[Kaliv]

So I'm in the market for buying my first rifle scope. Planning on putting this on a .308 to shoot some deer and possibly some small black bear in the New England states sans bait station. I'm looking at either a variable 3-9x or a 4-12x power. I'm assuming that for the most part you would use the scope mostly on max power. How close can the game be to where the scope is basically useless to me. Or conversly, how far away can the game be where I would really want more magnification? Main question: would I be better off to buy the 3-9x or the 4-12x? Thanks!