HUH???? Can't hear...

[Doc]

Getting a little older. I can't hear as well as I used to. It all brings me back to how my Dad's hearing started going, and I always wondered how he could even hunt with his hearing failing. It looks like I may find out .... lol. How often has it been that a very slight rustle in the leaves was the thing that tipped you off that the deer didn't follow the trail, but was coming in behind you. How about that distant snapped twig that gets you looking intently in the right direction. How many times did something you heard pull your attention to spotting the deer coming in way the heck off in the distance so you were not caught by surprise? Maybe it was something you didn't even know you heard that put your attention in the right direction.

 

So, how important is your hearing to your hunting? If your hearing started to fail, what impact would that be to your success or failure?

[Merlot]

hearing crucial to my hunting. I like to close my eyes and listen...of course, as long as the wind isn't blowing me away. 

[Doc]

Yeah, high winds have always bothered me as much as it does the deer. I really want to hear them critters.

[philoshop]

I rely heavily on my ears when hunting. Even cut ear holes in my head covering.

I had an ear infection for part of last year's gun season and couldn't hear very much out of one ear. It was difficult to locate the source of a sound with only one ear. Very strange feeling.

 

This year I'm dealing with cataracts in my shooting eye. It's like looking through an ice cube. If I had a choice I'd take last year's ear infection. ;-]

[Four Season Whitetail's]

Sucks to get old. At 52 i am getting the hearing/sight crap myself. Just another thing to deal with i guess. Plus we get to get that..Sticker Shock..when all a sudden, Bang,That big buck is standing right in front of us..With no clue as to where it came from.

[Doc]

It's nearly impossible to try to draw on a deer that has caught you by surprise. It's almost a lost cause. Maybe the idea is to only hunt old deer that have similar problems. I've got to find only deaf and blind deer to try to even the odds .... lol.

[GreeneHunter]

I've entered the woods with my son (he's early 30's) with him saying "Dad ya hear that"  and me wondering what the hell he's talking about . It was usually a deer running away and I would not have known ! 

[Pygmy]

I have suffered significant hearing loss in my left ear and some in my right ear...

 

FORGET trying to hear things walking in the leaves.. I can't hear it until the critter is right on top of me, and then I have no idea what DIRECTION it is in..

 

I'm a little better on gobblers, but often the bird has to gobble several times for me to figure out what direction it is in.. I have been out with people with NORMAL hearing and invariably they hear birds that I cannot hear at all..

 

Want to hunt with a person who can hear REALLY well  ?

 

Hunt with a woman..Most of them have not been exposed to the gunfire, chainsaws , loud engines,and other machinery that has ruined the ears of many males..

 

My Mom was nearly 86 when she passed, and she was legally blind, but she could still hear a mouse fart 100 yards away.

[hunterman7956]

Walkers Game Ear maybe you can give it a try ?

[grampy]

The years of working with printing presses and age, have really done a number on my hearing. Not only is my hearing getting bad, but it's hard to tell the direction of the sound I do hear in the woods. Last year about halfway through bow season, I heard that deer walking in very crunchy leaves sound behind me. So I get turned a bit searching for the source of the sound behind me. And it's geeting louder! And I dont don't see anything! Finally I turn around to see a young doe feeding on acorns less than twenty yards in FRONT of me. Oh...where did she come from?.......lol

[NFA-ADK]

The cadence of a deer is very distinctive to me as I am sure to many others.  I try to rely on my hearing but it has been better for me to use my eyes as I get older.  Only thing is they are not so good anymore.  So I switched about 14 years ago to using calls and trying to talk to deer.  Works great in deep woods where deer are not use to hunters but on LI it seems every deer has seen a human use a call and many ignore them or know it is not a deer. 

 

Glasses and a hearing aid are not how I wish to hunt but it might be inevitable.  And for stalking it would keep me on even ground, or at least I wish it would.

[wooly]

Want to hunt with a person who can hear REALLY well  ?

 

Hunt with a woman..Most of them have not been exposed to the gunfire, chainsaws , loud engines,and other machinery that has ruined the ears of many males..

 

They are also immune to the biggest factor most of you old married guys are going deaf.....

It's no coincedence their mouths face away from their own ears and towards ours,lol

[Lawdwaz]

Seems like when I'm hunting I can hear great, at home; not so good.  Strange..........................

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 6, 2015 by Lawdwaz

[pointman]

I am 73 years old and I wear glasses and have hearing aids in both ears. Not really the way I like to hunt with bow and gun but it is better then being a couch potato.  Been doing it this way for past 10 ears.

[growalot]

The only hearing problems I have are usually cleared up by walking out of ear shot of Mr B....All's good hunting

[philoshop]

A day in the woods is still a good day.

[fasteddie]

I have had significant hearing loss . When I was in The Marine Corps we didn't have any hearing protection when shooting a rifle or the 81mm mortors . Worked several years in the Fabrication area of a large company . Part of it was in the the Punch Press area aka The Boob Boom Room . 800 ton presses pounding away . The operators had hearing protection but we in management didn't .

When my mother in law passed away I inherited her hearing aids that she only wore a couple times because she didn't like them and had them set for my hearing . Amazing the sounds I pick up when wearing them . I don't wear them hunting as I am afraid of losing them . They originally cost around 5 grand .

I sometimes smell the deer before I see them .

[Nomad]

Don't know about hearing , but LASIK took my eyes from 20/200 without my glasses to 20/15 ! No more fogging glasses, wet glasses , shiney glasses .

[Jeremy K]

My hearing and eye sight are still really good , sometimes my hearing is too good and i will over re act to certain sounds. If you ask my wife though ,she will tell you my hearing sucks , i just agree that my hearing is going and not my ability to pay attention.

[fasteddie]

Don't know about hearing , but LASIK took my eyes from 20/200 without my glasses to 20/15 ! No more fogging glasses, wet glasses , shiney glasses .

Larry , did you have both eyes done ? I was told that if you had the LASIK for close up , it would mess up your distance . Is this true ?

[NFA-ADK]

It's nearly impossible to try to draw on a deer that has caught you by surprise. It's almost a lost cause. Maybe the idea is to only hunt old deer that have similar problems. I've got to find only deaf and blind deer to try to even the odds .... lol.

Deaf and blind (No adding dumb in yet so shadup!) is how I feel when they sneak up on me!  I am always like WTBuck!  Or doe WTD!  So much for relying on my keen insight, vision and instinct.   

[Perchlake]

I bought the walker game ear what a world of difference you can hear everything in the woods

[ants]

I bought the walker game ear what a world of difference you can hear everything in the woods

 

 

Do those things muffle gun shots, like the electronic ear muffs?

[Perchlake]

Be honest with you i never used them during the gun season

[gjs4]

Working in occupational safety and health all I could do to back your point is say unless they're military most folks don't care about noise exposure until they notice their own hearing loss

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