Caribou Gear Tarp

Hearing Loss

I'm still rocking the razor slims and they're still terrible. I will be buying something different before I try for chukars this fall.
 
Thanks for the link. I just reached out to Weston on the topic, as I will be at the Mayo next year for my liver updates. I asked if he would be able to do a podcast about this topic when I am there.

For me, it was years of chainsaws while working in the logging business as a teenager. Combined with a father who thought hearing protection was for wusses, whether shooting or logging. Then, three years working in a sawmill, manning the boilers in a concrete room and every six months having to crawl in the boiler chambers and remove the scale build up with a pneumatic drill. No hearing protection at the sawmill until an employee got pissed and turned them in for not providing hearing protection. OSHA came and tested us all the last two months I worked there. Pretty much the same result for all of us. For me, too little, too late.

I cannot hear cricketts, smoke alarms, or my wife talking while I am looking the other direction (lip reading) or if the TV is playing. I can hear an elk bugle in my right ear, but my left ear is toast. Every bugle seems to be to my right. Trying to communicate in a crowded space with background noise is strictly a lip reading operation. Ringing in my ears is 24/7 and has been for 30 years. Caffeine only serves to amplify everything. Tire noise is enough interference that I can hardly have a conversation with the vehicle driving down the road.

Point being, if you still have your hearing, take care of it. The frustration of compromised hearing is real.

Thanks for the link. I just reached out to Weston on the topic, as I will be at the Mayo next year for my liver updates. I asked if he would be able to do a podcast about this topic when I am there.

For me, it was years of chainsaws while working in the logging business as a teenager. Combined with a father who thought hearing protection was for wusses, whether shooting or logging. Then, three years working in a sawmill, manning the boilers in a concrete room and every six months having to crawl in the boiler chambers and remove the scale build up with a pneumatic drill. No hearing protection at the sawmill until an employee got pissed and turned them in for not providing hearing protection. OSHA came and tested us all the last two months I worked there. Pretty much the same result for all of us. For me, too little, too late.

I cannot hear cricketts, smoke alarms, or my wife talking while I am looking the other direction (lip reading) or if the TV is playing. I can hear an elk bugle in my right ear, but my left ear is toast. Every bugle seems to be to my right. Trying to communicate in a crowded space with background noise is strictly a lip reading operation. Ringing in my ears is 24/7 and has been for 30 years. Caffeine only serves to amplify everything. Tire noise is enough interference that I can hardly have a conversation with the vehicle driving down the road.

Point being, if you still have your hearing, take care of it. The frustration of compromised hearing is real.
Randy, that sounds just like me. Running chainsaws and skiders powered by detroit diesel engines while logging Then working in mining and in power plants. Not to mention hunting with my dad since age 6. Actually shooting ducks with multiple guys out of boats was probably the worst.
I'm only 43 and its to the point Inhave 95% loss in my left ear and about 60% in my right. I am debating getting hearing aids right now. Do you wear hearing aids?
 
Randy, that sounds just like me. Running chainsaws and skiders powered by detroit diesel engines while logging Then working in mining and in power plants. Not to mention hunting with my dad since age 6. Actually shooting ducks with multiple guys out of boats was probably the worst.
I'm only 43 and its to the point Inhave 95% loss in my left ear and about 60% in my right. I am debating getting hearing aids right now. Do you wear hearing aids?
Nope, no hearing aids at this time. They gave me a hearing aid for my right ear and asked me to try it. Didn't help. In wind and other instances, it was almost worse. When I told them, they said something about the scar tissue and never damage. They've pretty much given up on my left ear. Looking forward to talking to Weston. He might have some ideas.
 
My ears are shot from the usmc and the happiness of belt fed weapons in the sand box.

I went to electronic ear plugs.....they help me pick up noise and protect what hearing I have.
My hearing was down 30% when I left Vietnam from the artillery batteries (USMC). Are you signed up with the VA? They will furnish you with some high tech hearing aids . Check it
 
I guess, if you grade on the curve, my hearing is pretty good, when compared to fellow hunters and shooters.

Most of my working career was spent inside an oil refinery. Needless to say, that is a loud environment. Nobody had to tell me twice to take the noise hazard seriously. Routinely, I used two layers of hearing protection. Plugs in the ears and a pair of ear muffs. It become second nature. It still largely is.

I never mow without hearing protection. When shooting at the range I use double protection. When shooting a blank pistol while training my dogs,, I put the gun behind my back and turn my head away from the blast.

One the primary reasons hunting is so compelling is how intensely it engages our senses. While vision is supremely crucial,, hearing is right there with it. Take care of it, it is a gift only given once.
 
Like everybody else here, i take shots while hunting without hearing protection. I always carry corded ear plugs, but the reality is i do a lot of close range hunting where things happen fast, so there are shots taken where i dont put them in. A .444 with a brake will ring your bell!

I work on boats, spend about half my life at sea, and the boats are loud! Constant noise. All the older dudes i work with are deaf as doornails. I wear earplugs 24/7 while at sea. A lot of guys give me crap for it, but ill have the last laugh, and they wont even hear it. I figure i do enough damage to my ears hunting that i need to take extra care of them the rest of the time. Work, target shooting, weedeating, vaccuming..... earplugs always, and often ear muffs on top of that. My hearing is too important to lose. Need to hear critters coming in on me, especially while calling predators! Ear plugs are cheap. The ones i like, the green howard leight plugs, boxes on amazon end up being like 4 cents per pair. And the corded type you can wear sround your neck while hunting and jam in your ears quick (if you think about it) arent all that expensive either. Cant buy new ears.
 
On the topic of young guys attempting to save our hearing, does anyone have any recommendations for what they use while bird hunting? I’ve started carrying earplugs in my bino harness for big game, but I like being able to hear while I’m hunting birds.
My son uses Soundgear one-size fits all and I use Soundgear custom fit. They are outstanding for pheasant and grouse hunting. Comfortable, can hear better than without them, pretty resistant to unwanted wind noise (the customs are really good on this point), hearing is protected and they are made by a legit US-based hearing aid company (Starkey)
 
My son uses Soundgear one-size fits all and I use Soundgear custom fit. They are outstanding for pheasant and grouse hunting. Comfortable, can hear better than without them, pretty resistant to unwanted wind noise (the customs are really good on this point), hearing is protected and they are made by a legit US-based hearing aid company (Starkey)
I’ve looked into these, and I like hearing that wind noise isn’t bad. I use cheap Walker Razor muffs while shooting for work (doubled up with ear plugs while shooting ARs), and the wind noise is pretty terrible.
 
I don’t hear well either.

Lotta ear infections as a kid. Tubes in my ears. Adenoids removed.

Grew up in FL making a living as a kid cutting lawns 12 months a year. No ear pro, just a walkman cranked up. Joined the military, worked in heavy industry and now the fire service.

I cant hear well.

Hearing aids save a lot of frustration at home and highly recommended!
 
For those in the workforce with a hearing loss and a tight budget, our federal tax dollars are distributed to states' "Vocational Rehabilitation Service" departments. These are in place to get people with disabilities either minimize their physical disability or help the gainfully employed stay that way.

Different states do it differently, but in Alabama, I've qualified for new aids every three (3) years for the past 14. Today's hearing aid technology has finally caught up with Bluetooth syncing and noise-cancelling ability.
 
Oh, for those thinking this is for poor people on welfare, it's not. AL VR used to place qualification status on a sliding income scale and waver on this policy from year to year.

This policy is not usually set in stone. It tends to change depending on whether you have a more socialist or capitalist-minded department chair. One year I did not qualify and I convinced them that refusing the benefit to those who are financially well off is a double tax. Especially since a small percentage (20%) of the population tends to pay the largest (80%) portion of the taxes.
 
I’ve started suppressing everything I shoot with any regularity And have started hunting with the walker electronic ear muffs in the duck blinds. The suppressors help but there is still sound and pressure to deal with
 
With hearing aids I get by, Without them I am deaf...decades ago a female hearing doctor told me technology at the time would not help me but if I wore hearing aids my wife would not be mad at me. She was right. Today tech is good and gets better every year,
 
I'm still rocking the razor slims and they're still terrible. I will be buying something different before I try for chukars this fall.
I did not follow through on this is missed two opportunities due to the terrible quality of these muffs. No MORE! Some "nicer" ones are in route as we speak.

Also looking at getting 1-2 suppressors. But I honestly have no idea how to even start that process. Do they need to be caliber specific?
 
I did not follow through on this is missed two opportunities due to the terrible quality of these muffs. No MORE! Some "nicer" ones are in route as we speak.

Also looking at getting 1-2 suppressors. But I honestly have no idea how to even start that process. Do they need to be caliber specific?
Most centerfire suppressors are designed to work with multiple calibers.
 
I'm in the same boat as the rest of you; too much unprotected shooting when young, tractors on the farm, chainsaws, etc. . . I've considered some sort of earplugs for hunting (looking for suggestions!), and my main rifle has a Kaw Valley Linear Comp screwed on the end of it. I always wear hearing protection in all situations, and insist that my boys do as well. My 13 y.o., David, has no hearing in his left ear, and 50% in his right ear from untreated ear infections when he was with his bio parents and in foster care (we adopted him and his four brothers a few years back after our first set of kids were grown and gone). He has a fancy set of hearing aids that takes the sounds from the left side and transmits them over to his right hearing aid since that is the side with some hearing left.
 
I did not follow through on this is missed two opportunities due to the terrible quality of these muffs. No MORE! Some "nicer" ones are in route as we speak.

Also looking at getting 1-2 suppressors. But I honestly have no idea how to even start that process. Do they need to be caliber specific?
I always recommend using Silencer Shop for suppressor purchases. I purchased my first 4 suppressors through local shops, and that was fine, but SS is so much easier, and has way more selection than your average shop. They will walk you through the process, and its very likely that they have a fingerprint kiosk near where you live in the very shop where you'll pick up your can.

With suppressors, you really want one that is geared toward hunting. That usually means that it will be built to withstand magnum calibers, but on a limited firing schedule (ie: 10 rapid fire rounds of up to 300wm, then only 3 rounds per minute after that until you allow the can to cool). This limited schedule is due to the materials used to keep the suppressor lighter, cans that are 'full-auto' rated with usually have an almost unlimited firing schedule, but will weigh significantly more than a hunting can.

For instance, my Griffin Sportsman Ultralight only weighs 11.3 ounces plus 1.5 for the muzzle device, where as my AAC 762-SDN-6 is 19oz plus 3 for the muzzle device.
That can is rated up to 300 Ultra Mag, but can be easily used in any sub-caliber (22-250, .243, 6.5 Man Bun, 7mmHT, 28 Nosler, etc). You purchase muzzle devices that are threaded the same as your barrel, and then the can threads onto the muzzle device. So you can put it on your .257 Bob, then pop it off and stick it on your 300MtMuley in seconds. If for some reason you have to remove the can (ie-international hunting), you can thread on a blast deflector to direct the muzzle blast away from you while shooting. Some cans are direct thread with no muzzle device, and that works just fine too, there is a can for every application.

The only real caveat being that its not a great idea to put rimfire ammo through your hunting can since its so dirty. Hunting cans are typically sealed, so you cannot easily clean them. Rimfire cans are made to come apart for cleaning.
 
I used to listen to music so loud I’d be dizzy when I got out of the car. However my audiologist said my hearing loss was probably due to hunting because my left ear is so much worse than my right. She explained that your right arm tends to shield your right ear, but the left ear is unprotected.
 
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