I have never seen the need for such power for shooting big game at extended distences inasmuch as you can see a deer or Antelope very well indeed at up to 1000 yards with a 3X Leupold..
It seems that todays hunters think magnification makes one a good shot. The longest shots I have made in my extended hunting career have been with scopes of 2.5 to 4X..One thing that is seldom mentioned is that high power is hard to hold even with a rest as it will bounce the cross hairs with the beat of your heart, you have problems in incliment weather with high power, you have problems with change of impact when you move the power up or down, especially with higher powers, they are intended for slow precise shooting under very controlled conditions IMO..I can hold a 4X dead solid on a deer at 1000 yards, I have trouble with a 16X and one tends to grab the trigger as the cross hairs float by and thats a miss or a wounded deer...
I think for any big game hunting a 2x7 or 3 x 9 is all one needs. I also would not feel shorter with a fixed 4 or 6 for that matter..I put more emphasis on trigger pull than any thing else for long range shooting.
I'd rather see what's going on (heartbeat, wind moving the shooter, etc) than be under the false impression that I was "solid", so I can't agree there.
That said, you are spot on with the trigger pull stuff.
