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the day your ears start ringing non stop you will wish you had worn protection. waterfowl hunter know what i mean, especially if hunting in a group. takes a second to put them in if you dont like wearing them for a period of time. word of advise from someone who thought it wasnt needed while hunting. now i bring foams for everybody. anything is better then nothing.
 
http://www.surefire.com/EP3-Sonic-Defenders

I swear by these things. Though it sounds like the Pro Ears may be a better choice.

I've never heard of these before but it sure seems like a cost effective and simple way to protect your hearing. Are you using these for time the range as well as hunting and this may sound silly but can you reuse them? If so this is on the shopping list for sure.

-d
 
I generally use the military ear plugs. Put in one direction you can hear and they still block sudden sounds-29db if I remember correctly. I put them in the other direction for when I am mowing the lawn. They work like full ear plugs that way. They are a flanged plug like the ep3, with a string to go around your neck. When target shooting I use them in combination with amplified muffs,

I also have several muffs, amplified and not. All work well. Game ear hearing aid style are really nice and compact, (not muffs) but they are expensive...they come with several different amplification levels
 
Some sports require a bit of risk. Hearing loss is a drag I did everything I could throughout life to protect mine. There was one machine that did not seem to make much noise and I used it frequently [such a diminished sound outdoors]. After years of use my hearing was compromised. I never expected that nail guns were going to take away my hearing, I always used aids with saws, bench, table or slide, planers, routers, hammer drills you name it including fire arms.
It is the long term stuff that gets you.
 
I wear Pro Ears Tac Mag Gold (33 NRR) (I don't typically turn the active cancellation on) and double with Howard leight soft foam inserts (again 33 NRR) under with any kind of shooting, no matter what caliber or how many shots. There was an article I read once by a famous hearing specialist where he stated a particular statement that stuck with me "Your ears don't get tougher, you get deafer". I also checked with my ENT dr. he's a fellow shooter, and said that it's advisable to double the protection whenever you can, even though he admitted he doesn't do it himself.
 
I bought a pair of the electronic muffs. You can find them now for under $70.00. I have worked in a noisy environment for so long that I have about a 30% hearing loss in mid range sounds. The electronic muffs amplify quieter sounds and shut off loud noises. You still hear a boom, but it is not deafening.

The problem isn't when you shoot and the adrenaline shutting off your hearing, it is when your hunting partner touches off that magnum that he is so proud of, and he is only a few feet away. That will hurt, and your adrenaline won't shut off your hearing. It will hurt; You'll hear it and then your ears will ring for the rest of the day.
 
the day your ears start ringing non stop you will wish you had worn protection. waterfowl hunter know what i mean, especially if hunting in a group. takes a second to put them in if you dont like wearing them for a period of time. word of advise from someone who thought it wasnt needed while hunting. now i bring foams for everybody. anything is better then nothing.

A deer hunter shot off his rifle next to me when I was a boy and now I live 24/7 with ringing constantly. Anyone who thinks they are 'tough' by not wearing hearing protection or doesn't need it is a fool.

Unfortunately, my dad was a moron who thought 'your ears get used to it.' People like myself would pay $100 for one hour of pure silence. Some people commit suicide over it, some people adapt.

Please, use your common sense - use hearing protection. That 'thrill' from hunting without it may come back to bite you big time.

Suppressors - although fantastic and well worth it - won't help you if Billy Bob next to you decides to fire off a round 3' from your head.
 
Having something is a good move. I'd suggest some form of electronic muffs which there's several mentioned in the thread.

I hunted without them when I was younger. I also occasionally shot targets without them and worked with loud machinery. All were mistakes. My hearing is still good but I remember my ears ringing or not being able to hear people talk to me. Not anymore, my hearing is too valuable.
 
We need to change the law about suppressors. Instead of by lowering the sound by a certain amount, it should be if it lowers the sound to a certain level, say 20Db.
Or get rid of it all together. After all, it's just polite to shoot more quietly, just like mufflers on our cars.
So our cars have to be as quiet as possible and our guns need to be as loud as possible. There must be some kind of disconnect.
 
I can hardly imagine wearing any sort of hearing protection while hunting, even considering the off chance of someone shooting right next to me and, quite frankly, I have never hunted with someone so close as to where that would be a problem. And when I have taken a shot at game I never really 'heard' the shot due to excitement and concentration. Also I have never seen anyone in my 30+ years of hunting ever wearing anything for hearing protection. Even the electronic muffs are still going to reduce your hearing to a certain degree and I think it is important to be able to hear everything that is going on around you and wearing muffs would be cumbersome also. If the biggest problem is
The problem isn't when you shoot and the adrenaline shutting off your hearing, it is when your hunting partner touches off that magnum that he is so proud of
Then don't ever hunt that close to someone. While there is some risk of a hearing related injury while hunting there is probably far less a chance than the possibility of other hunting related injuries, such as falling, ND/AD or being shot by another hunter.
 
Did anybody see the episode of preppers where the guy was acting like his ear was blown out? He had ear muffs on. The guys were in a camo stand 20 feet in the air and one of them had a 'muzzle brake' and shot inside the enclosed space. It was just a regular A2 style flash hider. Then it was like the guy with the ear injury couldn't make up his mind which ear hurt. I'm beginning to think these shows are a put on.
ALWAYS wear hearing protection when shooting. It's a lot more difficult rifle hunting, but it's just one or two shots usually. Yes, every injury is cumulative.
 

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