Tab vs Glove

[Doc Nock]

Mr. Lohr and Jeff Strubberg have nailed the two oposing sides of my long delemma!

My glove takes a beating cause I try to put up and get in and set up in a stand... with it on.

Never know when a shot might come.  Then there is the fooling with tying knots or lacing up a bracer...or trying to get into a pocket and get something out and fumblin and dropping it cause the glove restricts feeling and dexterity.

Tabs... I dunno. I only ever had the cheaper ones with a hole cut in them... and you could spin it to the back side of your hand and have full dexterity... but alas...

A gracious reader here makes their own and offered to send me one so I will give it another go...been YEARS!

I better book mark this to remember all the good tab suggestions!

[mt-dew10]

I used a tab for about year and a half.  Got tired of misplacing or losing them.  Switched to a glove and never looked back.

I can use both okay, assuming I use proper back tension.  A bad release is still a bad release whether you use one or the other.  I have not noticed any 'accuracy' issues over one or the other.

[Gray Buffalo]

What Jeff said

[Chain2]

I ordered a tab. Shot tonight in snowstorm with my glove but I taped my finger up. Shot exceptionally well. I am knocking on my desk as I say this.

[Downtime]

I shot with a glove for a long time and for the last 6 years been using a tab.  I can wear a jersey glove and use the tab during the hunting season.  Great cold weather combination.

[IdahoCurt]

I have used gloves for 20yrs until I tried a friends tab last year and shot the best group of my life,I doubt I'll go back to a glove.

[elkhunter45]

Went stumping yesterday with a new cheapy calf hair tab which is all that the local shop had in stock. My first time to use a tab and I shot lights out! I drilled even the smallest odd leaves that were in my range. Beginners luck? I will find out next week when I try it again. I left the field with a new found confidence in my equipment.

[Steelhead]

I shot a glove for years and switched to a tab.I prefer the tab overall.I have tried gloves a few times since and they work fine.But prefer the tab overall for a cleaner release and they work better for a deep hook which I prefer.

I do like a finger spacer and a cordovan face and also the metal piece at bottom like a cavalier elite has for consistant placement of the string right in front of the metal plate and a consistant even pull thats easily duplicated.I also like how those Cavalier tabs can pulled tight to the finger with thier mechanism.The metal based tab can help prevent cupping of the hand for those that may have a problem with that.But I like it for consistant and accurate  placement of the string thats easily replicated.

[Shortlongbow]

I prefer the old fashion Hill style cordovan glove with inserts. Excellent finger protection and its there when I need it. A tab just never felt right to me.

[Bud B.]

Good reads both pro and con.


For me, I like the ability to work with my hand without having to flip the tab around.

I keep my glove hand warm by using hand warmers in my pocket.


And most of all, I have never seen a tab design for two under shooters. The ones for three under shooters have too much leather left over. I dabble in leather and made myself one but didn't like it.

If someone knows of a design for us rare two under guys/gals I'd be interested in hearing about it and seeing photos.

My only problem with a glove is my index finger seems to want to twist towards the back of my hand. I'm a lefty. After about two shots I have to twist it back into proper alignment.

[Crash]

I started out with a tab and then tried a glove.  Haven't been able to use a tab since, don't feel like I'm in control of the shot.  Funny how personal items are, two guys love and hate the same thing.  Been thinking about trying one of the new cordovan tabs, never tried one of them before.

[huntnmuleys]

tab for me. at first i was uncomfortable with it as my anchor point kind of became a mystery, but it is smoother for me to release, and now that im used to it anchor-wise i love it.

[Doc Nock]

REading all these great points on both sides, I am anxious to get decent weather to try a tab.

What strikes me among the many caveats is that there appears to be a infinite # of "things" one should know or employ when using tab vs glove.

I've got the glove down fairly well over the years and never shot a tab since I was a kid.

I'm wondering how many "nuance" or "form" type things one needs to know with a tab that some might have inadvertently "stumbled" onto trying the tab above and finding success???

Steelhead shared a few tidbits that got me thinking I might need to know more about positioning and such before finding success.

I taught myself archery years ago and then spent YEARS more once I found some decent guidance to "unlearn" the bad things I'd fallen into.

Rather avoid that with the tab.  Anyone found some "techniques" to using a tab successfully they wish to share?

[Smithhammer]

Well, this thread encouraged me to dig my old BW tab out of the box and try shooting with it again. After 1/2 hr or so, I remembered why I've love my Big Shot. Tabs just feel too sloppy to me, and the Big Shot is as smooth of a release as anything I've ever tried.

[Rufus]

I use a tab mostly, have for years, but I still shoot one of my gloves occasionally just in case I be stuck somewhere and that's all I have.
 I make most of the tabs I shoot but if not using my own style I shoot a BW.  
 But all said, as you can see above, whatever floats your boat! Just enjoy!

[donw]

LOL! i'm the opposite of many here...i went from a tab to a glove and haven't looked back.

i might add, that i use a mechanical release, too, as arthritis in my fingers sometimes does not permit using the glove...

[BobCo 1965]

Originally posted by Doc Nock:

Rather avoid that with the tab.  Anyone found some "techniques" to using a tab successfully they wish to share?

I don't know if it a technique or not, but I like to shoot with a tab split finger. I also like a tab with a finger spacer. I like the finger spacer because I can squeeze it slightly between my index and middle finger which causes the index finger to turn upward slightly. A lot of people get sore on the inner index finger close to the nock, this will help eliminate this. I also like to have no leather on the nock at all and I'll cut the tab leather to do this. I like to feel the nock on my middle finger. Other then that I take a deep hook on my index and middle finger and the ring finger is only there for the ride on the pad of the finger to help eliminate string torque.