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I'm old, and I've been hunting deer with a handgun for a LOT of years. To date I've killed over fifty with the 357mag and a good number with other assorted cartridges including the 44mag. The ONLY deer I ever lost with the handgun was lost with a 44mag and it wasn't the guns fault, it was mine. I simply made a bad hit with the gun. Shooting a handgun at a deer requires hitting the deer in the vitals....heart/lung area every time. Simply hitting the deer won't get it done. Most of the deer shot with the .357mag were shot with Hornady XTP 158g or 180g JHP bullets. With the 44mag they were shot with 240g bullets. FWIW, I've never gotten the accuracy with the 180g bullets as I have with the heavier bullets. In my opinion, too many people are using a handgun and can't reliably place the bullet on target when necessary. There's the adrenalin factor, the deer is moving, and lack of a LOT of practice doesn't allow reliable shot placement. If you want to hunt deer with a handgun it's very doable, but you need to put the time in at the range to do it right. Just like bowhunting.
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