I was a resident in Utah for many years and used a 1X scope on my muzzleloaders quite successfully. Putting the crosshairs on a long distance deer was much easier for me than tying to shoot with the current crop of open sights available on most muzzleloaders. The width of most front sights looks wider than a deer body length at 300 yards, making precision shots more difficult. Using a good peep sight with a fine front sight was better, but still a distant 2nd to putting a crosshair on the target for those long shots.
I use a fine duplex reticle (not many reticle options on the 1X scope in the old days)and found that using a 5gal bucket to simulate the depth of a deer's chest was a great target to get used to using the point of the duplex and the cross line as a great distance reference. I found that using the bottom point of the duplex as a hold point at the top of the bucket at 300 yards it would hit the bottom of the bucket about 2" from the bottom edge. This reference came in handy when my "best to that date" buck "bracketed" perfectly telling me it was 300 yrds out. I held about 10" over the back with the point of the duplex and drilled the buck with a perfect double lung shot.
Today, I use a lazer range finder, and I'm sure there might even be a multi dot reticle for better drop compensating than my old method. I did a lot of shooting at that range with my fast twist 45cal muzzle loader and amazed most people at the range with my 300 yard water jugs practicing.
Good luck on your hunt. I might can find an extra 1X scope kicking around here if you can't find one. Just PM me if you need one.
Scott
