If you are serious about hunting, I would advise you to go with a Ruger Super Blackhawk in .44 Mag with a 7 1/2 inch barrel (though I prefer the Blackhawk with a slightly shorter barrel).

Whether you put a scope on it is up to you, but figure max range without is about 50 yards.

For hunting, use a good quality HP in the 240-300 grain weight (they are a handful)...for target shooting and home/camp defense the .44 Special with 180-210 grain HPs are very good and do not tend to overpenetrate.

I like the idea of pairing the Ruger with a nice Marlin 1894P lever action for timber or tree stand hunting with ranges of 100 yards or less.