A lot of people think shooting with fingers is a disadvantage. It requires more practice to develop a smooth release with fingers, and it seems a lot of people don't like shooting a bow enough to make time for a little practice. With a mechanical release, many think they're exempt from practicing in the 'off season' since all you gotta to is pull a trigger.

There. That's my daily rant.

A good release shooter will beat a good fingers shooter on the target range, but the difference in accuracy is measured in fractions of an inch. In the woods? The critter doesn't know or care if you centerpunch the exact spot you're aiming at instead of being 1/4" off.

You can mess up and drop your release out of the treestand, so you need to have at least 2 of those expensive gizmos. If you drop a shooting tab or glove out of a treestand, you can still shoot barefingered. You won't be firing off 20-30 arrows in a day of treestand perching, so you're not going to tear up your fingers.

The biggest disadvantage of fingers is how short most bows are these days. They're a lot easier to shoot with a release. Some of them are so short it's practically impossible to use a fingers release. For fingers, the longer the bow, the better. You can work out a 2 finger release for the shorter bows, if you put in the effort. I've seen a few guys using a 1 finger release on real short bows with high letoff. Gives me the heebeejeebees watching them though.[:-]

Actually, I'm more comfortable and more accurate shooting fingers than I am with a release. But then, I am an old fashioned throwback.