I've never to my recolection lost an animal due to a cheap scope, I did loose a deer by turning the wrong way too close to sunset, with a red dot sight, I mean the deer was still there, but the screen became one big full field red dot , subtending about an acre at at 100 yds! Can't go wrong with Burris or Nikon if you have to have the best. My best scopes were 2 Lyman Alaskans Weatherproof 2 1/2x, 1 Kollmorgan, pre-Redfield, 1 fixed power 4 compact Leupold, 1 little jap scope that the name has rubbed off of, and I really like old Weaver, steel tube scopes, sometimes you have to fiddle with them a little but I like that too.