Rifle hunting and ear protection

[devilinblack]

I fired a TOW-2 while in the Army with no hearing protection. I don't think one .30-06 round a year (plus a few 12 gauge rounds while bunny hunting) is going to screw up my hearing anymore.

Not me, but a very cool pic of the TOW in use.

[jaime7818]

I shot 300 win mag 2x, back to back this year at a buck. I didnt even notice the bang or the kick. Too much adrenaline. So no ear protection for hunting. But i mostly only hunt deer.

[toby]

You may not think or care what happens to your hearing but I can tell you first hand it sucks being partially deaf, and one shot two shots what ever shots is all it takes to start the process of hearing lose. Just google you will be shocked! you never miss what you have till it's gone.

[Interloper]

Right. And my wife is always bugging me about sodium and cholesterol.
I don't intend to live with perfect blood pressure and flawless hearing just to die of boredom and I'm not going to miss a shot at a buck because I'm screwing with my hearing protection. These are compromises I'm willing to make.

[toby]

Yeah people make bad choices everyday...lol

[not-fishing]

Right. And my wife is always bugging me about sodium and cholesterol.
I don't intend to live with perfect blood pressure and flawless hearing just to die of boredom and I'm not going to miss a shot at a buck because I'm screwing with my hearing protection. These are compromises I'm willing to make.

Hell my retirement is I work until I die that's what I get for getting into construction 40 year ago. I tell the wife it be a favor not to have to work an extra decade or so.

After decades of hunting and Construction my hearing actually tests out pretty good. -- Small Ear Canals.

So some hearing loss is probably due to not being born the right way.

But I hunt deer with .243 or .308 no need for mags. If I was trailing dogs for boar I'd probably use my Marlin 44 mag and not the S&W 29.

[makomyday]

Thanks for the responses everyone.

[AndrewMendez]

I can not stress enough how sensitive your hearing is. If your serious about hunting, invest in some nice electronic ones. Take care of your senses, and they will take care of you.

[SLYoteBoy]

The kick nor the sound will bother you when you got that buck fever going.

[G lock]

anything greater than 80dB results in PERMANENT hearing damage, and unlike other parts of the body you cannot regain hearing ability naturally (although they have implants). your best bet is to go with sound cancelling earmuffs or in ear aid that cuts reduces sound at certain dB >80 and amplifies sounds <80dB. high frequency range is the first to go

[Rusty_Buckhorn]

Well, when you startle a pack of 30 nasty hog vermin at 150 yards......

IMHO, pick a target, shoot it till it's down, then move on. Never just unload into a herd. That's how you end up wounding 10 animals, and killing none of them.

[mindwip]

The guys who say they can't hear the shot so there is no damage are so far from the truth. Thats your body reacting to stres, you are still losing your hearing and unless you have ahearing test to backup your claim that shows perfect hearing, stop leading others to hearing loss.

[tony270]

I call BS, just keep your ears on the opposite of the ejection port, what did you say again.

But on the real, IMHO it's not practical to hunt with your hearing restricted, and it’s down right unsafe. If you have to use hearing protection, use electronic hearing protection. That way you’ll still be aware of your surroundings. Not only do we see with our eyes, our ears work in conjuntion with them. Like some has said, one or two shot isn’t going to damage hearing on a normal person.