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.