I've always worn eye protection and the one day that I forgot them at home I was shot from about 35-40yards. Thankfuly it was from the waist down and I was wearing waxed gaitors that protected me.

This guys story reminded me of that so I thought I would share it.

I would be really interested to see peoples views on the subject as I see so many people not wearing shooting glasses.

Rgds,
Kiri

http://vimeo.com/14879641

Always! My dad bought me my first pair after a friends son in law almost lost an eye in an accident. I have found them particularly helpful when shooting an auto, they help keep flying crud out of my eyes. Shooting glasses are like ear plugs, I just wont shoot without them.
C.G.B.

All the time - not only to protect my eyes from others' shot (never happened) but because I hunt grouse in dense New England cover I get whapped in the face a lot by branches and don't want corneal abrasions from bushes.

Always. As a grouse hunter I worry less about shot than getting poked by branches, etc.

Vitually always when hunting birds, especially in areas where there are other hunters. I also wear the electronic hearing protection that block out gun noise.

In addition to protecting your eyes, shooting glasses with the proper tint will help you see the bird or clay more clearly. I have found that a yellow tint works when it is cloudy and the light is "soft". Brown works well with glare out in the grasslands. Gray tends to flatten depth of field and hinders depth perception on a moving target.

quote:

Originally posted by Oxon:
All the time - not only to protect my eyes from others' shot (never happened) but because I hunt grouse in dense New England cover I get whapped in the face a lot by branches and don't want corneal abrasions from bushes.

This pretty much sums up the main reason I always wear glasses while chasing birds. Funny thing is that I don't wear them when deer hunting even though I hunt in eqally thick brush. Maybe I should rethink that!

I always wear eye protection when shooting. Now that I have glasses I'm trying to figure out how to get a set of shooting glasses (Randolph's) with Rx lenses. Going to have a chat with my opthomologist next month when I go.

quote:

Originally posted by Slash:
In addition to protecting your eyes, shooting glasses with the proper tint will help you see the bird or clay more clearly. I have found that a yellow tint works when it is cloudy and the light is "soft". Brown works well with glare out in the grasslands. Gray tends to flatten depth of field and hinders depth perception on a moving target.

Slash, I completely agree. I wear the Oakley Ballistic range which is basically a form of the M-Frame. They make a range of lenses but I get on really well with the Orange Persimon for cloudy days as you describe and also a brown polarised version(they actually look yellow when you put them on??) for brighter days. The latter also double up as a decent trout stalking lens in bright weather.

Last year on one of our African Bird hunts, Diggory got caught by a branch swinging back which hit him in the eye and punctured his cornea. Every time he blinked it would wipe away the scar tissue and so it wouldn't heal. The result was three to four months of protective contact lenses and a lot of pain. I think it is all OK now, and Dig was wearing sun glasses just not proper protective ones so the thorn on the branch slid round the lens from what I understood.

Rgds,
Kiri

Before I started wearing prescription lenses, I had a pair of Bushnell photochromic shooting glasses that changed from yellow to brown depending on the light. Now, fortunately, my eye doctor is a duck hunter, so he is quite sympathetic to my needs. He made up a pair of impact-resistant glasses with oversized lenses, a brown tint, and small magnifiers (ala bifocals). I resisted the magnifiers at first, but now I am glad that I have them.

my brother was shot at 25 meters by an anxious partrige hunter in the face he was using a wileyX glasees that saved his eyes ,Juan

Allways wear them, specially while skeet shooting since oftentimes bbs or other crap will bounce back....

I too always wear eye protection while bird hunting. I've been peppered by too many tunnel visioned bird hunters.

Only sunglasses, and only occasionally, at times when I'd wear them anyway, even if not hunting, just because the sun was very bright.

I started to wear them last fall after being "twigged" in the eye pretty bad. I wish I could say I wear them all the time; I don't, but I am working on it.

Edge eye wear was recommended by a friend, they cheap, tough, comfortable and anti-fog.

http://www.hanksclothing.com/safety_glasses.html

I always wear protective lenses. I know too many people with permanent eye injuries, most of which were caused by debris, fragmentation or branches. I wear protective lenses whenever I use hand or power tools as well. No one makes a prostesis or replacement for our eyes.

The Randolph Rangers are great but any ANSI spec protective lenses will keep you safe.