First and foremost - you will NOT get enough penetration for any bear with a .40S&W. It makes me cringe when guys claim they carry their .40S&W's for bear defense. I've killed several coyotes with .40S&W pistols, and relating that penetration and wound tract, there's no way I'd use one for bear except over dogs, and not really even then. Deer aren't that hard to kill, nor that thick, bear are thicker than we give them credit.

A fetish for pistol carbines, especially cheap ones, is a dirty little secret of mine. I no longer have a Hi-Point, and I would not spend money on one today, but if you have no expectations for it, it will be a fun carbine for you.

In terms of killing deer - I bought my first 9mm Hi-Point in 2000 on a "bet" with a buddy that a 9mm would kill a deer with one shot. Since pistols were not legal for deer, but pistol carbines were, I won the bet with a cheap Hi-point carbine. I doubled down a few years later where a screw up in a law re-write saw one or two years where any centerfire pistol was legal for deer, and I took one with my Glock 19. I've taken a few deer with 9mm carbines over the last 15yrs, and for close cover coyote hunting, it's actually really hard to beat a 9mm carbine (except with a shotgun).

The .40S&W has more punch than the 9mm, so even though the largest thing I've killed with a 40 has been a coyote (in a pistol), I have no doubt it will do well enough on deer also.

That said - the hi-points are low quality. There are far better carbines out there to be had, at reasonable prices. The Kel-Tec Sub2000 is a surprisingly good value, especially for a "takedown" folding carbine. I have yet to handle a Taurus Carbine, and the Beretta is rather over priced, but it's a very fine pistol carbine.

And I'll expand, because there will undoubtedly be flamers coming after me for saying it - the 9mm carbine is a terrible choice for deer, but if you want an excuse to buy one, and want to chase a wild hare (forgive the wordplay), you can cleanly kill deer with a 40S&W carbine to 30-50yrds. Not a step further. It seems too easy for someone to say "50yrds or less," then find out they took a 70yrd shot...

You really do need to reload to capitalize on the longer barrel though.