What to look for in a quality shooting glove?

Question

A shooting glove seems to be quite important for archery. I'm a bit lost when it comes to characteristics of a good shooting glove. What makes a 40 $ glove superior to a 15 $ one? What should one look for?

Answer 1

A bowstring is brutal on the skin of your fingers. All the stored energy in a bent bow passes through the string - and your fingertips - when shooting a bow using just fingers (no mechanical release). Try shooting your bow with no glove. After a dozen shots or so, your fingertips will begin to sting. Another dozen and you'll have blisters. Keep shooting and those blisters will tear off. (Been there.)

To protect the skin on your fingertips, just wear a glove.

The glove needs to be a very good fit. If it is slightly bulky, then you will have trouble manipulating your arrow and the bowstring. Also, a loose finger-covering might move with the bowstring, upsetting your arrow. If the glove is too tight, you lose flexibility in your fingers, thus making it difficult, once again, to manipulate your arrow and bowstring.

I first got a bow when I was a teenager. The best hunting seasons were during the rut - elk in September, mule deer in November. But those hunts were strictly archery only. So I got a bow. I shot so much that I wore out the shooting glove that I'd bought with my bow. Being just a poor kid, I started shooting with my work gloves, which were made of cowhide. My shooting didn't suffer a bit, so I never bought another shooting glove.

The November deer hunt was always cold, so I switched to cheap, thin, cotton gloves that fit very tight but were very flexible. Once again, my shooting didn't suffer at all. When temps dropped down to -10 degrees Fahrenheit, which it does every year (in my part of the world) for a few days in mid-late November, I switched to a bulky, but snug, fleece glove. I had to go a little slow and be extra careful when nocking an arrow but, with practice, I quickly achieved a consistent, smooth release.

I performed my daily shooting practice wearing the same gloves I hunted with - good leather work gloves, cheap cotton gloves, and bulky - but good fitting - fleece gloves.