Dear Coach Ruis,
Why do a lot of hunters prefer to use gloves over a finger tab? Wouldn’t everyone benefit from a finger tab due to it creating a smoother release? Also, are there any Olympians who use gloves?
Thanks
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Many hunters who shoot with “fingers” (as opposed to with a release aid) prefer gloves over tabs as you can’t drop and lose a glove that is Velcroed or strapped to your hand. Shooting without finger protection, especially in cold weather, is not necessarily an option, so losing it is an expensive proposition as it may ruin an entire hunting trip.
To reiterate the advantages of a tab over a glove for target archers, the three fingers used in the typical Mediterranean string grip are held together by a tab (so much so that many prefer a rigid metal tab body to shoot with). This encourages the three fingers acting together as a unit, giving a cleaner release of the bowstring. The fingers in a shooting glove are not so connected by the glove. Also, the tab surface, while flexible, is flat, as opposed to the rounded finger stalls of a shooting glove. This promotes a cleaner slide of the string off of the fingers. Well-used gloves also tend to show a deeper indentation where the string sits that creates a larger paradox during the loose of the string.
Regarding Olympians using gloves, the only case I am aware of was Michele Frangilli who used a glove and a tab at the 1996 Olympics, but he was fighting a bad case of target panic at the time, I believe. Other than that, I haven’t heard of any serious Olympian preferring a glove over a tab.