Similar to most people I grew up shooting with a scope, except for a Savage O/U combo gun I had with terrible buckhorn sights.

Last year when I finally got my express rifle, I thought, "Well damn it, I've got to learn how to get good with irons if I want to use this gun." So I pulled the scope off my 22 mag that is my practice/plinking gun and dedicated time to learning to use irons. I found that if you practice a good deal with a 22 (or whatever your small bore plinker is), you can quickly get good with a big bore with open sights. I'm good out to 100-40 yards with my 500bpe. Unfortunately my range has now stopped shooting beyond 100 yards so I've not been able to practice beyond that point.

I shot this chital doe last year at 140 or so. Going to try for stags this year.