Hunting
Why you should hunt with a suppressor
Hunting is perhaps one of the most popular American outdoor activities, and with the increasing popularity of suppressors, it’s only natural that people will ask if they can hunt with suppressors. The answer is by and large a resounding yes! In fact, 41 of 50 US states allow hunting for deer, elk, bears, sheep, goats, pronghorn, moose, predators, varmints, squirrels, and hogs with suppressors, meaning that most anyone who wants to hunt can do so with a suppressor.
Yes, You Can Hunt with a Suppressor
You can totally hunt deer and other game with a suppressor, and there are a lot of good reasons to do so. We’ll show you the states that allow hunting with suppressors in a minute, but the good news is that it is quite likely that you can hunt with a suppressor in your state.
If you have a hunting rifle with a suppressor or want to put a suppressor on your hunting rifle, you’ll find a lot of benefits, and precious few, if any, drawbacks. Well, other than the bother of getting an NFA registered device, but that’s not such a big deal in the grand scheme of things.
Anyway, since most places are states that allow hunting with a suppressor, let’s look at the advantages that come with suppressed hunting.
States that Allow Suppressors for Hunting
There are presently 42 states that allow ownership of suppressors, and 40 of them permit hunting with suppressors. As you can see, that includes some of the best deer hunting country in the nation. Sadly, some highly populated states like California and New York don’t allow hunting with suppressors, but most Americans are in luck!
If your state isn’t on this list, consider connecting with local gun rights advocacy groups and pressing your elected officials to embrace firearms and hunting safety by allowing the use of suppressors when hunting.
Check out the map below to see which states it is legal to own and hunt with a suppressor. There is only one state where it is legal to own a silencer, but not hunt with it, and that is Connecticut.
Benefits of Hunting Suppressed
From the very beginning in 1909, suppressors have been actively marketed to hunters and for good reason – they make hunting safer and quieter, eliminate the need for bulky hearing protection, and improve accuracy when shooting.
Here are just a few of the reasons why suppressed hunting is better hunting:
Protect your hearing - shoot on mute!
Shooting a gun without a suppressor is loud - very loud. The sound from just one shot can have a lasting effect upon your hearing. Lowering the decibel output of any activity to down below the threshold for permanent damage to your hearing is a good thing. For short, impactful hearing damage, such as you would encounter hunting, we try to get the level down below 140 decibels. The average gunshot comes in around 140-160.
Every decibel level multiplies the amount of decibels, so a 10 decibel level increase raises that amount by a factor of ten. The same goes in reverse. Reduce the decibel level by ten and you decrease the force of that sound wave by a factor of ten.
We've used this analogy before, but it works. Think of sound as a wave of water and your ear drum as a house on the shore. If you have a 3 foot wave coming and you increase that power by a factor of ten, and that wave is now 30 feet tall and packing a lot of power! A three-foot wave won't likely damage your house, but a 30-footer means serious damage that you may never be able to repair. A suppressor is like a solid break wall that protecting your house (inner ear) from that wave. A suppressor mutes the sound wave, making it safer and more enjoyable to shoot.
Make the outdoors quiet again
The thundering roar of a gunshot spooks game, trains animals to expect hunters and disturbs private landowners and other people sharing the same hunting space. Suppressors, when paired with the right ammo, reduce the sound of a gunshot to hearing safe levels, and “dull the edge” of the sound of a gunshot.
Hunting with a suppressor is safer
While in recent years electronic ear muffs that allow you to hear ambient noise while blocking the sound of gunfire have hit the market, the simple fact is most hunters still choose between no ear protection or wearing something that makes it hard to hear what is going on around them.
You also have more of what we call situational awareness. When you shoot, the loud sound is proven to have a disorienting effect on the human brain. It is caused by the rising in your ears and the pain that a loud sound causes in your inner ear. Shooting suppressed relieves that and allows you to focus more on what is going on around you. That makes for a better hunt, and a more enjoyable time in the outdoors.
Accuracy is proven to be improved
When shooting with a suppressor, your rifle is more accurate because the bullet has been stabilized. This benefit has also been touted since the early 20th century. This is because the physics of a silencer reduce felt recoil and muzzle climb. With both of these factors greatly reduced, shooters find their rifles easier to shoot.
The sound reduction also makes it easier for YOU to shoot your gun more accurately.
There are a lot of other little things that make hunting with a suppressor nice, too. Your shots are less likely to spook other game in case you miss, you are fully aware of your surroundings, you have less gear to carry on your person, you never have to worry about quickly getting hearing protection in before taking a shot, and of course, reducing noise pollution is simply the responsible, polite thing to do.
Do Suppressors Impact Accuracy?
We already touched on this a bit, but we can look a little deeper into how suppressors impact accuracy.
It is a law of physics that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Gun owners understand this as recoil. Recoil is moderated through various means, like through heavy guns or dense stocks that help absorb and distribute some of the energetic forces from firing a round. Felt recoil can also be reduced with various shock absorbing materials like rubber buffer pads or even various spring loaded or similar shock absorbers built into the stock.
Semi automatic rifles have some natural recoil reduction built into their operation, as the recoil springs that cycle the action absorb huge amounts of energy that would normally be felt by your shoulder.
Muzzle brakes (while rarely seen on manually operated hunting rifles) are another proven way to reduce felt recoil, as they redirect muzzle gas in such a way as to weaken the recoil impulse.
All these common mechanical ways to reduce or redistribute recoil energy add up to easier shooting. And we all know an easier shooting gun can be more accurately shot. Consider the difference between shooting a .22 rimfire and a punishing .300 Winchester Magnum. While skilled shooters can do well with either gun, I think we can all agree the .22 is a lot easier to shoot accurately.
Suppressors take the recoil reducing ability of a muzzle brake and turn that power up to 11. Because suppressors contain muzzle gas for so long in order to reduce sound, they also double as an insanely effective muzzle brake. Which means less felt recoil, and, you guessed it... the ability to shoot your rifle easier.
What can I hunt with a suppressed rifle?
Aside from the one state you can't hunt with a suppressor, or the eight states that don't seem to care about hearing protection, the sky is virtually the limit for hunting in other states where suppressed hunting is legal.
A few states used to have some restrictions on hunting with a suppressor. Montana immediately comes to mind as this suppressor-friendly state would only allow suppressor use for varmint hunting. Thankfully, the law was changed a number of years ago and hunters in Montana are free to use suppressors on all game animals as well as varmints.
Be sure to check your local game laws every season, just to be sure you're still in the clear. We will try to keep you updated, too.
Deer, Elk, Caribou, and Moose (and even pronghorn)
Deer, elk, moose, caribou, or pronghorn hunting is greatly enhanced when using your suppressor. This is because most rifle suppressors offer a reduction in recoil. You may not need a 300 Winchester Magnum for a White Tail deer on the East Coast at 50 yards but in the western states, the mule deer are larger and often taken at greater distances.
This holds true for bigger game animals such as Elk, Pronghorn Antelope, Bighorn Sheep, and Caribou. These animals have incredible hearing and the sound of a gunshot will keep them out of an area for weeks at a time.
Varmint Hunting
Prairie dog and ground squirrel hunters often benefit the most from the use of a silenced hunting rifle while varmint hunting. Animals such as these are well aware of what gunfire means and a large group will retreat to their burrows until they no longer hear gunfire.
A suppressed hunting rifle will allow you to maximize your efforts when you need to take them out in a small amount of time. It will allow you to take shots at them for hours on end, if that’s your intent.
Coyotes
Whether you consider them to be varmints or predators, coyotes are some of the most intelligent and cagey animals to hunt. They recognize gunshots for what they are and even the youngest or most naïve of these creatures will keep a smart distance in spite of your best predator calls once they hear one. To sum it up, like their cartoon namesake, they are wily.
Hunting coyotes with a suppressed hunting rifle will allow a varmint hunter to be able to make short work of them in the least amount of time.
Hog hunting
Another animal with excellent hearing and one that knows the sound of gunshots for what they are is the feral hog. These animals have bred to out of control numbers in the wild and are a pestilence when it comes to agricultural, property, and other forms of damage. Suppressed hunting rifles are a necessity when taking out packs of them.
The best suppressors for hunting
The best-suppressed hunting rifle needs the best suppressor for hunting. Of course, we should consider what kind of rifle we are putting a suppressor on. As a general rule, any well-made rifle is suitable to be used as a suppressor host. The “best” suppressed hunting rifle really does become academic, because there is no one single best hunting rifle. So we’ll assume you have a good rifle and want to put one of the best suppressors for hunting on it.
Rather than list off the best suppressors for hunting, you can hit the link below and read about some of our most current suggestions.
Getting Your Hunting Rifle Barrel Threaded
Many common hunting rifles do not have barrels threaded for a suppressor. There are many reasons for this, most of which boil down to cost. Suppressors are an optional accessory that often cost more than the gun they are being mounted on. This means there is little reason to thread every barrel that comes out of a factory.
And for whatever reason, hunters rarely embrace muzzle devices like flash hiders or muzzle brakes on their guns, so most hunting rifles show up without threaded barrels. The exception to this is many semiautomatic sporting rifles which usually have threaded muzzles for common muzzle brakes or flash hiders. These can be quickly fitted with suppressors. But odds are good your favorite manually operated or older semiautomatic rifle isn’t suppressor-ready.
When you consider the best-suppressed hunting rifle is often the one you own and are comfortable with, barrel threading becomes very important. You could trust your rifle to a gunsmith using hand tools or inexpensive machine tools and hope that they’ll do the job right, or you could have your barrel threaded on a state of the art CNC machine that cuts more perfect threads than are possible by any other means.
That’s why we founded Threading Central and offer an easy mail-in barrel threading program! Our state of the art machines will do a more perfect job than even most factories are capable of, and the best part is that it’s incredibly easy and affordable!
Get Equipped Before You Hunt
Are you ready to own a hunting rifle suppressor? That’s exactly what Silencer Central is here for.
We’ve long recognized there are distinct markets for suppressors including tactical/military/law enforcement, and the hunter. So, if you to hunt deer with a suppressor, we know a thing or three about the needs of hunters and sport shooters just like you, because you are our entire reason for existence. Our dedicated expert staff can help you select the perfect suppressor for your hunting rifle that meets your unique combination of budget, performance and end-use.
In addition, Silencer Central has offices in all 42 silencer legal states, so we know what it takes for your state. Plus, we are the only silencer dealer who can perform the entire transaction from purchase to submitting ATF paperwork, to delivering your suppressor entirely by mail!
That’s right, for the first time since the 1934, mail order silencers are again possible, and only through Silencer Central. Learn more about the process here, and see how much easier it can make things for you. We also offer a FREE NFA gun trust to all our customers that not only makes registering your suppressor easy but serves as a trust for all your NFA devices.
No matter if you are an experienced silencer owner or are just getting your first hunting rifle suppressor, we are here for you. Drop us a line or send us an email and let’s get you started with selecting the best suppressor for deer hunting (or anything else you can use a suppressor for) right now.
