re: spinoff: do you use ear protection when duck hunting?

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I use ESP plugs. Fitted to ear canal with a wax mold. Amplify tegular sound and cuts off when u shoot. So no pb hearing yourself call. Use them religiously the last 3 years. Ears havent rang since. Pricey, but worth it

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This. Every hunt.

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I use ESP plugs. Fitted to ear canal with a wax mold. Amplify tegular sound and cuts off when u shoot. So no pb hearing yourself call. Use them religiously the last 3 years. Ears havent rang since. Pricey, but worth it

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This every hunt......best $800 I've ever spent

never wear hearing protection when shooting shotgun. Only wear muffs when bench shooting a rifle i also have a bad habit of not using hearing protection when rifle hunting i just never bring them in the stand. Ears ring a bit but the adrenaline from the kill usually helps with the ringing

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If you don't you will be as deaf as I am at my age.

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Or get the ringing in the years. Playing with fire because once you get it and it doesn't go away there is no cure.

Shooting shotguns and rifles -- terrible for hearing. I wear protection every time now, though didn't always. Three days of loud ringing from getting ear blasted while my plugs were in my pocket cured me...

I can't do the electronics in the duck blind because there are too many "swishy" type noises from brush, etc. and it drives me nuts. The ones a couple of guys pictured above help a good bit though, and still allow reasonably good hearing for quiet things like conversation, and I can hear duck wings perfectly fine from a long ways off with them in. Calls sound slightly different but you learn very quickly to adjust. They have a filter that blocks noise above a certain level and they do work.

Hock's Noise brakers, the Surefire Sonic defenders, and the black and yellow Combat Arms shown earlier have this feature. They are a great compromise between hearing sounds you need to hear while hunting and saving your ears.