Heated hunting gloves: what to look for, and where ours fits

What a hunting glove needs to do

• Let you feel and operate a trigger, safety or release precisely and safely.
• Stay quiet when you move, with no rustling fabric or clicking controls.
• Blend in, with camouflage or a muted color suited to where you hunt.
• Keep working in rain, snow and wet brush.
• Keep you warm through long, still sits in a stand or blind.

A heated glove can help a lot with the last point. The others decide whether it is a hunting glove at all.

Safe handling comes first

Any insulated glove is thicker than a bare hand or a thin shooting glove, and a heated glove adds a heating element and a battery pocket. That can change how a trigger or release feels. Never use a glove that stops you handling your firearm or bow safely and precisely.

Many hunters solve this by wearing a heated glove or a hand warmer for the wait and a thin shooting glove for the shot, or by using a hand muff. Practice the swap at home so it is quick and quiet in the field.

Where our gloves fall short for hunting

To be plain about it:

• They are black, not camouflage.
• The maker does not state that they are waterproof, so wet brush, rain and snow are a problem.
• They are an insulated winter glove, so trigger-finger feel is reduced. We have not tested them with a firearm or bow and make no claim about it.
• The heat button and fabric have not been tested for noise.

If you want one glove for the whole hunt, look for a purpose-made hunting glove that states waterproofing, concealment and a shooting finger design.

Where an everyday heated glove still helps

Away from the shot itself, there is a lot of cold, still time on a hunt where a heated glove is simply useful:

• The early morning walk in and setting up.
• Long waits in a dry blind or shelter, with the shooting glove in a pocket.
• Glassing and waiting at camp.
• Driving and loading at the start and end of the day.
• The walk out, when your hands are often at their coldest.

Our gloves have three heat settings, switched with the button on the back of the hand, and a rechargeable power pack for each glove in a zip pocket on the cuff. The touchscreen thumb and index finger work on a phone, for checking maps or messages at camp.

Battery and long sits

Cold slows any lithium battery, and long sits ask a lot of one. The maker of our glove does not publish a run time or a battery capacity, so we cannot tell you how long the heat lasts in a stand. Use a lower setting, switch off while walking hard, and charge both packs the night before.

For a wider checklist, see the buying guide. If you also fish in the cold, the fishing guide covers the same wet-hands problem.