RE: looking for a good hunting release
While a hand held may feel closer to shooting with fingers, there exists the real possibility that after all of those years of being conditioned to let your fingers go, you might "forget" and let the whole release go[:@]
I would say that from an ease of transition standpoit I would first go to a wrist strap or a hand held with a wrist strap to prevent a launched release from ricocheting off your riser and clocking you in the head.
As far as pure accuracy goes, I prefer the hand held over the wrist strap releses. I have been hunting with them for about 4 years now and other than dropping it from the tree a time or two (thank goodness for the backup in my pack) I have had no issues.
Soilarch......just an FYI, when you shoot a hand held release with gloves on, even thin ones, it will push your anchor point further away from your face and thus change your POI. In the fall, I sight in with the gloves I will use and wear them or a pair like them whenever I shoot.