It was one of those snowstorms that pump life into Rocky Mountain rivers. Big, wet flakes fell with fury, quickly blanketing the ground in a damp coverlet. The moisture from those flakes would replenish mountain springs and nourish the wild trout that hid under brushy banks further down the valley. After a hot, dry summer, every living thing welcomed the snow. Everything, that is, except me.

Hunting on a sylvan north slope, the huge white flakes were driving me nuts. Dozens of elk had holed up in the firs and the wet snow dampened crunchy pine needles and twigs, allowing me to sneak about in near silence. Conditions were perfect.

However, if a shot presented itself, I wasn't sure I could pull it off. Each time I brought the rifle to my shoulder and tried to look through the scope, all I saw was a foggy blur of white. Shiny pinpoints of condensation covered both ends of the scope. My best efforts to remove them only seemed to make matters worse. Even after I got the glass somewhat cleared, the pelting snow made it impossible to make out anything but streaking white. Glumly, I squinted through the high-powered glass. Never one to fight the impossible, I gave up and headed back to camp.

Had I been using the same rifle three decades earlier, I wouldn't have had this trouble. When my dad purchased the lever-action Savage model 99, the rifle was outfitted with an iron peep sight. The old .300 was scoped later, years after dad had downed dozens of elk with his trusty rifle.

Was the scope an improvement? Most hunters would be inclined to think so. After all, the vintage 4x Weaver did extend the useful range of the rifle. However, even in an age when high-tech rules our hunting as well as our homes, there are conditions in which iron sights are superior to scopes.

For this reason, most of my elk hunting and a fair share of my deer chasing is done with open sights. Why?

First of all, I love to hunt when it's snowing. When the white stuff is dumping down in buckets, scopes have two problems. Number one, they tend to fog. Yes, I know, several manufacturers have introduced "fogproof" scopes and coated glass that purportedly resists condensation. Some of them might. However, they don't keep wet flakes from covering the glass. Secondly, the magnification that a scope affords which is advantageous to the hunter taking a 300-yd. shot on a sunny day is actually a hinderance when it's snowing. With even a low-magnification scope, every flake of snow is magnified, making it difficult to shoot or even find your target in a flurry.

In addition to their superiority in stormy conditions, I also like iron sights for other reasons. One time, I was so close to a young bull elk that I had trouble picking out his vital area through my scope. All I saw was hair, and the hair on the paunch looks about the same as the hair behind the front shoulder. I've never had the problem of being too close with iron sights.

And there's also the durability factor. Bang your scope against a chunk of granite, and you'll being wondering where your bullet's going to hit the next time you fire. Iron sights aren't indestructible, but in my experience, quality sights are less prone to failure than a scope.

But are they accurate? Can a hunter count on iron sights to deliver a humane, killing shot in typical field conditions? To answer that question, let's put the accuracy question in perspective. Iron sights will never deliver the precision of a pricey, high-magnification scope on the target range. However, when you're bearing down on a buck, that inch and a half of error that seems so significant on the paper target really doesn't matter. Deer have a vital area that's roughly the size of a pie plate. As long as you can keep your shot in the lethal zone, you'll make a clean kill.

Overall, iron is plenty accurate. Competent shooters with good sights can consistently bust a plastic milk jug filled with water at 150 yards and beyond -- results that are more than adequate for most hunting situations.

Speaking of accuracy, what iron sight system yields the most precise shooting? In my experience, the peep sight is the most consistently accurate. Peep sights consist of a post that's mounted on the front of the barrel and a small ring that's typically mounted on the rifle's receiver. The shooter centers the tip of the front post in the ring or "peep" and aligns the top of the post on the intended point of impact.

As history indicates, rifles equipped with peep sights can be incredibly accurate. Professional buffalo hunters of the Old West utilized long-range rifles with peep sights that allowed them to stretch shots to one-half mile. Modern day blackpowder cartridge aficionados ply replica or original "buffalo guns" with astonishing accuracy. Relying on their peep sights, they regularly rattle gong targets at distances well beyond those at which an ethical hunter would be willing to shoot.

In addition to their accuracy, peep sights have another advantage. Typical "buckhorn" or V-notch iron sight setups force one to focus on the rear sight, front post and target simultaneously. As eyes age, this becomes a near impossible proposition. With a peep sight, however, one needs to focus only on the front post and the target. Even though the ring of the peep blurs, the shooter's eye naturally centers the tip of the post, negating the need to focus on three objects simultaneously.

On the downside, peep sight systems are no longer widely available. Many modern rifles come equipped with no sights at all (manufacturers apparently assume that everyone wants a scope), and those that do have sights almost invariably sport a flimsy V-notch system. Thus, finding a good peep system takes a little work. Gunsmiths and well-stocked gun shops usually have access to such sights. Large-scale outdoor catalogs (such as Cabela's) generally carry an assortment of peep sights as well. Lyman sights are typically available from these sources and come in configurations to fit many popular bolt and lever action rifles.

If your rifle (like most of mine) is one of the less-than-popular models, you can still obtain a first-rate peep sight. AO Sights of Ft. Worth, Texas, offers a comprehensive array of excellent peep sights for most rifles and muzzleloaders. In addition to their "out of the box" systems that can be installed by a handy hunter or gunsmith, this specialty company offers custom peep sight installation for virtually every rifle in existence.

Although peep systems are, in my opinion, the BMW's of iron sights, I've taken dozens of elk and deer with rifles outfitted with the more common buckhorn or V-notch sights. Like peeps, buckhorns use a front aiming post. However, rather than centering the top of the post in a ring, the tip is aligned at the bottom of the V-shaped rear sight and then zeroed in on the target.

While they demand youthful vision and aren't normally as accurate as peep sights, buckhorns do have a couple advantages. First of all, most youngsters learn to shoot with a .22 or air rifle adorned with these sights. Thus, an adult hunter can achieve (or re-achieve) proficiency with buckhorn sights in short order due to previous experience. Secondly, most rifles that come equipped with iron sights sport the V-notch variety, saving the hunter the added expense of a different system.

Not too many years ago, fiber optics spawned yet another option to traditional sighting technology. Although typically housed in high-tech plastic rather than metal, fiber-optic sights look and function much like V-notch iron sights. These sights use a thin, brightly colored cylinder of fiber-optic material that creates a luminescent bead on the front post. The rear V-notch portion of the sight incorporates two more tiny, shiny dots of fiber-optic material on either side of the notch. The rifle is aimed by centering the nearly glowing front bead in the notch between the two neon-like dots on the rear sight. Fiber-optic sights allow for quick alignment on the target. They're also highly effective in low-light situations and are increasingly becoming "standard equipment" on many muzzleloaders.

Although fiber-optic, buckhorn and peep sights are all highly accurate at close range, they're overshadowed by scopes for long range shooting. Therefore, choosing the caliber and rifle to outfit with iron sights opens up some highly satisfying and economical possibilities.

You could put iron sights on a shoulder-busting .338 Winchester Magnum. But what's the point? Magnum rifles are most useful for harvesting big beasts (such as moose and elk) at long ranges, well beyond the reasonable capabilities of iron sights.

Thus, cartridges that expend their energy over shorter distances are ideal mates for iron sights. In terms of rifles, lever-action guns designed for quick shooting at short to medium range are logical options for iron sights as well. With these factors in mind, cartridges such as the .45/70 Gov't, .444 Marlin and the recently released .450 Marlin in lever-action rifles are excellent choices for elk and moose. In decades past, many hunters took to the woods with Savage model 99 lever actions in calibers such as the .300 Savage and the .308 Winchester. Both of these cartridges are sufficient for elk and deadly on deer at ranges out to a couple hundred yards.

For deer, the old .30/30 Winchester is an ideal choice for the iron sight shooter. This ol' reliable has filled more deer tags than any other cartridge in history...for good reason. The .30/30 has more than enough power to topple a whitetail or mule deer buck. And, it's still probably the most economical round going. .30/30 ammunition sells for less than one-half the price of many "hotter" cartridges. And when it comes to buying rifles, you can plunk down about $300 and walk away with a brand .30/30 Winchester 94 or Marlin 336 lever-action. If that's not economy, we're not spending the same currency.

No matter what caliber and rifle you choose, getting the most out of iron sights is just like fine-tuning a scoped rifle. Because they don't have the accuracy of scopes, I think many hunters tend to get a bit sloppy when it comes to zeroing-in their iron sights. On the target range, treat your iron sights just like you would a scope. Use a bench rest, fire groups of three shots and evaluate. Fifty yards is an ideal distance for the preliminary sight-in. After initial adjustments have been, do some more shooting at longer ranges.

In a high-tech age, the simple effectiveness of iron sights evokes memories of forgotten ancestors and less complicated times. In the world of hunting rifles, the third millennium is still no time to scrap iron.

Click here to see our selection of sights.

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