Reading some of the comments tells me I wasn't clear enough in the purpose of my "hunting pistol". I would never intend on this being used as a primary hunting tool. It would be carried as a sidearm/protection gun secondary to my bow or rifle for the hunt. If that sways your opinions, please let me know.
Okay,
Jacket, that does color my comments.
Over the years, I've used my sidearm to finish 5 deer for hunters that took shots that didn't do the job, as well as a cpl that had been hit by cars.
The calibers were: .22LR with a Single Six Ruger from ~20 yds; several with a .357 Smith 3" model 60, and one with a Smith Model 1955 Target in .45 ACP. All but one were head shots and none were closer than 10 yds. Out west I finished a large cow elk with a broken back with .44 Magnum...the shot from ~10 yds, to the neck.
None of these, I'd care to repeat...most entailed a lengthly trail up with frequent remarks by the hunters involved that would have left a wounded animal in the woods for a death by coyote...a grim thought that.
So here are my points. A large caliber handgun may allow you access to dense thickets that are all but impenetrable with a rifle and where the visibility is minimal. But pick a good finishing caliber....44 Spl, .41 Mag, 44 Mag...you get the idea.
The same gun, should be good enough for a one and only firearm in bear country. In my case, two decades, I drew a cow tag for elk in the high country northeast of Jefferson, Colorado. On opening day, a herd of 20-25 cut across an open park, two hundred yds from where I'd stopped to scope the open area.
I killed my cow at 9:30 am, & working alone, I spent a several hours quartering her and rigging my packboard for the haul out to my jeep parked on a two-track 3/4 of a mile through the timber. After side-hilling in 6" of frozen crusted snow, on the first trip out, with a hind qtr loaded, I decided to leave my .35 Whelen in the jeep. It was getting along in the afternoon, and I figured I could get one more load out before dark and didn't want the extra weight of the rifle.
On the trip back to the kill site, I found fresh bear tracks in my previous pack out trail. It'll give you the willies, believe me...especially when you're not packing a back up gun. That bear had followed me for several hundred yards, but then veered off and I never saw nor heard him. A hundred pounds of fresh elk meat on your back and no gun in bear country is a recipe for disaster.
As it turned out, after reaching the kill site, I decide to haul the best cuts up into the trees with my backboard rigging rope then hiked back to the jeep without a load. It was a scary, watchful hike back out...crunching snow, lengthening shadows...
I was convinced I'd be lucky to get any more of that elk out, but in the am, fully armed, I found it undisturbed. Lesson learned...I had left a tanker type holster with a .44 Smith in camp but didn't want the extra weight on that 1st day.
I'm a flat lander from KY and 9000+ feet of elevation is a killer when you're in your late 50's and packing out heavy meat. I now tote some sort of handgun on most deer hunts even here in KY, and if I had the legs and lungs still for Colorado, I'd do the same while elk hunting.
Lastly, a handgun is good on the hip in camp as well as out in the bush. Not all of us are honest and upright in the game fields and an empty camp is an invitation to thieves. Alone in camp, but armed, you're not so much of an easy target.
Just some thoughts...Rod