Bone you hit upon a point that alot of guys dont think about on a travel hunt. Iron sights are ok but you are limited in most cases too about 100yds with them. The entire phylosophy behind high quality quick detachable mounts like Warne, QR from Leupold and mounts like Tilley is that when on a hunt if you experience scope problems (either mechanical or impact/accident) you can quickly replace the scope. Thus ideally you would take 2 scopes (that obviously were both pre-sighted for the rifle and loads you are using) on the hunt and be prepared. Rarely will you damage a rifle too the point that it is out of commission (the aforementioned broken stock from a horse falling on it would obviously pose a problem!) but breaking even a quality scope is a distinct possibility for us flat landers when we start heading up in the rough stuff for game.

Good luck,
RA

ps
As for the Sako, I still consider them THE finest "out of the box" rifle on the market. Getting more accuracy out of a hunting rifle is difficult at best and realistically un-needed for all but 1 in 1000 situations. Its funny, alot of guys spend ALOT of extra money on their hunting rifles after purchase in attempts to make them shoot under 1" @ 100yds. The Sako isnt boxed and shipped unless it DOES it at the factory. I dont think they are overpriced one penny.