If you want to really practice for deer hunting do this. Place your rest and pistol at your shooting position. Back off 50 yards or so and run up to your set up and then place that shot where it has to go. The run will get your heart rate up to where it will most likely be when you have that deer in your cross hairs. Handgun hunting is a blast. Your 44 mag will do you well on deer. I don't know what type of shooting sticks you have but I have found this to work for me. I use the PoleCat ConvertaPod System by Stoney Point. I use the Compact 3 piece tripod that goes from 16" to 38". The third leg will adjust up and down on one of the bipod legs and you can swivel it up and down. I place the bipod legs the height that I need, mostly for a sitting shot. Then take the third leg and extend it long enough so I can pick it up and lay it on top of my shooting arm shoulder. I then can wrap my shooting arm around that leg resting my wrist on the leg and lay my Contender forearm in the V-yoke and get a solid bench rest type hold. It is a very accurate way to shoot in the field. I have killed deer with three different barrels over the years. A 10" 357 mag, 14" 6mm-225 Winchester wildcat and a 14" 30-30AI. The 30-30AI is my favorite. With a 125 Nosler ballistic tip going 2670 fps average it just hammers deer. I really like the Weaver 2.5-8X28 scopes. I have three and have had NO PROBLEMS with them. I keep my scope setting on 2.5 while hunting. I have found that you always have time to turn up the power but you never have time to turn down the power when a deer pops out of the ground. Your 2X will work OK for 100 yards and under but if you want to stretch things out a little farther I would look into a variable with a little more power. Just remember BRASS. Breath, relax, aim in, stop breathing, squeeze the trigger and you will have meat on the ground. Good shooting and good hunting to you.