Quote Originally Posted by Thrusting Duffman
...For example, we live near a lot of wild game and they are often several hundred yards away but she cannot simply zoom in enough to get a great picture. What kind of zoom lens can she get that will accommodate this kind of range?

She has a Rebel Xti camera and Im hoping for a lens in a $200-$400 range, preferably the lower end.
"Several hundred yards away" is way too far even with supertelephotos (unless you're going for wide environmental shots).

Knowing that and understanding your budget, I think the best solution for you and your wife would be the 70-300 or 75-300 type zooms as Photo-John mentioned. Understand that 300mm will still be short for nearly all tight wildlife shots.

I recommend getting stabilized lenses for all telephotos but I think the zooms mentioned with stabilization will exceed your budget. I can recommend a Tamron 70-300mm that I personally tested here:

70-300mm Field Test

It is a competent little lens with admirable image quality and decent macro capabilities. And it is less than $200. Not sure about the auto-focus performance though.