I carry a pistol every day. Period. That pistol/handgun choice changes accordingly with my environment for the day.

I'm generally a weight weenie when it comes to my pack hunting gear, meaning I carry as little as possible, and try to buy gear which is as light as possible, but I've generally considered - if I'm worried about 3lbs of revolver, I could just as easily pick 3lbs out of my 200lb body weight to lose.

I'm also quite confident in my practiced ability to run my revolvers/pistols fast and accurate...

When a guy is considering whether he's capable of deploying his handgun defensively, he also has to ask himself the following question - when's the last time he ran his RIFLE fast? Being fast and accurate with a handgun doesn't come for free, but neither does such with a rifle.

More often than not, I'm hunting with A handgun, but it's generally a long barreled scoped revolver or specialty pistol, so when hunting in bear woods, I'll carry a defensive revolver as well, just as a guy might with a rifle.