Hunt the Great Lakes area the same way you do. Lowest power for stillhunting and a 6x for an AM/PM low-light sit or if it is too noisey to drift around.
Killed a couple running bucks on 6x. At the time the scope setting never crossed my mind....I suppose if one lacks the ability to point your rifle in the vicinity of the escaping critter it could be an issue. So now I use 3xish powered scopes for the low end.
Do use and like the 6x36 but not any better than the 6x42--but have a heavy reticle in mine. I always bring the 6x36 in rings when headed out of state as a spare. Daughter kills everything with the 6x42, has gotten pretty insistent about the superiority of the set-up...and she doesn't read the fire.
With the standard Lupy (anemic) duplex reticle the 42mm may be an advantage to you when there isn't snow on the ground in low light. I'd spring for it if you can stretch the budget...
Imagine that picking the odds of one of today's medium to high end priced scopes puking over the one sitting next to it in a display case would be kinda difficult...
