For the record, I would get a drop reticle for a dedicated long-range antelope rifle or something, with two requirements.
1. It would have to be a FLAT-shooting round, so my initial sight-in would be 300 yards (e.g., Leupold's BDC with a .257 Weatherby Magnum). If I KNOW the rifle is primarily for 400+ yards, I don't want to sight it in at 100 or 200, and I want to walk around with it set to low magnification, knowing that I can point-and-shoot out past 300 yards if I see game. (Drop reticles generally require the scope to be cranked up all the way.)
2. I'd want the drop marks to be unobtrusive, so that the scope doesn't become a PITA for closer shots on running game.
Here's what happened to me this year, after I got a nasty flu for most of mule deer season, after I pulled a controlled tag:
I went out, still not feeling all that great, with only a couple of days to spare, in nasty weather and heavy wind. Thank god for the ATV hunters, because they drove all the deer into sheltered canyons, and the ATV guys don't go where they can't drive.
So, I climbed to the tallest peak in the area, waited for the sun to start coming up, and started glassing. I found deer in the bottom of a canyon. I hiked around to see how close I could get, but the walls were too steep and covered with shale hidden under sparse vegetation. The best spot I could reach safely was 289 yards by laser to the deer. So I got into position on a boulder and tried to steady the rifle against the gusts.
Problem #1. To use the drop reticle, I had to crank the scope to 9X. To make a 289-yard shot at about a 30 degree angle downward, with a .30-06 sighted in at 200, you just hold a few inches high, if that, and shoot. You can set the scope however you want. But with the BPLEX, the primary crosshair is sighted in at 100 yards. That means I pretty much HAD to use the drop reticle for an effective 250 yard shot, since the drop is around 10", not the 3" or so it would be on a rifle sighted in at 200. That's right: a shot well within the .30-06 MPBR capabilities, and I had to use the stupid reticle because the gun had to be sighted in at 100 yards. Dumb.
Problem #2. The wind was
really blowing, so I chose not to take the shot. I also figured that, if I couldn't climb down, I could never get that deer anyway if I hit it. So, I took my bearings, hiked back down to my Jeep, drove around the hill, and found a spot where I could try to climb up from the other side. I was still not feeling all that well, but I wanted to hunt, so my head was probably not quite clear. As I was hiking in, I jumped a deer at 20 yards or less. Before I could shoulder the rifle, it was gone. So I followed it up the canyon. Sure enough, I got another chance, so I shouldered the rifle and #$%^ if it the !@#$ thing wasn't set to 9X with that stupid bunch of lines in it! No time to do anything, so I took a premature shot, and missed. Worked the bolt, shot again, missed.
Having practiced a lot out to 325 yards with the drop reticle, my eye naturally went to the 300 yard marker, and between that and nervously trying to find the !@#$ deer in the 9X scope at 50 yards, I flat-out missed. Again.
Would that have happened if I were feeling 100% instead of getting over the flu and running on sudafed? Maybe not. NEXT TIME I sure will remember to carry the rifle at 2X or 3X. Without the BPLEX in the gun, I probably would never have had it on 9X to start with, though... And with a more standard 200-yard zero, I would never have had to fool with anything at all.
Again, food for thought.
