Hunting with a suppressor - dumb idea?

[jrebel]

To me they are just a fad. Maybe useful varmint hunting if you have more than one target animal.

I think you've got it backwards. It won't be long before nobody hunts without one.

Like 9 ounces of weight and 5" added to your barrel are the only downsides outside of cost.

Getting them is becoming easier and cheaper.

Don't damage your hearing, increases your odds of harvesting an animal, reduce recoil, reduce muzzle-rise/muzzle-blast.

In a few other countries if you show up hunting or at the range without one, you're looked at like you're crazy. And you kinda are! Haha.

So the guy that doesn't want that added cost, length to barrel, etc. etc.....are crazy?  I shoot with both suppressed and unsuppressed rifles and still choose to hunt without one in most cases.  Lots of good hearing protection and muzzle devices on the market.  Not to mention....even when shooting suppressed, you should still wear hearing protection.  Especially if you are at a range with multiple firings in a session. 

[Dark2Dark]

So the guy that doesn't want that added cost, length to barrel, etc. etc.....are crazy?  I shoot with both suppressed and unsuppressed rifles and still choose to hunt without one in most cases.  Lots of good hearing protection and muzzle devices on the market.  Not to mention....even when shooting suppressed, you should still wear hearing protection.  Especially if you are at a range with multiple firings in a session.

The writing is on the wall. I'm very glad to say that at the range now, more than half the people there have suppressors. It makes the experience so much nicer for everyone involved. Already, those people that show up with a brake and blow everyone's eardrums out get a bit of side-eye. The ratio will just continue to improve. It's a choice for now, but I expect in a few years when access and price have become more favorable and basically everyone has one, the more "urban" ranges will require them. Because if you're getting closed in on by neighborhoods and keeping the doors open is a struggle, it will be an obvious move to make the range less of a nuisance.

Of course I still wear ear-pro at the range. It makes shooting suppressed sound like a pellet gun. But if you're thinking about putting ear-pro on in the field, you are likely either missing opportunities or losing hearing you'll never get back. Yes, I'll take hearing safe decibel levels all day.

My 5" can is on a rifle with a chopped barrel so it doesn't add length or weight versus the same gun stock.

It's a matter of opinion, for sure, but I do think it's a crazy choice to not hunt with one if you have the means to do so. But it's everyone's prerogative, for now!     

[kselkhunter]

I hunt primarily with suppressed rifles now, with a few exceptions of some rifles that I don't want to have threaded for value reasons (or my BLR in 450 Marlin that I just like having that short barrel on as it's my coast elk hunting rifle).   I haven't really noticed the extra length of the can on my rifles.  I mostly did it for hearing protection, as I don't like trying to put in earplugs before a shot and my hearing is worsening as I get older.   For shotgun I use electronic ear plugs....but those things don't work for me when rifle hunting as I pick up every noise from my jacket/clothes when I walk around.....work fine when sitting in the duck blind but not when moving.  My hunting pistols are also suppressed (22lr and 460 Rowland). 

[Mtnwalker]

I was at the range a few weeks ago and a guy sat down at the bench next to me with a side ported Lapua that literally blew my papers off my bench. Its comical how irritated I was considering I was that guy not too long ago  I'm also just turning into an old curmudgeon though