Know a passionate hunter dealing with hearing loss? Get them back in the game with some ground-breaking technology.
The outdoor world came alive for me again this past weekend, while chasing gobblers in eastern Oregon’s scenic Blue Mountains—and my wide smile hasn’t left since. Was the cause a milestone-number longbeard? Bagging an unusually difficult bird? Those would be good guesses, but my elation stems from something even more special than those. You see, spring turkey hunting in my home state has been one of my passions, but over the past decade, my hearing has gradually diminished to the point where, unaided, I cannot hear turkeys gobbling farther than 100 yards away. As you might guess, this severely handicaps my ability to pinpoint direction and distance, unless I have one of my sons—or a friend—by my side for assistance.
This recent hunt was much different. With the aid of a new TETRA hearing device, I was able to roost the 21-pound, 10-inch bearded gobbler you see pictured at top, from about 400 yards, without assistance. The best part? In recent, previous years, I would have never heard this bird at all. Scouting the night before paid off the next day, as for the first time in way too long, I was able to hear each and every gobble from the roost. With a few yelps and purrs from my favorite Rocky Mountain slate call, I was able to bring this longbeard to within 10 yards, and my son Hunter did the rest. As you can see, he didn’t leave much of the fan—but strange things can happen when the action gets up close and personal. Is it any wonder why we love to chase turkeys?
Over the years I had tried several other hearing-aid devices aimed at hunters, and had been continually disappointed. Most were either prohibitively uncomfortable, or simply, created too much back-noise to be useful. In the end I wasn’t able to discern a longbeard’s direction or distance, with one problem being the sounds I was hearing were simply too loud. For a dedicated turkey hunter, it was maddening. In my opinion, TETRA is a game-changer. Not only does it protect your hearing from loud gun blasts and calls; you can hear conversations and target game animals clearly and accurately. From the start with this unit, I was amazed at how the sounds came alive again—with no discomfort or back-noise—and I could easily pinpoint the correct distance and direction! Game on!
TETRA’s hearing technology for hunters is simply incredible, and you can read about it yourself by clicking here. Truth be told, before I made the leap I had watched several TETRA video testimonials over the past year or so, and was still a bit skeptical, primarily because of my previous experiences with other devices. Well, I’m not a skeptic any more, and honestly, I can’t wait to try them out while chasing other species. Especially, while bowhunting for elk during the September rut, and during my annual pheasant hunting treks to North Dakota. As you can imagine, I’m looking forward to hearing some bugling and cackling again!
If you’re interested in hearing the woods come alive again, TETRA provides a customized, very-detailed online hearing test (for each ear) that corrects frequencies. For me, my left ear demonstrated more hearing loss than my right, and TETRA adjusted the frequencies accordingly, for each ear. Since I hunt year-round, I chose to have them set me up with their Multi-Pursuit AlphaShield series ($1,499/pair; designed for multi-species), which has several settings designed for specific hunting/shooting environments. The settings include turkey, elk, deer, waterfowl, upland, and range/clay.
TETRA improves my hearing so well, I now have complete confidence that I can effectively hunt turkeys, elk, and other game on my own again. The MSRP might be a bit of a sticker shock for some, but considering what we shell out these days for a new bow or rifle, not to mention myriad other gear, all aimed at improving our hunting success—shouldn’t hearing all aspects of your hunting adventures be a top priority too? You already know my answer. Good hunting, and good hearing!
