I'm not Mule Deer either but have a Leupy 2.5-8 on mine. It rides at 3-4x most of the time but really like the higher magnification for sighting it in - thats about the only use for higher power on a larger cartridge rifle. This is my second 2.5-8 on a hard kicker and they've held up fine.

Adversity doesn't build character, it reveals it.