Most of my guns for just general hunting have something in the 2-10x or 3-12 flavor. As long as the reticle isn't real heavy 500 yards is no problem for 10x. The military standard for probably 30 years was just 10x. It isn't "tacticool" and your buddies won't think you are a badarse though.
If your rifle will spend it's hunting career poked out a shooting house window I would do something in the 4-14x range.
If you hunt in the woods at all, I'd do 3-9, 2-10x, maybe 2-8 on a compact rifle... and try and read some reviews by Optic's guys and become as knowledgeable as possible in things like field of view, contrast, etc. Those can make/break a scope and what set the high end stuff apart so pay attention to the specs. Disregard reviews that go something like "I mounted this on my 30-30 and shot a hub cap at 200 yards first try. This is the clearest scope I ever looked through. I pointed it at the sun and I couldn't see out of my right eye for 2 days. Way better than my cousin's Tasco. Can't wait to shoot my first doe in the arse with it. War Eagle."
