I don't, but probably should. In the last 6 years, I've done about 90% of my hunting with a bow and fired exactly 4 shots with a firearm at game. However, that has as much to do with the fact that I can't use my preferred firearms here in Michigan very much as with my love of archery. If I end up moving to another state with longer firearms seasons, I'll likely change that ratio a good bit and will get a good set of ear-plugs for hunting.

Still, since I don't hunt game that usually requires large amounts of shooting per day, I don't anticipate huge issues solely from days in the field. On the range, of course, that's a different story.

Please excuse my ignorance, but this column is the first place I ever heard that turkeys drum.
I live where the grouse drum, but never realized that turkeys do that too. If its a joke, you got me good. If not, I learned something new today.
As for hearing protection, I really need to get on board with that. Thanks for the reminder!

I've got the tinnitus kicking in from years of loud work environments. Plugs are a part of my field pack and muffs & plugs never leave the range box. I wear 'em without fail. The only time I don't is when I'm stalk hunting deep brush during deer season and I'm already saving my pennies for a set of Peltor's to fix that.

It's a shame to lose your hearing over something so easily prevented.

I wear hearing protection at all times while target shooting, but never while hunting. But I don't hunt species like doves where there will be a lot of sustained shooting. I have tinitis and a ten percent hearing loss, according to the V.A. I attribute it to three years spent in the Marine Corps in the late '60s and early '70s--I was close to rifle and machinegun fire, mortars, hand grenade explosions and I flew dozens of times in the din created by CH-46 helicopters--no ear protection at any time. The Corps determined I had a hearing loss when I was discharged in 1971. V.A. denied me any compensation. Thirty-five years later they started paying me $117/mo. for the tinitis. Nothing for the hearing loss, and no back pay.

When I was in Africa four years ago the PH was incensed when a pair of U.S. hunters wore ear plugs while hunting. The PH had difficulty communicating with them, and ordered them to remove the plugs.

Yes, I stay away from those shooting rifles with muzzle brakes too. I hate those damned noisy things!

I come from a long line of deaf mean and am trying to break that family tradition. I wear double hearing protection at the range and at least single hearing protection when dove shooting. I haven't worn plugs while rifle hunting, but I will start carrying a pair with me during muzzleloader season from now on. I won't wear them while shooting at a deer, but before I discharge my smoke pole at the end of the day I'll put them in.

You think shotguns are loud? You want to try handgunning. I spent an afternoon in the open air shooting .357 Magnums from a 6" barrel about thirty years ago, and my hearing never recovered from that one session. You know that Dirty Harry is not for real because a real human with real ears after all Dirty Harry's .44 Magnum gunfights wouldn't be saying, "Go ahead, make my day," he'd be saying "Huh? Wha?" Since then I use plugs and muffs together.

Having experienced them at the range, I never wear the muffs in the woods. I want to hear the game, friends shouting to me, etc. Is there an electric earmuff out there that 1. amplifies ambient sounds, 2. shuts out gunfire, and 3. is small enough to be worn under a hat or a hood, not clank against your stock when you shoulder your weapon, etc.? That last one is the tough one. I have trouble enough being quiet in the woods without hitting plastic on a stick whenever a deer comes by.

I always wear hearing protection on the gun range and wear muffs while mowing the lawn or using other noisy motorized lawn equipment (chainsaw, weed-whacker, etc.)

Phil, I have a pair of north sonic ear valves and always mean to wear them in the duck marshes, but don't regularly do so. Guess I should. I’ll try them during the second season.

This year at deer camp in PA a buddy brought out a pair of amplifier muffs and he let me use them briefly. I was very impressed with their performance but have the same concerns that Eyeball mentioned above.

I hated to fly on those damn Chinook choppers. The noise was pure hell on the ears. I once bought a 4 inch Modl 29 S&W after one shot it had to go. My hearing is pretty bad and the VA never gave me squat for it. The worst of all was those big howitzers on Fire base Bastogne in 'Nam. The shock wave would clear the sinuses and make your head ring. Nowdays I wear the electronic head phones for shooting and high tech hearing aids for the rest of the time. PRO ears makes a low profile set that doesn't hit the gun stock like most.

I wear ear protection at the range, but not while hunting.

I got into the habit at the range many years ago, after far too many years of using nothing at all... but like a lot of folks, I thought it didn't matter while I was hunting... especially big game. Heck, most of the time shooting at big critters, I never even really heard the gunshot. I did notice that the .44 might give me a little ringing from time to time, but not my rifles or shotguns.

That all changed last February, thanks to a Browning A-bolt with the BOSS and a foolish wild pig that gave me a simple, cross-canyon shot.

One shot.

For several days afterward, it was like I'd jammed a half pound of cotton into my left ear. It didn't ring or hum... it just went dead. When it finally started coming back, various low tones caused a buzzing sound. That lasted for several months. The "worst" of it seems to be over now, but like Phil, I have lost a level of hearing in that ear, and it's very difficult for me to understand conversations in crowds. Even worse, it's tough to hear and enjoy live music any longer, because the ambient noise causes too much interference. And I LOVE live music.

I know most of this is due to cumulative effects over a lifetime of hunting and shooting, but it served as a pretty sobering message that I need to pay more attention to stuff like this.

And probably the most embarrassing thing about all this? I had a nice set of custom-fitted Sport-Ears right there in my pack the whole time.

Several years ago, some nut in the duck blind shot his SBE over my head but under the roof. It literally knocked me and the guy next to me down. Had tinitis ever since. Crowded rooms and tvs in an open room are difficult to hear in. I have been shooting for most of my life. I regularly wore plugs or muffs when I'm target shooting but not in the field. Learned my lesson the hard way.I use a plug on my offhand side now while hunting. I hate being next to the guy at the range with a BOSS. Especially when the firing line is under a canopy. Plugs and muffs aren't enough for me then.
One of the loudest guns I've ever shot was my Colt .45 ACP officers model, even more than any .44mags I've owned. Must be the short barrel.

I have been wearing hearing protection in the field for the last two years now, always have at the range. I am 28 and have already noticed a small decline in hearing compared to when I was younger, not much but enough that I notice and I want to keep it from getting any worse. When I am bird hunting I wear electronic muffs, and I had a similar experience where a friend of mine fired a shot that he shouldn't have. Thankful to have the muffs on. While deer hunting I wear the electronic muffs or foam ear plugs. I find the ear plugs better in colder weather with hats, and watching a field does not require the hearing perception that bowhunting or deep woods hunting does. In addition to hearing protection, I always wear eye protection when hunting or doing any type of shooting. How many out there wear eye protection in the field? Unfortunately among my friends I am the only one who wears eye protection all the time, when we go sporting clay shooting they see the eye protection rule as a rule to be broken rather than a wise idea. Seems like cheap insurance against a stray pellet, and I have been thankful in the field when prickley ash branches have brushed my face. Plus with tints I can see better than with my eyes alone.