I am not knowledgable about CA hunting regulations so I have pasted a link that might be useful to you.

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/hunting/

I will take a stab at the question about semi-auto and revolver. The pro/con is reliability vs capacity. The semi-auto will hold more rounds of ammo - some models over twice that of a revolver. The con is that some perceive the semi-auto as being less reliable and subject to ammo jams.

I own semi-autos and prefer them over revolvers, but for hunting protection it is hard to beat a good revolver.

Great answer CVC
Might I add CA restricts semiauto pistols to holding 10 rounds max. to there magizine.
Some times I carry a .357 revolver with 2 snakeshot rounds and 4 slugs

If you are bringing a handgun in from out of state, there is this that you need to know....

"New residents must register handguns (purchased outside of California) with DOJ within 60 days."

When you buy any gun here, with the exception of muzzleloaders, you will have it sit in a safe in the gun store for a lovely 10 days while they do all their checks. If you want to buy a gun from another citizen, you need to bring it in to a licensed FFL(mostly gun stores) and they will also hold it for 10 days until checks are done. It's about as restrictive as you can get.

As for hunting with a pistol, I believe as long as you legally own it, and the regulations say you can hunt with it, then it's no problem.......

Good luck......

J and myself would like to thank you for the replies they have been great.
I phoned the bureau of firearms and they answered a lot of my questions to which you had already answered for me.
Thanks again T & J