Warning: Dove hunting can be hazardous to your health

By By Otha Barham / outdoors editor
September 3, 2004
Come tomorrow morning thousands will swarm to fields where mourning doves thrive and the sounds of gunfire, not unlike the clamor of a small war, can be heard echoing across the land. From a distance, the shotgun blasts resemble the thunderclaps that often accompany springtime rainstorms. But up close, the sound can be painful and harmful.
The damage caused to hearing when a gun is fired is so certain and so predictable and so tragic, that the issue must be one of the foremost safety concerns that shooters should address.
Wearing hearing protection is inconvenient and ear plugs or muffs take away some of the thrilling sounds of the hunt. But consider it the price of admission. Wear protection on the dove field and save your hearing.
An aging outdoor writer once wrote that when he and a group of his old writer friends got together they all yelled at each other because they were all deaf. He realized that it was because they had all shot game and targets all their lives without hearing protection. No one wore ear protection when these old timers lived and hunted.
Early damage
I followed that generation by just a few years and never wore hearing protection until I was in my forties. I handload all my ammunition rifle and shotgun and I tested loads on the shooting range for years. I conducted my own penetration tests and patterns with dozens of shotgun loads, experimenting with most every powder, shell and primer available. I chronographed rifle loads in several calibers using various custom bullets, and many powders and other components. I shot the chamber out of one rifle and put plenty of wear on others.
By middle age, I was partially deaf. I have a loud ringing in my ears today because of those years of shooting with no hearing protection. The ringing is greatest in my left ear because I shot right handed for the first half of my life which caused the muzzle of my guns to be nearest the left ear. The ringing is so loud that practically nothing drowns the sound out. I can still hear it even when I am speaking loudly.
Once I became aware of the importance of hearing protection, I began using it faithfully. The sound of a gunshot up close actually hurts. I now have to wear hearing protection to operate a chainsaw or electric saw, a pneumatic hammer or even an ordinary hammer. Virtually any loud noise hurts. And if one is around shooting a lot, the chance of getting a blast that further damages your ears is great.
I have had three such serious "accidental" encounters recently. I stepped off a bus at a rifle range just as someone fired one of the super magnum rifles. I had not yet slipped on my ear muffs and the bus had pulled up close to the shooting benches. My day was ruined and I lost a bit more hearing.
Another time my brother and I were shooting my .40 semi-auto pistol and I pulled off my ear muffs just as he fired the gun unexpectedly. Hearing loss and more ringing. I fired a rifle with a muzzle brake on it with just my ear muffs on. Don't try that. You need ear plugs under the muffs. I suffered intense ringing for 3 days and more volume to my permanent ringing.
Use what works
Ear muffs get in my way when I shoulder my shotgun in the dove field. So I wear ear plugs or Walker's Game Ears, a hearing aid for shooters that shuts off automatically at the sound of a shot and blocks the sound like ear plugs.
There are some other things you can do to help avoid hearing damage in the dove field. Choose your shotguns with longer barrels, that is if you have a choice, choose a gun with a 28 or 30 inch barrel instead of a 26 inch barrel. This keeps the noise a bit further from your ears.
Shoot light loads less noise. Don't stand next to another shooter. This is quite important because the angle your ear is to the blast is critical. A shot from a dozen feet away but at right angles to your ear may be more damaging than a shot from your own gun while it is aimed away from your ear.
I practically quit dove hunts in recent years because of the likelihood of more hearing loss. But I plan to go on a special one this year with an old friend. You can safely bet that I will have good hearing protection. You do the same and save your hearing. And have a good hunt.