Protect your eyes - see for another day

[gspman]

Folks,
Having been showered with pellets on more than one occasion, being poked in the face by cattail spikes and whipped in the face by brush, I decided a few years ago to start wearing protective eyewear and now I never go hunting or shooting without them.

I've hunted for many years and rarely see people using protective eyewear unless they have prescription eyeglasses and need to wear them to see properly. I would strongly encourage you to get a pair of safety glasses. It only takes one mistake to damage your eye(s) permanently.

You can find decent protective eyewear for well under $40 that are ANSI certified and provide adjustable temples and nosepieces for a comfortable fit all day long. Most brands have several different colors of tinted lenses but in reality clear is the best all around. All the sporting stores (Joe's, Cabelas, Gander Mtn, Fleet Farm, etc...) and trap & skeet ranges sell some form of protective eyewear. Joe's used to carry the brand I really like and may still carry them - the Wiley-X Saber. Get yourself some wraparounds and give yourself some peace of mind.
Thanks and I'll get off my soap box now.
gspman

[Hotspotter]

Well-stated gspman.

We hunt SD for pheasants in big groups, and I'm afraid it will take somebody losing an eye before the group pays attention to this. Hunt long enough, and I think it will happen to most people. Spray can hurt through a jacket, so having protective eyewear is a great idea.

If it's sunny out, I like polarized amber-lens sunglasses, as they tend to accentuate and provide great contrast between different types of cover. For me, it helps to seperate a flying rooster from thick grass or corn. Then again, maybe that's just what I keep telling myself after dropping some cash at Cabelas for fancy sunglasses =)

Joel