I never owned a scope until I bought a Marlin 60 that came with one in about 1992. I was in my mid-30's at the time. We just didn't have much use for one the way we saw things. We hunted small game that moves a lot (squirrels) and finding a running squirrel with a scope is almost impossible. A WWII sniper taught us a lot about shooting when we were kids. He never used a scope. He didn't like them at all. But I saw him drop a crow from 300 yards with iron sights. He taught us that if you can see it you can shoot it and you really don't need a scope. For his purposes I'm sure he didn't have need of a scope. He wasn't making 1000 yard shots in the war. He was likely in a tree or a tower picking off humans who were running. Again that would have been easier with irons.

I like my scopes now because I like shooting long distances and I like shooting tiny groups on targets. Both generally require a scope IMO. At least for me they do. But I do know how to use the irons.