Greg,

I have done a bit of research on this over the last few months, my new hunting cabin is almost done now and I have some views to a certain point on our property that is a known big buck feeding area just shy of 400 yards from the front door, as well as the whole way across the valley where I can often see deer feeding but don't know what they are.I also do a lot of scouting in the late summer from the car out to some of the other fields on the property where I am normally glassing 500-1000 yards out and my 8x42 Nikons aren't cutting it anymore. I plan to have a scope in the cabinby August.

If you can go just a bit above your statedprice range and for your use, I would highly suggest the Nikon Fieldscope series, specifically the 20-45 x 60. I know you are going on an elk hunt soon and I imagine other hunts in the future and this scope is one of the lightest scopes on the market right now for packing in, and reviews by the optics snobs are putting these on the same playing field as the big 3 (Leica, Swarovski, Zeiss). The Nikons will run you $750-$800 depending on where you buy and I can guarantee you will be happy with them, the guys over on opticsplanet.com really reviewed these well but really trashed a ton of others out there and usually those guys don't review much well that isn't from the big 3. Everything I have read on these really puts them in a league of being a lifetime purchase just as a set from any of the big 3 would.