Two sets of rules govern every hunt. One is written down and enforced by your state or country; the other is unwritten and enforced only by you. In handgun hunting both deserve real attention, because the law decides whether you may hunt this way at all, and the ethic decides whether you should take the shot in front of you.
The law varies, a lot
There is no single national rule for handgun hunting. Whether handguns are legal for a given species, which cartridges or minimum calibers qualify, what barrel lengths or actions are allowed, which seasons apply, and where you may carry and hunt are all set at the state or provincial level, and they change. A setup that is perfectly legal in one state may be prohibited across the border. Assume nothing.
How to find your rules
Start with your state wildlife or natural-resources agency, which publishes annual hunting regulations covering legal arms, calibers, methods, seasons, and licensing. Read the sections on handguns and on the species you intend to hunt, because requirements are often species-specific. If you hunt across state lines or on different land types, check each one separately.
Common legal requirements
While the details vary, several kinds of rules appear often: minimum cartridge requirements for big game (sometimes a minimum caliber, case length, or energy), restrictions on which actions or barrel lengths qualify, designated handgun or primitive-weapon seasons, and rules on optics. These exist largely to promote clean, ethical kills, which is exactly the goal you should already share. Match your cartridge to both the game and the legal minimum.
The fair-chase ethic
Where the law stops, ethics carry the rest. Fair chase means giving the animal a genuine chance and yourself a genuine challenge, and above all taking only shots that promise a quick, humane death. With a handgun that means staying within your true effective range, waiting for a good angle, and passing anything marginal. No animal is worth a wounding shot taken in haste.
Respect for the animal
The ethic does not end at the shot. Track carefully and do everything reasonable to recover a hit animal. Field dress it promptly and use the meat, as covered in our field-to-table guides. Respect for the animal, in the shot you take and the care you give afterward, is the standard that makes hunting honorable, and it is the standard this Almanac holds.