Affordable scope for hunting at 25-200 yards?

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   I have a 450 Bushmaster (Ruger Ranch bolt action) rifle that I plan on using to hunt deer and boar at ranges from 25-200 yards in low light, primarily at 3-6x. Budget is around $300. I have been researching rifle scope optics for over a month, and I’m an efficient researcher. Yet I struggle between 4 options.
3-9x50mm in a cheaper scope like Vortex Crossfire II. Bigger. Heavier. Higher magnification probably a waste at these ranges? Lower quality glass in terms of light transmission. (Though remarkably sharp edge to edge). Comes with illuminated reticle option. Worth it for the 50mm bell even if I’m mostly down at 3-6x. Larger eyebox? Depth of field issues?
3-9x40mm in a more expensive scope like Leupold VX Freedom. Smaller objective bell, but supposedly better light transmission performance. Would this better glass outperform the 50mm bell in the Vortex Crossfire II in low light? More forgiving depth of field?
2-7x32 or 33 in something like a Leupold. Smaller and lighter. Closer to the sweet spot in terms of usable magnification. But smaller objective/exit pupil. Perhaps a 2-7x35 in a rimfire scope with 50 yard parallax for added aperture?
LPVO like Vortex Strike Eagle 1-6x24. Conventional wisdom says that 24mm is too small an objective bell for hunting. But going only off of exit pupil, 4x still gives 6mm exit pupil on this style scope. Or am I thinking about this wrong? Assuming similar quality glass, is there more to low light performance than just exit pupil?