One of my favorite all around loads for the 44 was a spin-off of the Elmer Load, using the same 250 grain bullet but with 22.5 grains of W296. The load gave 1088 fps from my old 4" Model 29 and killed everything I turned it on including a couple of deer. It didn't shoot half bad, either.
If I was building a deer-specific load for that gun today, I'd use Hornady's excellent 240 XTP and a max load of the same powder.