if i were hunting a deer drive i would get rid of the rifle and just get a 12 gauge with slugs or buckshot. but if you insist on getting a scope i'm 100% sold to Leupold. they are kind of expensive but they are great. their variable x1 is their cheapest scope which i have on a .30-30 and on a .308 which works pretty good. but if you want to drop big bucks look into the variable x3. that's what i have on my .30-06 and i will never switch scopes unless this one gets broken, which then i would buy another one (: