Welcome to the board! My hunting rifles carry Nikon Buckmasters and a Leupold Vari-X II. For my latest gun I wanted to upgrade to the Monarch or the Leupy VX-III and have been hearing a lot of good things about the Zeiss Conquest. When I finally got to compare them side by side, there was no comparison! The Zeiss is the clear winner! A little pricier than the others, but definitely worth it!

I also debated the 40 MM vs. 50 MM and power issues too. The 50 MM will allow a little more usable light through, but with it comes bulk and price. The 40 MM Conquest will easily do the job in any "legal" hunting light.

As for magnification, (I am not a long range expert by any means,) but on hunting guns at nominal ranges, 3 X 9 or up to 12X should be great.

The mil-dots or BDC type reticles are personal preference, (maybe some of the long range hunters could give better advice on that!)

As for mounts, you don't really have to break the bank on "hunting gun mounts!" I went with Leupold mounts but, there are many other good ones out there that you won't have to mortgage the house for!

Anyways, thats my .02, BTW, Optics Planet or SWFA are great places to buy online!
Good luck and again, welcome to the board!