Bare Handed??

[mrpenguin]

Gents,

I was at the club range yesterday and found that when shooting, my release was 10x cleaner and more accurate without my glove... bare fingers.  I have shot like this before to test bows, and tend to prefer it... it hurts a little after several shots, and the release clearly begins to fall apart as the pain sets in, but I am curious if anyone out there shoots this way all the time... me, I think I may switch over, especially for hunting, cause one well placed sharp arrow should be all it takes, right?
   

[Ryan Rothhaar]

I've shot bare fingered for 20 years.  I cheat a little, though, I triple serve my string where I grip it.  I use 2 nocking points (nock between) and triple serve (ie serve to and back) a couple inches above and maybe 4 inches below the nocking points.

I HATE stuff....gloves and tabs are stuff.  Just one more thing to not have to worry about.  Also you don't have to worry about clean releases anymore.  Its win/win.

BTW, for the guys that will tell you you'll ruin your fingers, I've shot up to 75lb bows for prolonged periods this way, you'll build up a callous on your fingers, but I don't see lasting effects.

Ryan

[Rob DiStefano]

i prefer using a thin leather tab as it allows good finger/string protection while affording a very close and intimate feel to the string during release.

also, there's just more 'freedom' for my bowstring fingers - encasing 'em in a glove is just too restricting, for me.  

been using a tab since the 50's and see no reason to change.

[mrpenguin]

Thanks Ryan!

[LBR]

There is a risk.  You have nerves in your fingers, and some people have damaged them even when using a glove or tab--and obviously some can shoot bare-fingers without any ill effects.  

I shot with a glove for years, but found I get a much better release with a tab.  I also found that I could greatly improve my release by working on it (duh).  It's better to fix the problem than try to mask it.

Chad

[jerryb]

dido  Just what wat Rob said.

[GMMAT]

I've shot bare fingered for 20 years. I cheat a little, though, I triple serve my string where I grip it. I use 2 nocking points (nock between) and triple serve (ie serve to and back) a couple inches above and maybe 4 inches below the nocking points.
 

If I'm not mistaken, Roger Rothhaar does this very same thing.

[Zradix]

I've done it a bit with bare fingers. My problem is I NEED to shoot more to work on my accuracy than my bare fingers will allow. I have found that I have some nerve AND circulation problems in my right hand. I did that while using a bateman tab which is fairly thick. I'm not a softy either. I work with my hands all the time and have callouses all over them. Since I've begun shooting Trad and not using a release aid (compund) My 3 string fingers have become much more numb feeling on a daily basis and they are the first to cold. I never used to get cold hands. Now just those 3 fingers get cold. Small price to pay I suppose.

[Ken Taylor]

I have shot without my glove just for the heck of it and I have shot animals barehanded when I forgot to bring my glove.

But, I shoot fairly heavy bows and am quite comfortable and accurate shooting with a glove. Even shooting with a glove, the three fingers on my shooting hand are calloused (which is great).

[freefeet]

I'm working down to barefingers using Transpore White tape.

Just put three layers around your finger tips and shoot till ya fingers are sore.  I'm currently getting about 100 shots out of 3 layers and the callouses are building up nicely.

Hoping to go down to two layers in the coming weeks as the weather warms up and i can go out and shoot more.

If you do this method make sure you buy Transpore White and not straight Transpore - two very different tapes.  Transpore White is basically woven micropore and can stand up to some fair abuse from a bow string.

My release is so much better with tape than a glove as the tape doesn't move on your fingers on the release at all, whereas i always had some tiny slippage going on with a glove that i never liked.

[Earthdog]

The problem I see "not withstanding nerve damage" is that you already said you feel the pain and begin to fall apart.

That would indercate you need to practice extended sessions with a glove or tab,,,not to mention "pain" is a message that you really shouldn't ignore.

So you practice with finger protection and then go hunting without it,,,,,DOH!!!

I think it's a total waste of effort to practice something but not use it when you need it most.

Add that to the "FACT" we can adapt to darn near anything we want to,,,,and finger nerve damage is a very real issue,,,,why go through all the BS just to prove your not up to a task 99% of other humans can achieve with far less effort than it takes to piss about avoiding it.

This is starting to sound like the old work place thing where I guy will spend an hour working out how to avoid something that takes less than an hour an then wonders why nobody wants him there.

[Bunny buster]

I shoot a bearpaw leather shooting glove and i have recently noticed numbness/tingly in my finger next to my pinky. I couldnt imagine what not wearing protection over your fingers would do in years of shooting.
                           Bunny buster

[The Hawk]

Shooting bare-handed messed up Geronimo's fingers so bad he couldn't dial a phone (smoke signals only!) (Not much cell coverage in the Southwest anyway!) Settlers finally won buy cutting off the supply of conduran leather shooting gloves.

[Zog]

I watched Roger Rothaar on "Masters of the barebow" say how he triple served his string so he could shoot bare fingers.  Said he "threw all his tabs and gloves away".

I though that sounded great so I tried it - had my string triple served.  My fingers got numb after a few days.  I was going to tough it out and grow callouses, but I realized that numb fingers are a sign of something wrong.  The last thing I would want is damaged string fingers.  That would surely ruin my shooting.  

I guess I will have to keep a few spare tabs and just keep track of them, like my arrows.  Those tabs sure feel great after bare fingers!

So if Rothaars have that fingers that tough, more power to them, but I don't.