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Need advice on handgun hunting for whitetail. Acceptable caliber, barrel length, sighting options, distance. Hoping I can use what I have an not buy a new gat. What are the minimums you guys would use at x distance. I guess I'm hoping picking up a good load with a nice bullet will save me from buying a new handgun i'll only use once a year.

What do you have for a pistol that you plan on using I guess would be the first question.

Knowing what you have will help tremendously... that said, a good rule of thumb (with plenty of qualifiers) is pick something that stays around 1000 foot/pounds at the maximum range you are comfortable taking a shot and placing it within an 8" circle, consistently, from a standing position.

A TC Contender in 7mmMag. Those huge MN whitetails are tough, and you need to bring enough gun.

Anything smaller would be unethical.

I've used a 22LR at a distance of 2 inches, to a 444Marlin cartridge in a 14"T/C Contender to take whitetail deer with a handgun.
My favorite is using my 6" GP100 Ruger using 180 grain XTP's over a healthy charge of WIN296 for 357Magnum.
Or my 7.5" Ruger Blackhawk 44Magnum loaded with 300 grain XTP's over a healthy charge of WIN296 if bears are a problem. (I had a bear chase me off a deer kill once.)

I have been looking into this a bit more this year. I am hoping to start next year possibly. While a ton of people are reporting that they have killed plenty of deer with a gp100 as long as the shots are within 50yds, the 44 and heavier calibers seem to be finding favor with hunters. I think a 454 raging bull with a scope would be a nice set up, a SBH seems to be a very well accepted choice.

I have been looking into this a bit more this year. I am hoping to start next year possibly. While a ton of people are reporting that they have killed plenty of deer with a gp100 as long as the shots are within 50yds, the 44 and heavier calibers seem to be finding favor with hunters. I think a 454 raging bull with a scope would be a nice set up, a SBH seems to be a very well accepted choice.

I would think anything less then .357 magnum would start getting questionable. Anything in the .357 Magnum, .41 Magnum, .44 Special/Magnum, .45 Colt range should be up to the task. Anything more than that will certainly work but is probably overkill unless you hunt areas with steroid-pumped, zombie deer, that shoot up meth...

Don't over scope. I have used or owned several setups for hunting and for me a 2X scope or maybe a 1-4X for Minnesota whitetails is best. I have used handguns with a 4X, just too small field of view when held at arms length, but off a solid rest with time to acquire the target, it is workable. I had a Ruger Super Redhawk in .44 mag. originally with a 1X which wasn't bad, but liked it better with a 2X and overall I think a 2X is best on a revolver.

My current setup is a Freedom Arms model 83 in 454 with a Leupold 2X. For stand hunting in the area we hunt in the Bemidji area, I think Is a perfect setup.

As far as caliber, I prefer a minimum of a .41 mag. and go up from there for pistol calibers.

One additional perspective, for about the same price as a new S&W or Ruger revolver you could build an AR15 pistol in 6.8 SPC or 300 AAC/blackout that would be really good whitetail medicine, particularly paired with the SIG Brace.

S&W 460. Shot my first deer with it last year at about 60yd. Had a scope on it. Hated it. Open sites are the way to go. In my opinion. Hunting with a BFP is a hoot. I will never go back to a rifle.

So I have a 4' 357 mag, and a Full sized 1911. If I shoot at a deer with a pistol it would be 40 yrds max. I know those aren't hunting guns but with a good load am I out of line to shoot at a deer?

I've been taking whitetail for years now with a Raging Bull in .41 cal. with buffalo bore hardcast lead bullets. None of them have gone more than 20 yards and most just quiver and tip over. Distances have ranged from 10 yds. to 150 yds. I have found the ballistics on the .41 much better than the .44 at long distances. .357 should work just fine at that 40 yd. range.

Nothing wrong with a 4" 357.
I've been hunting for years with a 4 5/8" Ruger Blackhawk in 357. Has done quite well for me.
I have two handloads tailored for it; one with a Hornady 125grn XTP-FP and the other with a 180grn XTP-FP. I prefer the 180grn, but have started using the 125grn due to recoil sensitivity. I used to stretch my shots to 75yds with the 180grn, but with the 125 I limit myself to 50yds max.

What about the .45 ACP?