When bears do their business in the woods, J-frames are what they leave behind.

If you pick a double-action revolver, do yourself a favor and go no smaller than an S&W K-frame w 4” barrel.

You will shoot far better with the greater weight, sight radius, and superior trigger.

This is what I refer to as a “field pistol” and there’s no reason to go small with one, though not as big as a gun used primarily for hunting.

All that said, my recommendation would be a 4” 686 or GP100.

A medium frame .357 DA revolver is probably the most versatile handgun there is, especially if you don’t reload.

Field shooting will be mostly single action, unless your attacked. Under $1,000, there is possibly no other handgun with a better out-of-the-box SA trigger than an S&W (dedicated target pistols excluded.) Ditto for the sights.

However, this might be the one time I would pick the GP100. For a gun that will be shot primarily single action, the superior DA pull of an S&W loses its advantage. There’s not that much difference in the SA trigger, and I believe the Ruger to be generally more accurate.

I spent over 40 years stomping the brush of our family ranch, until we were forced to sell it to pay for my mother’s long-term Alzheimer’s care.

During that time, I carried variously a Ruger OM Blackhawk .357, a 4” Model 24, a Ruger OM Blackhawk .45 Colt, and, when feral hogs invaded, a 5.5” Ruger SBH .44 mag.

Although I killed coyotes & a couple deer, zero hogs (how can they leave such a path of destruction and never be seen during the day?) with those guns, none were actual hunting handguns, but just what I carried for come-what-may while working, quail-hunting, fishing, or just roaming the woods shooting rocks & prickly pears. The Model 24 got the most playing time.

The weight of the SBH was pushing it a bit for me. In later years I was actually pondering a Glock 20. Now that I’ve spent some time with a Glock 22, I’m glad I didn’t.

My hunting guns were a Redhawk and Ruger Bisley, both 7 1/2” .44 magnums. I preferred the Bisley.

See, I’m not a Ruger-hater[emoji6]