Those who have visited the taiga regions must have paid attention to how the local hunters and gamekeepers are equipped and armed. Almost none of them have optical sights on their weapons. As a rule, only visitors who like to shoot have optics, and even they get rid of it as soon as they gain experience. What caused this behavior on the part of taiga hunters?
There are several reasons for not using optical sights by taiga hunters. They can be briefly described with the following words: arsenal and conditions. The fact is that a telescopic sight is a really useful, cool and very expensive thing. However, it is absolutely useless in most situations in which Siberian taiga hunters, gamekeepers and newcomers have already gained experience. Let's talk in more detail about each of the most important reason-positions.
The first is the conditions in which the weapon is used. The fact is that in the summer, visibility in the taiga is severely limited due to the riot of foliage. Most often, hunting or shooting for the purpose of self-defense is carried out at a very short distance of about 100 meters. The fact is that a well-fed or simple cautious animal, be it a wolf or a bear, will still try to bypass the hunter if their paths intersect. In most situations, animals try not to come into contact with humans.
If contact does occur, then the shooting will have to be fired almost point-blank. And in such a situation, optics will be not so much an assistant as a burden for the shooter. In fact, it is only needed when hunting in more or less open areas, for example, in swamps or meadows. As a last resort - in winter, when the amount of greenery on the trees is minimized. However, even in winter, a second important reason remains.
The second reason is the position in the chosen arsenal. The fact is that most often hunters are armed with smooth-bore guns, including automatic ones. This is because a rifled carbine in most cases will be completely useless against an angry bear, wild boar or even a pack of wolves. And for smooth-bore weapons, optics in the vast majority of situations are not needed due to its inconvenience.
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Interesting fact: most often huntsmen in dangerous regions are armed with smooth-bore modifications of the Saiga carbine under 12 or 20 caliber. It is known that there are many cases when it was impossible to fill up a bear even after the shooting of an entire store.
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There is another indirect reason. The fact is that any, even the most unpretentious optics needs appropriate care. Moreover, the weapon must be fired from time to time, since the optical sight gets lost much faster than the mechanical one. All this is not very practical and convenient, especially when it comes to long raids in the taiga.
Continuing the topic, you can read about why are wolves so afraid red flags in the forest.
A source: https://novate.ru/blogs/160420/54160/