I live on the East side of Washington State. I hunted several years with a handgun. Started with ground squirrel in Eastern Oregon with a Ruger Single Six 22lr. Then bought a Ruger Super Redhawk 7.5" 44mag. installed a Millet red dot scope on it for big game. Handloaded Hornady 240gr. XTP bullets. Bears in this State are mostly black bears. Up north you my run into a grizz but I would not worry about it. I would get the 44mag. for your purpose due to ammo price and availablity.