Welcome rml127,

I noticed that you are LE from New York. Is your Glock fitted with the " NY Trigger" ? (Required by NYC but I don' t know about the whole of the state!) If it is, it is an unusually heavy trigger compared to Glock' s standard trigger. (More and more PD' s are leaning toward that trigger configuration because of concern of liability suits!) And I also noticed that you mentioned the .38 Special. I will assume most of your practice has been for qualification purposes, and therefore have been fired in the " DA (double action)" mode. And this is why I ask....

For most police use, (and/or military - defensive use), handguns are " generally" fired in DA mode (if they have that capability). And the courts have already ruled that as far as the legal system is concerned the Glock' s " safe action trigger" is considered legally as a DA. Which is not entirely " true" or " the same as DA on other pistols or revolvers" , but legalisticly speaking....it prevents (or trys too) unscrupulous lawyers from using the gun' s trigger system as a way to convince naive jurors of negligence.

Hunting handguns on the other hand, (revolvers and autos...because specialty single shots are another group entirely), should be fired using them in " SA" (single action) mode. This is generally speaking a much easier to control system and " trigger squeeze" lending itself to shooting more accurately. Which may expain why the trigger feels to you as if it is " going off" when you are still squeezing and maybe not " quite ready" ! It takes somes getting used to when you are working on achieving maximum accuracy and learning to " call your shots" . And as you have already observed....the .44 Magnum is a considerable jump up in recoil from either the .40 S&W or the .38 Special, (though either of them can be a hand full when chambered in a particularly little and " LIGHT" handgun - the ones frequently considered for back-up or CCW).

To answer your empirical question....yes....the .44 Magnum is very capable of cleanly taking whitetails. And unless your particular Redhawk is an exception....once it is properly set up....IT should be capable of taking whitetails to 100 yards. The biggest part of " that equation" though is the shooter. I would suggest like has already been suggested...acquire a goodly number of .44 Special factory loads (or moderate handloads if you have an entirely " reliable" source) and practice until that gun becomes comfortable for you. You should not be surprised when the trigger releases....and you should be able to more or less " call your shots" . (You will notice that there is likely a considerably different Point of Impact, (POI), between the .44 Specials and the .44 Magnums. So it will require a " sight change" for the practice to be effective, (and a sight change back to the hunting load after you switch).

Being a police officer you are probably much better grounded in shooting fundementals than the vast majority of other handgunners....and should have very little difficulty in making the transition!

Best of luck to you....and good hunting!

P.S. Nearly any " standard" 240 grain soft point that shoots well in your gun will make a good whitetail load! If your gun shoots them well and you don' t mind the slight additional expense the Winchester 250 grain Partition load makes a wonderful whitetail/black beer/boar load! Once again....good luck!