Seriously....There are plenty of quality scopes out there in the $200-400 price range that will serve your needs just as well as a more expensive scope....If you were loaded with $$$ I would say, spend it if you want it...But, when you mentioned that you are selling guns to finance....Nope, I would not put a $1,000 scope on a deer rifle...That will be the one that gets stolen, dropped, broken...etc....

When I bought my Ruger M-77 in .243 in 1980 I put a $130 Bushnell Scopechief on it (a very good scope in 1980)....I killed at least 80-100 deer or so with this scope until I upgraded to a Leupold VX-II about 10 years ago...Have killed another 50 or so with this setup....Yes, you do need a good scope....Not a $1,000 dollar scope to kill deer....And, yes our deer in NC also move late, in fact I have killed deer by the moonlight...Perfectly legal as they were eating my soybeans and peanuts...

A Nikon Buckmaster or Monarch, Bushnell 3200 or 4200, Leupold VX-II or VX-III and probably several others will do all you ever need to do...

If you had 15-20 years of deer hunting under your belt, and were getting a custom stocked rifle to deer hunt with, I'd tell you to spend the $$$...But the average guy will never be able to tell the difference or justify the $$$.