Open sights or Scope?
 

Don’t know if this has been polled before but a recent change of opinion (mine) made me curious how many shoot with open sights versus scope.

My take – I got into muzzleloading about four years ago to take advantage of the VA ML season, which usually coincides with the rut. Got hooked and now am using the ML for most of the regular season as well. My only ML gun is an Omega X7, which comes standard with a Williams peep sight. At first I mounted a scope to figure out loads and build confidence. In the off season I practiced a fair amount with the peeps. Finally last year I took off the scope and went “old school.” Did fairly well. I limited my range and passed on quite a few shots that I would of taken with the scope on. Still filled the freezer.

This year went pretty good as well, until about a month ago. I was at my favorite stand for about two hours when a tight group of 4 – 5 does came over the ridge. They somewhat skirted my stand but I waited for an opening and took the lead doe. Only about a 40 yard shot. Smoke cleared and some of the does still hung around. As it was not a DRT, I could not tell which doe was mine, assuming she did not bolt. Reloaded, and waited a bit, then packed up to check the impact area. When I got there, there was a fair amount of blood and I started tracking.

Long story short, I could not recover this deer. 2 ½ hours later with dark coming on, it was pretty clear I was pushing the doe, so I marked the last blood and packed it in, to try again in the morning. In the morning I could not find any more blood from my last point after another two hours. I was also trespassing since my stand was near the edge of the property I was hunting. I was pretty bummed. I don’t know for sure what happend with my shot, I can only guess I hit a twig or something. I should have said earlier, all my hunting is in pretty heavy brush.

With the scope back on, yesterday I took what was for me, a pretty good shot. Through lots of brush (same stand), I threaded the needle to hit a deer high shoulder, just where I wanted (did not want the deer to run). DRT. Whille dressing the deer, I was thinking that I never would of/could of taken this shot without a scope. Not because of distance (65 yards), but what may have looked like a clean shot open sights, revealed a ton of small twigs in the way when using a scope.

So I’ve concluded that as long as I am hunting heavy woods, the scope stays on. What’s your take?

My hunting is probably 80-90% with scopes. I do use one of the sidelocks with peep sights for several hunts each year "just because" (feels cool to take a deer that way). For me, iron sights usually mean 75 yards or less and any shots beyond that are passed unless conditions are absolutely perfect - relaxed animal/clear shot/very good rest.

I use a scope, only because of the wide open terrain i have to hunt.

Here we must use iron sights during our muzzle loader season. For this reason, i use my muzzle loader during our rifle seasons. Using a muzzle loader with a scope mounted is so very much fun for me. Because i cannot focus on the front sight, Using iron sights isn't very much fun for me. Wishing i could use a scope during our muzzle loader season, has not kept me from hunting. What i do is squint the front sight from looking like an hour glass to looking round; squeeze the trigger. It kinda always surprises me when i kill a deer whilst hunting the muzzle loader season.

Open sights for me due to our laws.

Open sights with my flintlocks and a Leupold on my Knight...

After cataract surgery in July and August it might be scopes from now on... :)

I have both kinds of rifles, and use what ever suits my fancy that day. Where I hunt, either work fine. But in all honestly.. I feel much better armed with a scoped muzzleloader.

With my vision I like using a scope but during muzzleloader season I have to use open sights. I practice with both. When I shoot open sights I do better with peep sights.

Im kinda surprised that more would'nt use a scope if they were allowed. I mean open sights are ok for some shots but would'nt one want to be as percise as possible when shooting at game.
I'd be lost now if I could'nt use a scope, the use of a scope has upped my game harvest and made me a better hunter.
Ever since we were allowed to use a scope for MLing Season it made me throw out the idea of ever uning a shotgun or rifle ever again. I only use open sights if it's really super cold out and I get excited and fog over the scope with my panting over the big buck in my sights:deer: or if it's snowing so hard that I cant keep my scope clear even with scope caps, then Im glad to have open sights just in case. I use high basc see thru scope mounts, Im sighted in both for scope and open sights, but use open sights less than 1% of the time.
(BP)

Gotta use a scope with my eyes.

I gotta use a scope - eyes are bad - open sights will be a Hail Mary

JW

My eyes can't pick out the iron sight worth a darn anymore. A scope is the only ethical choice for me. If I lived in a state where scopes are illegal I would probably have to give up bp hunting. Kind of amazing that allowances are made with crossbows for bowhunting but you are screwed if you cant shoot with iron sights.

Scopes for me, mainly so I can see what I'm shooting at!!

I use the Endeavor with a scope during the regular firearms season, and the omega with the truglo globe sights during the muzzleloader season. I enjoy both but prefer using the scope.

I used open sights by preference until I had to start using a scope because of aging eyes.

I plan on using the peep site on my X7 and super 91-11 as long as my eyes let me make ethical shots.

Steve

I shoot better with optics so thats what I use.

I only have one muzzleloader that has a scope. The rest are peep or open sights. Ironically, the only deer I've killed with a ML'er was with the scoped one. But not for a lack of trying. I don't have a specific season for ML'ers so I carry one when I'm not dogging or in a watch that isn't good for a flintlock. Unfortuneately we tend to tag out before the finters can come into action. Like this year. I shot 3 deer while dogging with my Win 94. Tags gone hunt over.:rolleye0011: So the flinter will wait for another year.

HA

I prefer to hunt with a scope. Most of my deer have been taken at first and last light of the day.

The scope makes it so much easier for me to focus with aging eyes open sights are ok for bowhunting for me no choice but rifle shooting give me the glass..

Thanks for the replies. I'm thinking the scope lets me shoot more deer, but also will decrease the number of bad shots as well.

Scope all the way

I am almost 70 years old, so far I can still use the open sights on my Hawken. I expect that will change one day as I have had to put peep sights on my Win. 94. I have a 1.5-4.5 scope on a 3006, which I can shoot more accurately then the other guns, probably due to the scope. I have a tang peep sight to put on the Hawken one of these days, but I will not mount a scope on it. If I can not use the peep sight accurately, then I will retire the Hawken and get an in-line and mount a scope on it. To me, a scope doesn't look right on a Hawken.

I've seen that sentiment expressed often Jenks. It always puzzles me. If one likes sidelocks, why would it be preferable to shoot an in-line with a scope over scoping a favorite sidelock?

I consider my peep sighted sidelocks to be 75 yard guns (maybe a tad more under perfect conditions) and my scoped sidelocks to be 125-150 yard guns. I have two in-lines, but favor sidelocks.

deleted : no longer want to be on the forum

Semisane, that is a great looking collection of guns. You are right, the side hammers don't look so bad with scopes on them. Maybe I have let tradition cloud my thinking. Also, I had a TC Hawken that a friend had tried to mount a scope on, I had bought it from him before I really examined it closely. He had someone drill a couple of holes for the mount, one of the holes was out of line. I then found out that TC didn't want folks drilling holes in their barrels. I never shot the gun. I decided to clean the bore butter out of the barrel and sell the gun, there was rust under the bore butter. So I did sell it to a guy that trashed the barrel and put another on it. All of that may have soured me on mounting scopes on Hawkens. I also like the idea of a stainless barrel that is not as quick to rust. The ones I have seen were in-lines that were drilled for scope mounts at the factory. So I am keeping my eyes open for a good inline stainless to mount a scope on for hunting. To each his own.

'Ah don't need no stinkin scope!

That's it MD, No More BS209 fom you:)
(BP)

I shoot with both open sights, and a scope. Durring our Ml'er season we cant use scopes, so have my Wolf set up with a williams peep. But durring our gun season, we can use scopes, so I have my Accura V2 set up with a scope on it.

No, MD, I guess you don't need a scope. Just a lead sled and twenty-some year old eyes. Bite me! :)

Nuh uh! I can shoot just as good with the caldwell tack driver bag rest :poke:

Yea Bite Us:cool2:
Even better post a vid of a similar group like that and I'll buy a Optima.
Im jealous, I have yet to get a 5 shot group with a scope at a 100, I always get 1 just a inch or less away.
(BP)

Hey i had one that was outside of the group! And i know what you mean, i had an awesome 4 shot group with my original V1 accura and on shot 5, ploop! Threw out a few inches to the right. That too was with open sights, actually the same sights that are on the optima now.

Good shooting MD, I better practice more.
(BP)

Well..it depends on the season. Our early season is antlerless only and scoped ML's are allowed, but it's basically a glorified doe season. I personally don't get much out of whomping a doe with a scoped rifle so I don't use a scoped ML in our early season unless I'm hunting where I can expect a long shot (and by long I mean 80+ yds). If the weather is fair I use a flintlock, if somewhat inclement, a sidelock percussion. Only on a rare occasion do I break out one of the scoped ML's. As far as making me a better hunter, that depends on what your definition of a "hunter" is. I could probably eat more venison if I took the easier route, but I don't believe I would feel like I am a better hunter. I enjoy what I take a lot more when I work harder to get it. Our late season is flintlock only with no scopes/peeps permitted. You do it the way they did 300 yrs. ago or you don't do it!!....BPS

I used to shoot open sights alot and was pretty good...but got out of practice and not so good anymore. I can drive tacks with a scope all the time, so that is the way I usually go.

MD great group. I third the bite us. LOL :D ;)

(that really is impressive for ANY gun to shoot open sights like that)

I perfer a scope and use one when I hunt with my son in Iowa. When at home only open sights allowed. This makes it tough with my eyes and the distances in open terrain. (CA)

So you live in cali? if so where.

I usually use a scope. However my last buck and my last few hunting trips have been with open sights. The potential shots from my blind are short. I have been using my BK92 and as a plunger gun, it is much easier to clean and prime without a scope. My Disc Elite remains scoped; especially since it does not have open sights! :o

I think the biggest advantage for a scope is that it is faster than open sights. You can aquire the target more quickly and you don't have to take as much time to "think" about proper aiming technique.

Now for a little bit of controversy. Under proper conditions, and with proper technique, a peep sight system can be just as accurate as a scope. Now before everyone screams, proper conditions almost always mean at the range with a target big enough to see the outline outside of what the front post covers. Those of you who were in the Marine Corps know what I am saying. On the "known distance rifle qualification course" (KD course) we were required to shoot at 500 meters with an M16. The target were 6' by 6' at the frame with the paper bullseye in the exact middle of the target board. Of course we shot from the prone position at that range. We used a tight sling hold. Many of my fellow Marines and I could hold 10 rounds in the 10" bull each time on light wind days. Not everyone could do this, but most who qualified Expert could. Now this type of shooting is nearly useless for hunting. I see the videos of guy using 20x scopes mounted on their 300 Ohmygosh Hoochy Wizbang Magnums take elk at 1000+ yards. The elk are always stationary and the shooter has time to set up on a bipod and execute perfect target shooting form. Nice for video, fun for shooter, not much real world hunting involved.

Also, I recently read an article by Mike Venturino espousing this same point that I had know for years. He pointed out that in the last BP Cartridge Shilouette championship the winning scores for the open sight division were virtually identical to the scoped division. Again thought, this competition is fired under ideal range conditions and not hunting conditions.