Almost always wear shooting glasses....as twigs and sticks, dust and debris are just waiting but a bad luck step away.
I should wear them 100% of the time but for a few % on wet or in humid times, I become an idiot.

Plus, I have not worn shooting glasses and been taught a lesson.

 

I wear glasses. However, if I am in the field and I have to go quickly to get a shot, I wouldn't skip hearing protection, but I have shot without glasses on. Just being truthful.

 

I will ear plugs when I am dove hunting or blind hunting for fowl. While out upland hunting I dont mess with ear protection as I am not shooting high volumes in a day or have a barrel of another hunter a couple feet away.

 

My wife mocks me for wearing my field pants in public. She doesn't know that my glasses are shatterproof.

 

I wear my pillas hunting. I get the safety benefits from shotfall as well as the benefits of clearer vision from the filtration of the lenses.

 

Allways, it's not fun when the buffer compound blows back into your face.

 

Glasses and hearing protection are mandatory for me. With polarized, colored lenses why not wear glasses that will help you pick up targets faster? Also with all the hearing protection that allows you to hear conversations and protect hearing, why not? Ringing ears and sore eyes make for poor shooting and a bad day.

 

Glasses while hunting, yes!

 

Older in the tooth, but still wear my Oakley M frames when hunting, and for sporting clays as well. Hence lens color works perfect for both, don't get sore eyes from bright sun, and protects my eyes as well.

As for hearing protection, just depends on how hot the shooting will get, and have a set of electronic fitted plugs If I going to shoot more than a few rounds a day hunting. So yes on hearing protection for dove and quail, but no for pheasant instead.

 

I don’t fire a gun without eye and ear pro.

 

As I write this, i am wearing hearing aids. When I started hunting I, like my father and grandfather, wore neither hearing or eye protection. Hearing protection was unheard of and wearing glasses made you susceptible to blurred vision in the rain. My habits have changed, I won't shoot without both hearing and vision protection.

I switched between a number of hearing protection devices until I tried TETRA. Mine have a mode where they amplify the sound of upland bird wings flapping, allowing me to react to the flush of a bird faster (compensating somewhat for my slower reflexes). I took an on-line hearing test while ordering and they corrected for my hearing loss too. They work don't seem to pick up wind noise. I noticed when I wore them clay target shooting (another mode) that I my hearing got worse when I took them off at the end of the shoot. That's what convinced me to go through the process of getting my hearing tested by an audiologist and ordering real hearing aids for everyday use. My hunting buddy noticed my improvement in hearing birds (waterfowl is a third mode) both upland game and waterfowl and is going to get his hearing re-tested and is considering electronic ear protection too.

Eye protection is a must while clay target shooting. I've had several shards from broken targets hit me. While hunting, I've had a number of incidents involving brush, been pelted by falling pellets while waterfowl hunting, and had powder residue blow back in my face. The tinting is a bonus, helping me identify birds quickly with sharp vision. The brim of my hat helps keep rain off the lenses. I admit, I do occasionally need to stop and clean fog or water droplets off them. While I have corrected vision, I'd wear eye protection regardless.

 

Have you ever been shot ? Feels like a sting. Unless it’s your eyes.

 

Never been shot, but I have had it rain on me while hunting doves on public land.

I wear my Rangers while hunting now. I have seen a couple of nasty "booms" and that is what got me wearing them in the first place.

 

Yes to eye protection always. I just wear my Rangers or Decots I use for Clays... Also the light yellow tint is awesome for early low light and early morning hunting. Of course brighter days might require a bronze lens. But there's so much that can go wrong in the field and not just from guns. Driving a boat in the dark through some flooded timber without eye pro is just asking to get a branch stuck in your eye. Usually use hearing protection in the blind or dove field. Maybe not so much when chasing pheasants or grouse. But eye protection...always.

 

I always wear shooting glasses, have had shot ricochet of of trees and hit my glasses. I do not wear hearing protection in the field but always on clay courses.
Buster

 

For hunting consider obtaining custom plugs with vents that allow you to hear the game, but close off with high deceble shotgun sound. Audiologists who make molds for hearing aids can provide this service. I have tried these for target shooting, but do not believe they create enough sound attenuation for the hundreds of shots your ears are exposed to in a squad of shooters. However, quite helpful with the limited shot sound exposure in most hunting endeavors.

 

Armtx77,
We started wearing nice shooting glasses as soon as they were available for purchase, even back in the late 50's. I have the multi changeable lense glasses, 1st pair were from Browning with 7 different colored lenses, and the 2nd pair from CSMC with 30 different colored safety lenses for shooting on all differently lighted days, when hunting or shooting Clays. I do believe these particular safety shooting glasses are all made by the same parent company. I also have the hearing protection, inner ear although while hunting I like to hear the normal sounds in the woods, they are great for shooting Clays however. The hearing and eye protection have both come a long way with their technology, great stuff.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

 

Armtx77,
We started wearing nice shooting glasses as soon as they were available for purchase, even back in the late 50's. I have the multi changeable lense glasses, 1st pair were from Browning with 7 different colored lenses, and the 2nd pair from CSMC with 30 different colored safety lenses for shooting on all differently lighted days, when hunting or shooting Clays. I do believe the safety glasses are all made by the same parent company. I also have the hearing protection, inner ear although while hunting I like to hear the normal sounds in the woods, they are great for shooting Clays however. The hearing and eye protection have both come a long way with their technology, great stuff.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

It is interesting to hear the different comments.

I grew up hunting along I-80 in Illinois, with guys who had been going at it since before WWII, were WWII, Korean and Vietnam Vets. Unless they wore Px glasses none of them wore safety glasses.

It was what they knew, and thusly what was taught to the rest of us. Most of them probably would not spend the money on shooting glasses. I also think OSHA style regulations were non-existent or in their infancy during those times.

Im glad things have changed to the point that people know they should be wearing at the minimum, safety glasses and definitely hearing protection for the sporting games. There are some hunting situations where Im for it and wear hearing protection. The only time I dont is hunting wild pheasant. 3 of us spread out over 30-40yds and shooting MAYBE 10 rds a day between the 3 of us...far less than any OSHA standard.

 

The reason for shooting glasses does not end with your shotgun having an issue or pellets from a gun belonging to someone else....reason extends to being in alders, buggywhips or on shortgrass.
That from hard lessons learned.

 

Last season I was pheasant hunting with my new lab, just the two of us. He was 20-30 yards away and a branch, that seemed to come out of nowhere, hit me in the right eye. It was hard to focus for the ride home. I thought my shooting carrier was over. I went to an eye doctor, got it checked and was given antibiotic drops. Thank God it healed. I will NEVER again go afield without shooting glasses. Never.

 

I have a clear set of lenses for my Ranger shooting glasses for hunting...I never hunt without them.

 

My wife and I both use SSP Eyewear Methow kit we also use ear protection from sig sauer

 

Started wearing them religiously after I witnessed someone in my hunting party lose his eye during a dove hunt back in 2010. Looking back, I realize what a young fool I was to not be wearing glasses and ear protection more often than I did in my early life. Too worried about being "cool" or being able to see-hear the game "better"

I find myself now wearing safety glasses while working the yard. running the mower, weed eater, chain saw etc.

 

Gentlemen,

The reason I wore shooting glasses in the 50's was my Father wore his prescription safety glasses all the time and my brother had prescription safety glasses also, so naturally I wore a good pair of safety shooting glasses. I was just following my Fathers teaching, like the rest of our traditional Grouse hunting, I did what I was told as a youngster, in the Grouse woods. I did hate the 1st generation shooting glasses, they would fog up, especially when I was hunting in the snow.
When they invented the wipe on anti-fog things got a lot easier in the Grouse woods, with my safety glasses.

all the best,

Pine Creek/Dave
L.C. Smith Man

 

My father hunted his whole life with no ear or eye protection. His hearing was pretty much gone by the time he was 50. I learned about ear protection at about age 25. Been using it ever since then. I use muffs with an electronic sound cutoff. I love them and would not hunt or shoot a gun without them. My current pair of muffs is a Sordin. Best ever. I am 72 now and have mild hearing loss. I hate to think what it would be if I hadn't started using ear protection when I did.

I also wear shooting glasses from Decot for all hunting and clays. The purple tint brightens up the targets and birds. My shooting glasses have been progressives for the last 20 years. Some people don't like progressive lenses, but I love them. I can read the score card as well as see the target. Decot actually recommends bi-focal lenses over progressives. But I wear progressives all the time, so the Decot progressives have been wonderful for me. The service and personal attention at Decot is very good. Highly recommended.