Is there really any significant gain one over the other between a equal quality 3-9 vs 4-12 scopes on a deer hunting rifle used from close to 300 yards?
At 300 yards, a target magnified 9x appears to be 33.3 yards, 100', away.
At 300 yards, a target magnified 12x appears to be 25 yards, 75', away.
Not much difference.
A wider field of view at the lowest power setting might prove to be more valuable/useful than the difference in magnification at 300 yards.