Actually when the .357 was first developed, it was successfully used to kill all of the species of North American big game animals, including the big bears.

I have a Blackhawk .357 and a S&W Model 66 .357, a blued and a stainless .44 Super Blackhawks, and a couple of .45s. I've carried each of them as back-up and as primary hunting pistols. So far I've only killed two animals with pistols. Both were black bears, both were spot and stalk hunts, and both were one shot kills, one with a .44 mag and the other with a 1911 .45 acp.

A number of years ago a friend and I were fishing in a creek in the backcountry in NW Montana. He was carrying a .357 and I had my .44 mag. When we stopped for lunch we decided to do a little plinking. We set some rocks up against a bank about 20 yds away. The rocks were flat and about the thickness and half the size of a brick.

When we shot the rocks, the .357 would knock them over but the .44 would shatter them into gravel.

As a back up weapon, either a .357 or a .44 would work fine. Some people cannot handle the recoil of a .44.

I don't think a game warden would take too kindly to a deer in archery season that had a bullet hole in it.