Though a two-inch barrel might be "handy", it's also going to come with a pretty brutal muzzle blast. Lighter, and with a balance more toward your hand, it's going to take a lot of practice to accurately place six rounds quickly.

Quality-wise, I always like S&W, but the heavier frame and cylinder (not to mention the lower price) of the Redhawk won out. My Ruger's trigger isn't as smooth as my friends' Model 29s were, but it wasn't noticeable enough to be concerned over. I've never been a fan of Ruger autos (other than the Mk I and Mk II), but I've been pleased with the two Ruger revolvers I own (the Redhawk and a Super Blackhawk).

When I lived up there in the late 80's, we didn't have access to bullet weights heavier than 240 grain, so we reloaded. We tried some (I think they were 300 gr) soft points intended for the .444 Marlin, but if I recall, we finally settled on 240 grain softpoints with a pretty stiff charge of Blue Dot. Today, I see that CorBon's loading bullets over 300 grain in .44 magnum, so that probably becomes an option, but I've not used them to say one way or another what I think. I remember those 300 gr softpoints were pretty rough to shoot, I would expect these to be at least the same or more unpleasant, particularly through a light, 2" barrelled handgun.

Ultimately, our forays out into the interior and into the less-travelled parts of the Kenai Peninsula usually found us carrying a heavy rifle (.338 or .375) and a short-barrelled shotgun with slugs. Obviously, not going to work on an ATV. As far as hunting goes, a handgun is extra weight. The only reasonable situations where you might find yourself wanting one instead of your rifle would be while you're sleeping, or while you're taking a dump. A clean, well-sited camp generally does wonders for eliminating nighttime "visitors". And, a bear who catches you with your pants down (literally) is probably already at a considerable advantage.