First of all, the gun needs to be accurate enough with the load you're shooting to be viable at whatever distance you're shooting. I have found that drop really isn't a huge concern with a .44 Mag at hunting velocities out to 100 yards. Much beyond that and things start to get tricky and you had better know within a few yards, how far your target is. With open sights I find the sight picture is the critical part and for that reason I like a hold on the belly line on game animals. With that hold I can see the entire animal and it's much easier to distinguish where the shoulder is vs. when taking a dead-on hold. Invariably when I'm trying to take a dead-on hold I tend to shoot over the animal. I learned what works best for me by shooting a lot of squirrels with an open sighted 22 revolver. Shooting off-hand I'm comfortable out to 50 - 60 yards and shooting a little farther with a good rest. Part of what goes into the decision to shoot is often how well you can see the target. On that pig, I had a very good sight picture because he was pretty dark in some light green grass so it was very easy to tell where the pig was.