Do I really need a scope?

[mustangLX92]

I am getting ready to purchase a Mossberg 500 combo. I can't decide if I should get the combo with the cantilevered rifle barrel or the combo with the non-cantilevered rifle barrel. I guess my question is do I really need
a scope for the type of hunting I will be doing? I will mostly be hunting deer in Maryland. Any advice will be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[SteveS]

Several questions. Have you ever hunted before? What is the terrain like where you will be hunting (open field, cedar swamp...)? What distance will you be taking game from?

I use a scope and most of my shots have been less than a hundred yards. I am proficient with iron sights and don't doubt that they can be very accurate, but I just prefer a scope because I am consistently more accurate with one than with iron sights. They also help when it is dusk and there isn't much light. I have also noticed that my vision seems to be getting worse the older I get.

 

[mustangLX92]

I have not hunted before. I will mostly be hunting from a tree stand in somewhat dense woods.

 

[444]

People used rifles (and shotguns) for over one hundred years without magnified optics and got along just fine.
It is interesting to look at some old issues of gun magazines and see what used to be considered a long range big game rifle.
Yes, you can get along fine without a scope. I grew up in Ohio and still go back there at least once every other year to hunt whitetail deer and up until last year, I had never used a scope.

A scope provides you with a couple advantages: it puts everything on one focal plane. With iron sights, the target, the front sight, and the rear sight are all at different distances from your eye. Your eye can only focus at one distance, so the correct thing to do is to focus on the front sight and allow the rear sight, and the target to be blurry. With a scope, everything appears to your eye as being the same distance from your eye. This makes things a little easier. Second, the scope makes it easier to see in poor light. Third of course is the magnification. One note about magnification: DO NOT use your rifle or shotgun scope as a binocular. Do not use a rifle scope to see if that object over there is in fact a deer etc. This is a violation of the basic safety rules of gun handling: Do not point your weapon at anything you are not willing to kill. That movement, or that object you spotted just might be another hunter. Whether or not you decide to put a scope on your shotgun, use binoculars for spotting. I have been on the recieving end of this and it is VERY unsettling. I saw another hunter walking through the woods while I was sitting on the ground. I waved to make sure he saw me and realized I was a human. He raised his rifle and looked at me through the scope. Time slowed way down as I wondered if he was going to shoot me. I have decided that if this happens to me again, I am going to walk over to the guy and punch him as hard as I can, right in the nose. If safety isn't reason enough not to do this, it is also illegal to point a loaded gun at another person unless you are defending your life.

 

[Nathanael_Greene]

I recently used a scoped rifle to hunt feral hog; at night, I had trouble acquiring the little porker in my sights. I would've been better off with iron sights, at least that night.

Range was about 60 yards--I should be able to hit at that range without a scope.

 

[Harve Curry]

Use your iron sights. Shoot it on paper so you know where it hits at a few set distances.

 

[mustangLX92]

Thanks for the help. I guess I can always add a scope later down the road.

 

[Art Eatman]

Safety can be an issue during the earliest part of "first shooting light" and then in those last minutes at dusk. With iron sights, it can be a case of, "There's a deer!" and with a scope, "Oops! That deer's not a deer! What's Uncle Dimbulb doing there?"

Deadly force never quits being deadly force...

Art

 

[birddog]

I've shot deer with and without a scope. I must say, I prefer *with*. And on my slug gun (Mossberg 500 Trophy Slugster), which I use to hunt dense cover near my home, and generally from a treestand, I keep it topped with an Aimpoint 2 Red Dot. Target acquisition is faster than with a magnified scope or with iron sights, and the sight picture is very simple (a little red dot) and very forgiving. You can shoot with one eye closed, both eyes open, head tilted any which way...there is no parallax problem at all.

 

[Damon]

Get a scope. It will increase your probability of a good shot by a lot. Get a very low power scope with a wide field of view. It will work better for short range.

 

[mohican]

Treestand hunting? get a scope

a low powered variable would be best, like a 1x4 or a 1.5x5. You can increase the power in the stand to get a view through the brush, and on the ground you can turn the power down for wider field of view and quicker target aquisition

Art, I agree with you
about IDing your target. However, if the brush is so thick, or the light so bad that you can't tell deer from human, you probably shouldn't be taking the shot anyway.

 

[Art Eatman]

True, mohican; it's just one of those things to think about...

, Art