I would rather leave my sights on and would go with higher rings and mounts to do so. However in 48 years or so of hunting, I have never had a scope fail me on a hunt. I have had to remove my sights when I needed to mount a scope Now and didn't have higher rings at the time. I know many remove the sights just because they like the looks of the rifle better without the sights sticking up. I like to have the sights just in case I would need them but thats a matter of opinion and its not because I am afraid my scope might fail me.

Like they say though, this months gun expert at Walmart may have been last months shoe expert.