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Your hunting gear cannot be called complete if you are still missing the best hunting gloves.
With the right pair on your hands, you will be well-equipped to handle all kinds of tasks even while staying in the rugged environments presented by nature.
Hunting gloves can help you maintain a firmer grip on your weapon of choice, whether it’s a gun or a bow. The hunting gloves will also be useful for handling items such as firewood or other debris with abrasive surfaces if you’re planning to go camping.
The best gloves will provide protection too. They can shield your hands from scratches and other wounds that could otherwise make it tougher for you to work outdoors. Plus, when the temperature drops, the gloves will provide some much needed warmth.
Your hands will always be your most important tools and you can improve upon what nature provided you by wearing some hunting gloves. Continue reading to learn more about the best hunting gloves and the things that set them apart from the other choices.
List of Top Rated Hunting Glove Review
FREETOO Hunting Gloves
If you’re looking for gloves that will be able to completely envelop and protect your hands, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a better option than these FREETOO offerings.
One look at them and you’ll be able to tell right away that they are excellent for protection. They are made out of microfibers and spandex enabling them to provide more than adequate coverage together with terrific flexibility. The double stitching that spans the gloves will prevent them from tearing open even if they happen to catch on something sharp.
The palm portions of these gloves are reinforced with polyurethane to strengthen your grip. The Velcro straps that wrap around your wrists are good additions because they make the gloves adjustable. Unfortunately, they can get worn out pretty quickly. Try to limit the number of adjustments you need to make if you can.
Interestingly enough, these gloves also feature padding and vents for the knuckles. Unless you’re planning to perform some knuckle push-ups outdoors, the extra padding is not really necessary. The gloves would’ve worked fine without them.
If anything the extra cushions that line the knuckles only get in the way. They add unnecessary bulk and they also work to create a warmer environment inside the gloves. That could be a bit of a plus in the wintertime, but that also makes these gloves less desirable to wear when it’s still hot outside.
- Provides complete coverage over your hands
- Microfiber and spandex composition lends the gloves greater flexibility
- Double stitching makes the gloves more durable
- Too warm to use during the summer
- Velcro used wears down quickly
Glacier Glove Alaska Pro Camo Waterproof Insulated Hunting Glove
Thinsulate, the special synthetic fabric made by the folks over at 3M, is the material featured most prominently in these gloves. As you’ve already probably guessed, Thinsulate is prized for its ability to provide plenty of warmth without being accompanied by excessive bulk. You can see why it would be a good choice for hunting gloves.
To go along with the Thinsulate used in these gloves, the manufacturers also installed a waterproof outer covering. Even when it’s raining these gloves should be able to help you out.
Notably, not all portions of these gloves are resistant to water. The parts that wrap around your wrists are made out of some kind of cloth and they soak up water. If those parts of the gloves get wet, they will start to feel heavier.
It was smart on the part of the manufacturers to use leather as linings for the palms. The leather is good for maintaining a strong grip on whatever you’re holding.
These gloves are on the thinner side, but they remain usable during the winter. They don’t diminish your dexterity. Keep these gloves on as you’re lining up to fire with your bow because they won’t stop you from landing a perfect shot.
The budget-friendly price tag attached to these should also be taken into account.
- Thinsulate material used throughout the gloves provides ample warmth
- Gloves are thin and don’t affect dexterity
- Leather-lined palms give you a better grip
- Cloth linings around the wrists soak up water
Carhartt W.P. Waterproof Insulated Hunting Glove
In more than a few parts of the country, working outside when during the wintertime is nearly impossible. The frigid temperatures can render your extremities numb. Hunting is even tougher when you can’t feel your hands.
Carhartt’s hunting gloves are designed to make working outside a more realistic proposition even if the freezing temperatures would seem to suggest otherwise. Several features added to these gloves are intended to provide that badly needed relief from the cold.
The moment you slide your hands inside these gloves, you will be able to feel the cozy comfort offered by the polyester lining. The exterior portions of the gloves are also made out of polyester for additional warmth.
If there’s some cold air managing to slip inside the gloves causing your hands to feel frigid, you can tug on the closing mechanic to tighten the grip of the gloves. The waterproof inserts also prevent liquid from seeping inside the gloves and making them colder.
To be clear, these gloves remain useful even if you’re not dealing with freezing temperatures. You can loosen the fastener to let more air in if you want and the specially designed lining prevents sweat from pooling inside the gloves.
These gloves are generally useful if you need to do something outdoors. The only real issue with them is their thickness. It’s hard to make precision movements with your fingers with these gloves on. At the very least, you will have to get used to them first.
- Polyester shell supplies plenty of warmth
- Fastener can be used to keep cold air out
- Lining wicks away the sweat on your hands
- Features polyurethane material on the palms
- Thickness of the gloves hampers precise movements
Mechanix Wear – MultiCam FastFit Tactical Touchscreen Gloves
Smartphones are now ubiquitous and they are essential to living in this day and age too. Even if your intention is to spend the day in nature and just concentrate on hunting, you can’t leave your phone behind. Something can always come up and you don’t want to be unreachable.
The makers of hunting gloves have acknowledged that reality. Some are offering fingerless variants of their gloves to make continued usage of your smartphone possible even if you’re wearing the aforementioned accessories.
Instead of providing more fingerless gloves, the people over at Mechanix Wear opted for something different. The synthetic leather used to line the undersides of these gloves provides protection while simultaneously remaining thin enough to allow you to interact with touchscreen interfaces.
These hunting gloves offer tremendous dexterity. You should have no trouble fiddling around with objects even while wearing them. There is a trade-off though.
The interior linings are quite thin. They get worn down quickly, which is unfortunate.
The other portions of the gloves are highly durable. You can feel just how strong and resilient the materials used on the backs of the gloves are. The TPR enclosures on the wrists of the gloves also ensure that tight seals are formed.
One more thing worth noting is that these gloves are machine washable. After getting more than a few uses of them, give them some quick spins in the washing machine and dryer and they should be good to go again.
- Leather underside lining allows you to interact with touchscreens
- Wrist enclosures fit snugly
- Gloves are machine washable
- Leather underside lining tends to wear out quickly
Under Armour ColdGear Infrared Scent Control 2.0 Primer Gloves
You don’t often think of gloves as high-tech pieces of equipment, but as the people over at Under Armour have shown, they can indeed be quite advanced.
Starting with how these gloves keep you warm, the ColdGear infrared tech used in them allows you to retain body heat easier. It’s a nice bit of technology, but it doesn’t work as well as other temperature-regulating mechanics. These gloves will still keep you warm, but there are alternatives that can do better in that regard.
These Under Armour hunting gloves also do something quite unique. The Scent Control used in these gloves will suppress your odor and make it harder for your potential targets to notice you.
The silicone plastered over the palms is a useful addition. The silicone-covered palms provide you with extra grip strength. You can also make quick adjustments to these gloves to make them more comfortable.
You should also know that these gloves are water-resistant. For your convenience, the manufacturers also made them machine washable.
These gloves feature a distinct look. They are more stylish than most other hunting gloves you can get. The presence of the Under Armour logo does not take anything away from these gloves from an aesthetic standpoint.
Of course, all of those advanced features do come at a cost. These are some pricey hunting gloves and you can argue that other options are better from a value standpoint.
- ColdGear infrared tech helps create a warm environment inside the gloves
- Silicone coatings on the palms provide a better grip
- Machine washable
- Gloves are water-resistant
- Significantly more expensive than many other hunting gloves
Hunting Gloves Buying Guide
The line between hunting gloves that suit you perfectly and make you uncomfortable can be quite thin. By remembering the pointers included below, you should be able to snag a pair that hews more towards the former rather than the latter.
Body Material Composition
For hunting gloves, manufacturers will often use more than just one material. That’s because the different portions of the gloves have different functions.
The underside of the glove, the one that covers your palm, should be designed for gripping while the rest of the glove can be constructed with durability and temperature regulation in mind.
For quite some time, wool was a favored material for the outer shell of the hunting gloves. Wool was preferred because it was versatile, could feature great volume, and provide a good amount of warmth.
The problem with wool is that it can develop a strong odor, as noted by Fisher Pants. It’s easier for animals to detect that something’s off when there’s an odd smell hanging in the air.
These days, wool is not used as much for hunting gloves. In its place, manufacturers have turned to synthetic materials that are better engineered for the rigors of hunting outdoors.
If you find hunting gloves that feature polyester or microfiber in their composition, these should be capable of providing you with all the basic functions you need.
Palm Material Composition
As noted above, the most important thing that the palm portion of the glove has to do is grip something lightly.
Leather is often the material of choice for the palms of gloves and understandably. The additional gripping power provided by the leather material is hugely beneficial. The only problem with leather is that it doesn’t exactly react well to being exposed to moisture regularly.
For something more durable, seek out hunting gloves that make use of polyurethane or silicone linings for their palms. Those materials still feature improved grip strength without the same durability concerns.
Fastening Mechanics
Hunting gloves cling to your hands with the aid of fastening mechanics. Sometimes, these are not fasteners that you have to open or close. They may just be tighter enclosures that you will have to slip your hand through before they wrap snugly at the wrists.
Other times, manufacturers will opt for fasteners that give you a bit more control such as Velcro strips or straps partnered with buckles. It’s nice to have those fasteners that can be manually adjusted because what feels comfortable outdoors can change by the hour.
The good news is that you should be able to find hunting gloves with Velcro strips or straps pretty quickly.
Washability
More often than not, you will come home with dirty hunting gloves. After all, hunting is not known for being a neat hobby.
Getting the stains and funky odors out of your hunting gloves can be an entire ordeal itself, which is why it would be best to look for machine washable gloves. That way, you can go home, put your gloves in the washing machine, and be confident that they’ll be ready the next time you want to head out.
FAQ: Gloves for Hunting
What are hunting gloves used for?
The smart-alecky answer to the question posed above is that the hunting gloves are obviously used for “duh, hunting,” but that actually sells them short. Hunting gloves do a lot for the people using them.
Talking first about how hunting gloves are actually used as hunting tools, they can prove to be valuable additions to your equipment when you’re looking for targets in the cold weather.
In those conditions, the hunting gloves are working to keep your hands nice and warm and in the process, they are also helping maintain feeling in your fingers. As you can imagine, holding your rifle or your bow properly when your hands are freezing cold is incredibly difficult.
That’s not even the greatest challenge. Trying to pull the bow back to fire an arrow or hit the trigger on your gun is also tough to do when you can’t feel anything in your fingers.
If you would like some more assistance from your gloves during the hunting process, Cabela’s suggests finding the variants with pre-curved fingertips as they make it easier for you to reach and pull on the trigger.
The hunting gloves remain useful even after you have landed a killshot on your target. Right after you successfully take down your prey, you need to field dress its body in order to prevent bacteria from infiltrating it.
Field dressing is especially important if you have to drive a long distance before getting home.
Hunting gloves are good for field dressing because they can keep your hands from getting too dirty while also protecting you from any surprises that may pop up in the carcass. If you have a pair of those machine washable gloves, you don’t even have to worry too much about cleaning them up even after using them for field dressing.
What protections against the elements can hunting gloves provide?
Understanding that hunting gloves are not always used in the kindest environments, manufacturers often load them with features designed to provide protection and comfort.
For combating the cold, hunting gloves may offer tight enclosures around the wrists that will prevent the freezing air from entering. Manufacturers may also simply opt to create thicker gloves to ward off the cold.
As for battling the warm temperatures, some hunting gloves can be adjusted to let the heat escape. The air can also come in through the opening. Other hunting gloves are lined with materials that will keep sweat away from your body.
Some gloves may even feature vents that provide more channels for the air to enter and exit through.
Water-resistance is yet another example of a feature you’ll find on many hunting gloves that can keep the elements at bay.
Though not quite as common, you may also find hunting gloves that suppress odors. That feature is good because animals will have an even harder time sensing your presence if you don’t give off an unfamiliar scent.
Should you choose full-finger or fingerless gloves?
Along with the standard variants, there are manufacturers who will also fingerless versions of their hunting gloves. The manufacturers do that for a reason.
Since hunting gloves often have to be thick to provide adequate protection from cold temperatures, they can rob your fingers of their dexterity. The fingerless gloves get around that problem by providing a good amount of warmth while still freeing up your fingers.
Still, fingerless gloves are not always comfortable to wear.
Your best bet here is to look for full-finger gloves that don’t feature excessive bulk. These are common items. Some hunting gloves are even thin enough that you don’t need to take them off to use touchscreens.
