Field Tested: Black Gold Ascent Whitetail Bowsight

I’ve shot single-pin sights for most of my bowhunting career. Since I’m also an avid 3-D and target archer, a single pin’s simplicity and exactness made the most sense for me as a do-it-all sight option.

“Made.” As in past tense.

It wasn’t until I missed a golden opportunity at a tall-tined 8-pointer that I began entertaining the idea of gap shooting with multiple pins, hoping to alleviate my fears of another big buck moving closer or farther away while I’m at full draw. That being said, it wasn’t an easy transition. Gap shooting has its benefits, but it also leaves a lot to be desired in terms of precision, especially at the longer ranges I practice at. I searched the market over, but while some offerings had the adjustability I wanted in a multi-pin sight, they fell short in other departments. Throw in pin clutter, which isn’t too terrible with only a few pins but can still be distracting when you’re used to just one, and I had several good reasons to not make the switch.

Thankfully, Black Gold provided the solution this year with its new Ascent Whitetail, a more compact version of its popular AscentVerdict sight. Geared toward treestand and ground-blind hunters, the Ascent Whitetail is lightweight (7.5 ounces), adjustable and available in either 1- or 3-pin configurations. The sight features Black Gold’s legendary “Dial of Death” range-adjustment wheel, PhotoChromatic technology to automatically darken the pins when there’s too much light hitting the fiber-optic backing and an interchangeable, fluorescent sight ring on the housing. The Ascent Whitetail also features first- and second-axis adjustability.

Black Gold took care of my pin-clutter concerns with its new tapered pins, which, at the ends, aren’t much wider than the fiber-optic aiming points they hold. Despite the accuracy drawbacks of gap shooting, I went against the grain somewhat by not using the bottom pin as my slider. Instead, I sighted in my pins at 20, 30 and 40 yards, then used the middle (30-yard) pin to make my adjustments. This gives me 10 yards of leeway in either direction if a deer at 30 yards decides to move while I’m at full draw.

The Ascent Whitetail comes standard with .019-inch pins, but I’m also considering adding a .010-inch pin as my 50-yarder. In that case, the 40-yarder would become my new adjustable pin.

One of my favorite things about the Ascent Whitetail is its zero-out feature. Adjustability is great, but if I’m going to use a multi-pin sight, I want to be able to get back to my tried-and-true, set-distance pins as quickly and reliably as possible. Zero-out lets me do that by instantly returning to a predetermined yardage.

It’s refreshing that so many archery companies still make their products in America and make them to last. Black Gold is one of those companies, and the Ascent Whitetail is one of those products. And if — big if — anything does go wrong with my sight, I’m covered by Black Gold’s stellar warranty. All those benefits and more at a lower price than any of Black Gold’s other moveable sights — what’s not to love? MSRP: $236.95