The minimum I will spend on a hunting scope is 100 bucks, and it will usually be a low power bushnell trophy. Other wise it will be 150 to 200 bucks and up.

Now for a rimfire plinker or something I might get a 50 to 70 dollar scope, then again maybe not because I will spending a lot of time looking thru it and nice optics are good on your eyes. And don't get good optics for cheap, just doesn't happen.

My main concern with cheaper scopes and hunting are the quality control on the cheaper scopes, and the optics quality. They have to save money somewhere and those are the two places the will cut corners. When hunting you want a scope that will work when you need it to, you don't have room for error hoping it won't go bad on the biggest buck of your life, or the first buck of your life. If you miss you will be wondering if you missed or the scope wandered off point of aim or something got jarred loose. Been there done that, never happening again. Or worse yet wounding an animal, it's hard to live with.

There is also not much worse than bringing your gun up, taking aim and having your scope fog over in crappy weather. Which will usually be the case during deer season, at least in the area I live in. Good optics are sealed well and have coatings to keep them from fogging up and getting blurry.

Not saying you have to spend 4 or 5 hundred on a leupold or conquest, although if you could afford it I highly suggest them. I can't afford them though. However if you step up to 150-200 bucks there are some nice 3-9 power hunting scopes that will serve you very well. In that price range it really doesn't matter what brand, they will all be pretty decent. Just go with the one you like the best. I also really suggest going to look at them in person. I can't bring myself to buy a scope over the net. Unless it was one I already owned before or had looked at somewhere. I really need to look thru it and hold it in my hand before I am willing to spend my hard earned money on it. Especially when you are talking optics.

Good luck,
Paul