I have been shooting with a glove since a started shooting. I tried a tab once and HATED it. My glove is nearly worn out and I want to try bare finger shooting. I've been using the "deep hook" technique you guys showed me before. What do you all use? I am never buying another tab, and I don't think I would like those things that go over your string.
I also can't find a glove that is actually long enough for the deep hook and, I may be wrong, but I don't think an army of archers had special gloves made for them, so shooting bare fingers seems like the most accurate thing to do.
Speaking of accuracy, I was shooting the other night and took my glove off. My grouping became much tighter, Spongebob had more holes in him **I found a Spongebob gardening pad and put that on my target to shoot as well lol**
An archer practices until he gets it right. A ranger practices until he never gets it wrong
~Halt, Ranger's Apprentice
When I shoot my bow, I have always gone bare-handed. I feel like it gives you the most control out of all options, and possibly the more accurate as well.
...in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.
I shoot both glove and with tab. Glove when hunting, tab when just target shooting.
As for historically accurate, archers in Medieval Europe used both gloves and tabs. Likely they used what ever leather glove they had available to them adding a little extra leather on their shooting fingers. Tabs likely just were created from scrape leather. But I doubt any war bow archer used bare hands and would guess most hunting archers used gloves also. Any bow over 40# will likely cut into your fingers pretty badly pretty quickly without some sort of finger protection.
Going gloveless would not be historically accurate. It is only due to Hollywood showing archers not using gloves or tabs so often that people get the idea that gloves or tabs weren't used in the past. But they were. The pressure of the string on the archer's fingers doesn't change going back in time.
Just to help illustrate how old the shooting gloves are.
ineffableone wrote:
Going gloveless would not be historically accurate. It is only due to Hollywood showing archers not using gloves or tabs so often that people get the idea that gloves or tabs weren't used in the past. But they were. The pressure of the string on the archer's fingers doesn't change going back in time.
Just to help illustrate how old the shooting gloves are.
This relief dates back to the 2nd millenium BC
That is very true, but do remember that if you start at six or seven years old and shoot a a hundred arrows a day or some such silly quota required to be a yoeman, you build up some pretty tough callouses!
I am Ringulf the Dwarven Woodsman, I craft leather, wood, metal, and clay,
I throw axes, seaxes, and pointy sticks, And I fire my bow through the day.
Come be my ally, lift up your mead! We'll search out our foes and the Eagles we'll feed!
Going gloveless DOES enable you a more tactile sense of the string...most helpful in accurately feeling your anchor point consistently, every time.
However, a slick glove or tab WILL enable, with practice, more consistent groups, due to the smoother release it allows for. Fingers have fingerprint ridges, callouses, etc., which add side-to-side vibration on the string during the release. Depends on your accuracy standards, but it can and does make a difference.
That being said...I shoot gloveless most of the time, yet Odigan showed a pretty solid medieval painting awhile back of three-fingered gloves in use as well, so they certainly are period.
Thanks for the insight and info ineffableone. I wasn't quite sure on historical accuracy on the subject.
I have been "arching" since a pretty young age, and have been playing guitar since the age of 13, so my string and bow's weight when drawn back has little to no affect on my fingers. Like Ringulf mentioned, callousing of the fingers over time would allow one to so.
...in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.
Interesting. Greg, would you happen to know where that picture is? I'd love to see it.
I always shoot with a glove. Even so, my right ring finger has a permanent discoloration and callous on it due to the pressure of shooting. Still, I don't think I'd ever want to take the time to build up the callouses it would take for me to consistently shoot my 50# bow bare-fingered. Interestingly, if you look closely at the promotional material for the latest Robin Hood film, Russel Crowe is clearly wearing what look like little tapes on his string-fingers. They're actually sewn on. Very odd, but fascinating. I've kind of wanted to try something like it for a while. Or maybe even sew some leather thimble-like finger covers to use when I don't want to use a full archery glove.
Maerondir Perianseron, also called “Mickel,” Halfling Friend - Ranger of the Misty Mountains
I shoot with a glove most of the time as I am between several different bows with varying qualities. I messed up a shoot this weekend because I did not wear my glove when I should have.
I have in the past used the adheasive backed cloth sports tape that I use to wrap the handles on my throwing seaxs.
I got the idea from using tape for my fingers protection when woodcarving. It works well, is not restrictive and leaves my fingers usable for other things without have to don and doff the glove.
I am Ringulf the Dwarven Woodsman, I craft leather, wood, metal, and clay,
I throw axes, seaxes, and pointy sticks, And I fire my bow through the day.
Come be my ally, lift up your mead! We'll search out our foes and the Eagles we'll feed!
I have tried the no-glove things that go on the string because my girlfriend has it on her bow. I find that it is better on your fingers than nothing but the string tends to twist upon release when I let it slide (or roll rather) off my fingers. It could be that her bow is too small for me (she uses a youth bow cause she has small hands, she's planning to get a new, better bow sometime) but the bow itself isn't twisting, just the string. I have a glove for my bow but I haven't truly used it yet. I suggest to not get the no-glove string things. They do help but they seem to roll rather than slide.
P.S. when I get my brace and my quiver, I'll post a topic about my small amount of gear.
wow this really blew up! I really did not think that the ancient ones (lol) had gloves, that's news to me. I probably won't get another glove but if push comes to shove, I'm sure I could fashion one.
An archer practices until he gets it right. A ranger practices until he never gets it wrong
~Halt, Ranger's Apprentice
**I found a Spongebob gardening pad and put that on my target to shoot as well lol**
