Ear protection while bird hunting

Do you wear hearing protection in the field?

  • Yes

    Votes: 9 24.3%

  • No

    Votes: 21 56.8%

  • Occasionally

    Votes: 6 16.2%

  • Most of the time

    Votes: 1 2.7%
  • Total voters
    37
C

chemist

Member
As a kid I never did because the adults never did and it never crossed my mind, but did at the range. Then I noticed all the old hunters were deaf in at least one ear. Then I noticed it was mostly in the opposite ear as their handedness. Lefties were deaf in their right ear and righties deaf in their left. I started wearing a foam ear plug in my left ear with my right open but it messed with my ability to tell the direction the sound came from. I switched to electronic muffs but found I frequently take them off due to comfort and consequently took shots with them off. The past two years I have been using the Walker silencer 2.0 in ear electronic and have been pleased with them. When the wind gets going they frequently come out but most days I really like them.

Do you use ear protection while bird hunting? If so what have you found that works well?
 
I've also been paying attention to ear protection recently. The electronics annoy me too much with wind noise and dead batteries. I've settled on the mechanical ear buds. They certainly don't provide full protection, but are way better than nothing. Something like Orvis Adaptive Hearing Protection. Typically in the $15-25 range.

I would love to play around with a supressed shotgun as I got my rifle one. But, not very many options, expensive, and shotguns under 1000 fps are not as effective on birds.
 
I have had these now for two seasons. I have hearing loss and significant tinnitus. I am trying to preserve what hearing I have.

I have tried several electronic ear muffs. While they seem to work fine in a duck blind. The wind noise on the prairie is awful.

The only hearing protection that works is that which you will wear. I wore these for every shot that I fired this season including dove hunting, grouse hunting, duck hunting, and pheasant hunting.

Otis Technology Ear Shield Hearing Protection https://a.co/d/613DFKD
 
I am exactly how the OP described. I shoot right handed so my right ear is covered up/protected. My left ear is exposed. I cannot hear anything from my left ear at high frequency anymore, so I use a hearing aide in that ear.

While I'm hunting, I don't wear the hearing aide, obviously. It does not buffer loud noises, it only magnifies them. Plus I'm paranoid about losing it, as its extremely expensive. I need to be able to hear while I'm hunting - a deer walking, a turkey gobble, or a pheasant flush are noises I cue in on.

I have always wore muffs at the range but never while hunting when I was growing up. I hunt deer, turkey, pheasants, grouse, and I used to hunt waterfowl. The damage is already done.

For all you young hunters out there, if there are any reading this...protect your ears. Once they are damaged, they aren't coming back.
 
gimruis said:
I am exactly how the OP described. I shoot right handed so my right ear is covered up/protected. My left ear is exposed. I cannot hear anything from my left ear at high frequency anymore, so I use a hearing aide in that ear.

While I'm hunting, I don't wear the hearing aide, obviously. It does not buffer loud noises, it only magnifies them. Plus I'm paranoid about losing it, as its extremely expensive. I need to be able to hear while I'm hunting - a deer walking, a turkey gobble, or a pheasant flush are noises I cue in on.

I have always wore muffs at the range but never while hunting when I was growing up. I hunt deer, turkey, pheasants, grouse, and I used to hunt waterfowl. The damage is already done.

For all you young hunters out there, if there are any reading this...protect your ears. Once they are damaged, they aren't coming back.
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Yeah my hearing is messed up from hunting and machine guns,tanks and such.I like to hear everything out hunting.
 
Unfortunately there's no way to reverse the problem or mitigate it other than wearing a hearing aide. Prevention is the only solution here. Youth just getting into shooting and hunting should be told up front that they should be protecting their ears from the start.
 
When I shot in college or at the ranges I always had hearing protection, however, when hunting I don't wear any. Like many any damage that could have occurred over my years of hunting is already done.
 
I wear hearing aids full time and I'll tell you it is no fun. Anything you can do early to protect your hearing will save you a bunch of challenges later in life.
 
If I take the batteries out of my hearing aids, they become ear plugs. Tom is spot on. My hearing went south in two years.
 
what i've read is that continuous loud noise, like in a factory or, in my case, 10 hours of jack-hammering on hard pan in a steel caged hole, is what causes hearing loss, not an occasional loud noise on the level of a gun shot
 
benelli-banger said:
What? 👂👂👂👂😜
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my first day on a construction job and no ear plugs. my head was truly ringing after work. next day i got earplugs and all was well, or as well as it can get jack-hammering hard pan in a steel cage in a hole in the ground. it was a great job; it convinced me to go back to college haha
 
To the guys that say they are deaf already, one of the advantages of the electronic hearing protection is that they can be used to amplify sounds much the way hearing aids do.

Folks that have the Anvils and like them. I am glad that you have a product you like and you are happy with.

For folks on the fence about a brand, the guy that I hunt with the most bought the axils the same time I bought the walker silencer 2.0 for slightly more money. I have been much more impressed with the walker silencer 2.0 than he has been with the axil. The wind noise seems to be a little bit less with mine, and he has had problems with the cord connecting the two plugs causing failures due to damage. The wind noise with my set is not bad until about 15 mph.
 
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