I did not grow up with a hunting father. My dad landed a couple days after the D Day landing. When the war in Europe was over him and one other guy were the only ones out of his entire company who originally landed that were still there. (That is 2 out of around 115 not replaced) If you saw Band of Brothers you know where he was at. He did not hunt or shoot after the war. I guess he shot all he ever wanted to during the war. After he died we found a Bronze Star and 3 Purple Hearts. By the way he did not talk about WWII much at all, I looked most of this up after he died.
My junior year in high school I bought an 1851 Colt replica in 44. My first handgun 1968 or 1969. I shot it so much that by 1973 almost all the internal parts were Colt replacement parts. I bought a Webley in 45 acp as my first real cartridge handgun. When I got out of the Army in 1973 I went to work as a policeman. I bought my first modern handgun a Browning Hi Power. I soon traded it for a S&W Model 28, which was much more accurate, and powerful. I started reloading and casting bullets for this revolver. I guess that Model 28 is what really set me on the path I have followed for almost 40 years. From 1973 till now I have bought sold and traded Colts and Smith & Wessons to the extent that I have no idea what all I have owned. Most of that time I have owned a 29 or 629. I have owned Contenders since around 1993. I have never switched completely over to handgun hunting. I hunt with muzzleloaders, my 1899 Savage 303, my 30-06 some, and handguns.
I started bowhunting seriously in about 1974 with a compound bow. I switched to recurves exclusively about 15 years ago. Traditional Archery and Handguns Hunting are alot alike. You are limiting your range, and increasing the skill required to make the kill. I like to tree stand hunt with my bow, and tree stand hunting works just fine with a handgun. I had not thought about it till now but I started handgun hunting about the same time I switched to traditional archery equipment. The quality of the hunt is more important than the number of animals harvested.