Tab or glove

[Bisch]

It’s all personal preference! The feel of a glove is completely different than the feel of a tab. Whichever one a guy likes best is the one he should use. That being said, I much prefer the feel of a tab.

Bisch

[Joedirt199]

I started with a tab bit have lately been trying a glove. Just using a thin mechanix glove I used for 5k run and guns. Finding I am more consistent with the glove actually. Have an AAE tab in split and 3 under as well as black widow split and 3 under. I think for hunting I may stick with the glove.

[JD Page]

Tab, because it's the best thing I've ever used..

[PhilFloyd]

Tab just feels better on my hand.  Either one will work.

[hawkeye n pa]

Shot a tab for years.  Then got into aerial and pheasant hunting and found a glove to be more reliable for quick shooting.  Tried a tab again, but have stuck with a cordovan glove.  In the end it's really just a personal choice.

[Deno]

Glove for me.   

Deno

[woodchucker]

I have shot with both, over the last 50-some years...

I'm very "picky" about what I shoot with. I like tabs, because I can wear it over a glove if it's cold. Also, I like the ability to flop it down into the palm of my hand without removing it, allowing me to use my fingers as needed.
Calf hair tabs are nice. I don't like the inserts on "can't pinch" tabs, so I remove them. I prefer a heavy, single layer tab, made from 1/4" thick cowhide. I used to make my own. When I was shooting 3-under, I traced an old tab, skipping the split arrow notch, and cut it out. It worked great!! So I made a few more, rubbed in a bunch of Montana Pitch Blend, and set them in the warm sun for a day. I used them for years, and still have a couple around.

Shooting split finger as I do now, and have for the last 5 years or so, I prefer a glove.
The problem (for me) with a glove, Is that they have to FIT like a glove!! You can buy 3 or 4 of the same size glove, and they all fit differently. I prefer a Damascus style glove, with no finger stalls or inserts. Back in 1999 when I was getting back into this "Traditional" thing, Joe Skipp sold me a large size, Berlin deerskin glove. That glove was the best glove I had ever used, and I just loved it!! I used that glove for many years. I have had a few of the Damascus gloves over the years, some that I liked, some not so much....

2 years ago when we were buying our hunting licenses, my youngest son Tyler, bought me a Bearpaw deerskin glove for my birthday. I just LOVE this glove!!! It fits like a glove, and it will probly be my last glove...

[SlowBowKing]

I shot a glove exclusively when I was a kid, and even when I switched to compounds I shot a glove. I had actually never heard of a tab until I got back into trad with my bro-in-law two years ago, and once I tried it I said I’d never go back! Love my tab.

But like others have said, the right answer is whatever works best for YOU!

[GCook]

I chopped my middle knuckle on my string hand index finger to the bone.  It's healing but the glove is killing me trying to shoot.  Keep breaking it back open.  Inconsistent shooting had me frustrated.
So I pulled out a tab and after just a few shots was grouping well and accurately at hunting range.
Gonna practice with it a couple more days.  Head out to hunt again.

[KentuckyWolf]

Shot a tab for a long long time. Never liked gloves until a got a good one. From that point on ...I have stuck to gloves. Shot accuracy is the same. Glove protects my fingers a little better. I have lost tabs...but not gloves. Nothing sucks like losing or forgetting a tab on a hunt.

[Sirius Black]

Cordovan tab.

[Skates 2]

Glove, can't keep up with a tab.  Killed a few critters when I left my glove Lord knows where. Like said above, neither is a shooting aid, just protection.

If your shooting depends on one or the other, then you have an issue that is not related to either.

Just choose what item works best for protection while you are shooting.

Hello...THERE is your answer.

[BrownA5]

Personally I prefer a glove.  I use an American Leathers Bigshot glove (Sponsors here on Trad Gang).  They are comfortable and give a nice clean release.  I have tried tabs and frankly just like the glove better.  I also found it easier to misplace tabs...... personal issue I am sure.   

[katman]

Shot a glove for over forty years. Made the switch to a tab after taking Rod Jenkins course years ago and listening to him state with a glove your either breaking it in or it is worn, very little time when it is just right. Tab yields a smoother more relaxed fingers release for me. The switch was awkward at first but stuck with it and enjoy the benefits.
Once in a while I break out the glove and shoot for nostalgia only.

[Jim Wright]

I hope I'm not the 1st to say this but they both work well and neither is much "trouble". I like both and change between them every so often.

[BillyfromSuperior]

I'm torn between a glove. Which I've always used since starting trad. And a tab which I feel gives a far superior release. I also think a glove is more efficient as its always ready. Whats everyone's opinion ?

Both have good points. My dad wouldn't let me use a glove, he said they took grooves where it bends in the fingers.
He was rite. Been shooting a tab for forty some years now. I use split finger on my traditional stuff.
3 under with a tab is good too, lots of guys do it that way, easier to string walk.

Let us know about the glove fetish?

[PICKNGRIN]

When I anchor my middle finger is at the corner of my mouth.  It only feels right for me when the tips of my fingers are bare.  So I shoot a tab...gives me a good release also.

[Sam McMichael]

We all chime in to state which is better and why, but the choice is monumentally simple. Try them both, and select the one you like better.

[Roy from Pa]

Well Gary, now what's ya gonna use?
LOL

[JohnV]

This is a personal choice. A tab is more accurate while a glove more versatile. Don’t know if I have ever seen an Olympic archer using a glove which says something. Both have advantages and disadvantages for the bow Hunter.