It's cold during deer season up here and the muffs keep my ears warm.

[Longshot4]

Get The electronic ear protection. Uther than the price it's the way to go. I some times hate that continus ringing. Why even start the WHAT! Thing?

[bamaranger]

Back when I was in a club with a lot of shooting houses, and rifles with muzzle brakes (the Boss system was huge with those guys), more than one fella took a set of muffs to the shooting house after getting his bell rung shooting from same without them.

Never saw anybody, anywhere, use muffs on the hunt otherwise. Lately, protecting what hearing I have left......I've taken soft plugs on a cord crow shooting.

[Frank Ettin]

I also wear digital electronic plugs when hunting. They have a compression circuit and function like digital electronic muffs. I have a couple of pair I bought some years ago. They were very expensive (about $1,000.00 a pair).

On the other hand, I have significant hearing loss already and want to preserve what hearing I have left. So the cost is worth it.

And consider this: my hearing aids cost me about $6,000.00. If spending $1,000.00 now will help you avoid or put off for a long time that sort of expense, you'll be money ahead.

[foxytwo]

If you have enough hearing loss and also have tinnitus you would give almost anything to get it back. Hearing aids, which I wear, are very expensive and do not help the tinnitus. Wearing good ear muffs is a small price to pay for protecting your hearing. Hearing loss is a very gradual thing and other people will notice it before you do. I always wear electronic muffs around any thing noisy, I am 74 and wish to preserve what is hearing I have left.

[Cowboy_mo]

When the ear dr. diagnosed my tinnitus a few years ago, I bought a set of electronic muffs and wear them anytime I will be firing a gun.

Wish I had known about hearing protection and tinnitus 40 years ago. Too many years of chainsawing, lawn mowing, and shooting without ear protection, not to mention several years inside an auto assembly plant where the noise didn't seem all that extreme but long term low levels work on you too.

If you hunt in cold weather, the ear muffs keep your ears nice and toasty!

[CowTowner]

I wear custom molded plugs with a valve setup inside that closes at high decibel levels. They allow me to have a normal conversation, hear whispers and critters and protect the old ears when the gun goes boom.
Got them at a hunter's exposition in Fort Worth a few years back. Don't think they were more than $20. But they work great and hearing protection is a must when firearms are around.

[johnwilliamson062]

Plugs, not muffs. The right one (nearest to rifle) all the way in. The left one about half way in, so I can hear the game coming.

More or less what I do. I am hoping to purchase some high quality electronic in the future. I am wondering if I can write it off as I do work in a shop with noise levels outside OSHA allowable w/o protection.

[JohnKSa]

The left one about half way in...

Assuming you're hunting with a rifle and are right-handed, your left ear tends to be the one that will have the most hearing damage. Your right ear is nearly in a line behind the bore and the noise from the muzzle tends to cancel a little bit in that area. In addition, your head "shadows" the right ear slightly.

If you're going to take the approach of putting in one plug, the one in the left ear is probably going to be more use to you than the one in your right ear.

[Brian Pfleuger]

The problem with plugging one ear is that you lose stereo hearing. That is, you can't tell which direction a noise is coming from.

Honestly, in the modern world this conversation makes no sense to me whatsoever.

Decent electronic muffs can be had for $30 or less. If you don't like muffs, a decent pair of electronic plugs (look like hearing aides) can be had for $40, better ones for $70 or so. The cheap ones usually have uncomfortable inserts but that can be solved by buying replacement inserts from the better brands as they're (mostly) all the same attachment.

Discharging any firearm louder than a .22LR rifle without wearing hearing protection is foolish, unless your life depends on it. I'm sorry if that offends some folks. There's just no valid excuses anymore. I don't think there's been a good excuse in the last 20 years but there sure isn't now.

[Chowder]

I have a pair of wrap around ear plugs. http://www.uline.com/BL_1096/Quiet-Bands . I never notice them around my neck and unlike the ones on a string they stay in one place. So it is easy to reach up with one hand and quickly place them in your ears. I have only taken a few animals in my short time getting into hunting but the few seconds to put them in never seemed to make a difference in success. I have ruptured both of my ear drums in the past so to me its well worth it.

I concur... 22 pistols could easily damage your hearing with prolonged shooting

The first time hunting was small game and I used my S&W 18-7. It was my first time hunting and I didn't bring muffs and I have to say I was surprised how loud the CCI velociter's were from the 4" barrel.

[Geo_Erudite]

WHAT!!!??

[cecILL]

Hearing loss sure is a good reason for silencers.

[NHSHOOTER]

Brian, when you say decent, are you talking the likes of Walker's electronic muffs? Are there others that are just as good or better at the same price range?
I am looking to get some very soon, just would like some opinions.

[Brian Pfleuger]

Originally Posted by NHSHOOTER

Brian, when you say decent, are you talking the likes of Walker's electronic muffs? Are there others that are just as good or better at the same price range?

Decent muffs are easy to find. In fact, the cheapest pair I've ever had are among the best in many ways. They're the Caldwell's they sell at all the sporting goods stores.

They are comfortable, the batteries last a long time, I get no static, only occasional feed-back from my phone (they're not digital) and they don't have an annoying "auto-off" (auto-off sucks for hunting). The down side is that the NRR is low (22 I think). When I target practice I always wear plugs under them anyway. 22 is good enough for a shot or two when hunting, except for my Encore. I still wear plugs with that one.

Howard Leight muffs are usually well-reviewed. They have the same low NRR problem and the same solution and probably the same static/feed-back issues.

For considerably more money, it still starts at $150 or so, small price to pay for your hearing and a drop in the bucket compared to guns, licenses, ammo, travel costs, etc, you can get digital (no feed-back from phones), independent volume adjustments and quad microphones for "better" stereo hearing. "Better" stereo hearing is unnecessary from my perspective. I don't need front/back so much. If it's in front of me I can SEE it. I only need left/right, for which dual microphones work fine. I've found that I can usually tell front/back pretty well too with the duals but, as I said, I don't see why it matters.

[nickE10mm]

First of all… If there is a single person who tries to impose their will on you and tell you that you should not wear hearing protection… Well I would stop taking advice from that person.that being said, there is a slight bit of handicap walking around the woods with electronic muff style hearing protection on… I'll admit that - but I still do it.

Try touching off a .44 mag of ANY kind in the woods with no hearing protection. Not cool.

Nowadays, I ONLY handgun hunt so there is no way id go without some sort of protection. Once your hearing is gone - it's gone.

[Double Naught Spy]

Hearing loss sure is a good reason for silencers.

They certainly help, but sadly are not legal for hunting in many states. Plus, while they help with the report of the rifle, there is still the sonic crack that can be awfully loud from typical supersonic rounds.

[Unlicensed Dremel]

i think this is extremely important info any new hunter should hear. i'm glad we had this discussion for all hunting newbs, like myself, to read.

Hear hear and rAmen.