My first hunting handgun was a new 1978 Ruger Blackhawk in 357mag. I hand loaded 38 special wadcutters and went after Ohio fox squirrels. Lots of shots taken and never hit one. It was a blast.
Moved to NY in 1983 and after 6 months of paper work got my NY pistol license to allow me to keep the handguns I already owned. Picked up a Ruger Super Blackhawk 44mag in 1986 and took my first whitetail that year.