My first game animal taken with a handgun was a forked horn 4 point whitetail shot in Leon County, Texas in 1991. I used a Ruger Redhawk .44 Magnum 7.5 inch stainless barrel, open sights. I was shooting handloaded 240 grain XTPs with W296 powder, Winchester brass, CCI 350s, chronographing about 1450 fps. Sitting in a tree stand, deer walks out to sample the oats about 35 yards away. I put the red ramp on his shoulder, gun go boom, deer fall down. Went through both shoulders and left a baseball size exit hole. I hunted for a while with rifles after that but have been handguns exclusively for about a year now. Not going back.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr