Hunting Gloves You Won’t Want to Take Off: Kings Camo XKG Primaloft Guide Glove Review

At 4 a.m. on opening day, I found myself in the darkness, ripping through soaking-wet, thorn-infested brush. I was trying to locate the tree I had selected to hunt from weeks before. On that previous adventure through the head-high brush, I got ripped to shreds, but this time, my hands were wisely protected by the Kings Camo XKG Primaloft Guide Gloves. Sure, I was turned around, but at least my hands weren’t bleeding.

I’m a pretty recent glove convert. In the past, the loss of dexterity when wearing even the thinnest gloves drove me up a wall, and I usually found myself removing them and stuffing them into a pocket. Eventually, I started ditching them at home unless it was below 45 degrees.

But a few years ago, I left my beloved Rocky Mountains and moved to the South. My hunting grounds are drastically different. Vines drape the thick forests, and impenetrable walls of sticky, thorny brush grow at a ridiculous rate. There are millions of bugs, from microscopic no-see-ums to hornets that look like they came straight from Alien vs. Predator.

A few hours in the woods will leave you covered in cuts, scrapes, and bites. Despite my personal disdain for them, gloves made it back into my gear bag.

In short: I’ve found the XKG Primaloft Guide Gloves ($95) to be a very solid three-season glove. Despite the Primaloft insulation, they’re not too hot to wear as a protective layer on early-season hunts. When things get chilly, they provide a touch of warmth while still allowing for excellent dexterity for a gloved hand. Since they run a bit small, those with large hands will need to look elsewhere, but for everyone else, these windproof, water-resistant gloves will keep your hands happy on 90% of hunts.

Fit of the Kings Camo XKG Primaloft Guide Glove

“Fit” is a multifaceted attribute when it comes to purchasing hunting gloves. Obviously, getting the correct sizing is important, but so is assessing the feel and ergonomics. It’s just like buying a set of jeans. Sure, they may fit your waist, but if they’re uncomfortable, you’ll never wear them.

Sizing

Unfortunately, I have to start things off with a negative to save some people time. These gloves run small. I have the XLs, and the gloves fit my hands perfectly, quite literally. If my hands were even slightly larger, they’d be too tight. But the XL is the largest size available.

For perspective, my hands measure 8 inches from the base of my palm to the top of my middle finger. If your hands are bigger than mine, you’re out of luck. Go look for a different option in our Best Hunting Gloves of 2025 buyer’s guide and forget this review exists. If your hands are the same size or smaller, read on, because these are some sweet gloves.

Ergonomics

As I mentioned, I dislike the loss of dexterity that comes with wearing gloves. Adding insulation to a set of gloves tends to make it even worse.

The Guide Gloves don’t make my hands feel like useless bricks, which is impressive considering they are insulated. The articulation in the fingers certainly contributes to that.

If you look at your hand in a relaxed position, you’ll notice each finger rests slightly curved, to a varying level. These gloves match that. The curvature on the Guide Gloves is most pronounced on the pinky, thumb, and index fingers of the glove, with a lesser curve in the middle and ring fingers. The gloves naturally want to sit in your hands’ resting position.

With thin, efficient Primaloft insulation, the gloves aren’t overly bulky, and I can still effectively run a camera, operate zippers, and use my handheld bow release while they’re on. The polyester/spandex blended upper stretches nicely, offering plenty of give around my knuckles as I open and close my hands.

The neoprene cuff that closes with a Velcro strap is comfortable, and there aren’t any pinch points or tightness throughout the entire glove.

XKG Primaloft Guide Glove: Warmth and Weatherproofness

Hunting gear is becoming annoyingly specialized. It seems like there’s a jacket, a set of pants, boots, and gloves for any situation imaginable. It’s just money, right? The beauty of the XKG Primaloft Guide Gloves is their lack of specialization.

Weatherproofness

With a “tri-laminate” design, these gloves are rated as windproof and water-resistant. Just last weekend, I was in extremely wet conditions. It wasn’t raining, but there was so much fog and humidity that water was pouring out of the tree canopy, effectively making it “rain.” The brush I walked through was soaked, and all of my equipment was wet.

But my hands stayed dry. I think that has to do with both the water-repellent insulation as well as the DWR treatment on the exterior of the gloves. While water does bead off the material on the back of the glove, it didn’t seem as effective as other DWR treatments I’ve used. In a short amount of time, water wasn’t beading up, and appeared to be penetrating the glove.

But it still didn’t get to my hands. Once the water breaks through the DWR treatment, the Primaloft is still there to protect you. I’ve never felt wind through them, so there’s nothing to note there. The windproof membrane flat out works.

Temperature Rating

These gloves are great for most, if not all, hunting seasons. The Primaloft insulation in the gloves is minimal, but it does add a little bit of warmth on chilly mornings. It’s also enough to keep your hands warm if you’re actively hunting in frigid temperatures. The only situation I can think of where you might need more is hanging from a tree stand or glassing from a ridge in the dead of winter.

And the light insulation makes these an excellent choice for late summer as well. I’ve worn them in 85-degree temps in Tennessee while bushwacking and cutting shooting lanes for tree stands. My hands never got overly hot, which allows me to wear them as a protective layer in the early season. No matter when I head to the woods, the Kings Camo XKG Guide Gloves are in my bag.

Protection

Protection for my hands is what brought me back into the glove game, so it’s one of the most important factors I consider. I want something that protects my hands like a set of thick work gloves, but is nimble enough for tasks requiring dexterity.

The leather palms of the Guide Gloves provide all of the protection I need in thorny brush. It’s thick enough that I have yet to have anything stab through it, and there has been ample opportunities for that to happen. But it’s not so thick that it bunches up and makes my fingers useless, like you find with leather work gloves.

The leather has a unique, textured finish as well, which makes it very grippy. In fact, it’s so grippy that at first, I thought it might have a synthetic rubber finish. But closer inspection revealed that the texturing is inlaid in the leather. I was glad to see that, as the leather will hold up much better than a rubber overlay.

On the back of the hand, the thick polyester provides all of the protection. I’m sure that it won’t be as long-lived as the leather palms, but as of now, nothing has penetrated.

Final Thoughts on the Kings Camo XKG Primaloft Guide Gloves

For my needs, these gloves check all of the boxes. Is there room for improvement? Sure, but not much. Obviously, Kings Camo will need to start manufacturing them in a larger size to make them an option for more hunters. Hopefully, that happens.

At $95, it should also be noted that the fingertips are not compatible with screens. I couldn’t care less about that, though, because screen-compatible gloves rarely work as advertised anyway. Why even try to put a feature in that’s pretty much guaranteed to cause frustration? That’s just my 2 cents.

As long as you don’t have freakishly large hands, the Kings Camo Primaloft Guide Gloves will get you through just about any hunting scenario. They’ll keep your hands protected, help fight off the chill when needed, and don’t take away functional use of your hands.

Diversity is the name of the game here. From early archery season to chilly November rut sits, these things have become an essential part of my kit. If you’re like me and avoid gloves as much as possible, you may be surprised at how handy these are.