I'm planning on doing some deer/black bear hunting in the mountains of Upstate New York this year. I just purchased a new rifle (Savage 116 in .30-06) and want to take it along. I'm planning to hunt both from a tree stand and on the ground. I had been planning on buying a Leupold 3.5-10x40 VX-3 because this is going to be my all-around hunting rifle.

Some up-close hunting situations (lots of foliage coupled with shooting from a tree stand for example) require a low power scope (which is often fixed). My question this: aside from backing up my scope in the event it’s unusable, is there an advantage to having backup iron sights added to my gun (that I can get to by using a quick release system for my scope rings)? I’m going to be in black bear territory as well.

I think iron sites, which we seem to only see on muzzleloaders these days, look cool. Scopes are pretty reliable, but there is the possibility of dropping them on a rock or something rendering them unusable on a week long hunt (and I don't exactly have the money for backup glass).

I also figure that hunters were using iron sights to hunt game for a long time. I would imagine shooting something within 40 yards from a tree stand is more than doable with iron sites. It also takes a little more skill than what is needed after you've magnified your target.

Any thoughts? Are there drawbacks to mounting iron sights? Are there clearance issues mounting iron sights and a scope simultaneously?