Unfortunately for me when I was young and dumb I shot frequently without hearing protection. At least now I am no longer young... but I am still dumb and suffer from tinnitus. I wear hearing protection on every shot I take now. I use electronic muffs when hunting waterfowl or if I am sitting in stand or blind for deer. I carry small ear plugs on me in my bino harness so when the stalk gets close on rifle hunts I can slip them in before a shot. I have the in ear walkers for walking upland since the muffs are in mono and not stereo. What I am really struggling with however is finding a good way to help my young son out with his hearing protection.
My son will be 8 in a couple weeks and is a chip off the old block. Not only does he live and love everything hunting, but he is also just like me in being a tiny human. I can't find a good set of youth amplified muffs that don't interfere with his ability to cheek a stock. The muffs are all too large on his small face and cause more harm than good. We just experienced last weekend that if we put in ear plugs before it is crunch time we cant hear at all. We in fact get very excited when a gobbler comes in and start yelling loudly that we cant hear Dad saying "don't move" when a hen is 5 yards behind us and the whole gig is up. At 7 he already has 4 deer and a turkey under his belt so I know he will be experiencing plenty of field shots in his time so I am looking for anything you guys have used to help your kids out in the field with hearing protection. Plugs work fine on the bench or shooting clays for him but his tiny head and tiny ears need something different in the field.
My son will be 8 in a couple weeks and is a chip off the old block. Not only does he live and love everything hunting, but he is also just like me in being a tiny human. I can't find a good set of youth amplified muffs that don't interfere with his ability to cheek a stock. The muffs are all too large on his small face and cause more harm than good. We just experienced last weekend that if we put in ear plugs before it is crunch time we cant hear at all. We in fact get very excited when a gobbler comes in and start yelling loudly that we cant hear Dad saying "don't move" when a hen is 5 yards behind us and the whole gig is up. At 7 he already has 4 deer and a turkey under his belt so I know he will be experiencing plenty of field shots in his time so I am looking for anything you guys have used to help your kids out in the field with hearing protection. Plugs work fine on the bench or shooting clays for him but his tiny head and tiny ears need something different in the field.
