Mike,

yes - I was serious about the pepper spray

. Of course it would be optimal to have a big-caliber rifle at hand, with a man behind it like you, experienced in shooting moving game. However, this is a bowhunter's thread, with a question from an American.

First of all, bowhunters already carry a lot of equipment, maybe even a folded tree-stand. If they settle on a rifle or big revolver, there will come the day where they will leave it at home because it bothers them and, mostly, they will not have had a bear encounter anyhow. So it has to be something light, like a pistol or a spray, that is ALWYAS on them. No use having a rifle or a .500 S&W if its in the backpack while cleaning moose, or back at home. It is a question of practicability. I usually leave my .454 Casull at home and take the 10mm, simply because the Casull is so big and heavy.

And for Americans - driven shoots are not done there, certainly have never heard of them and never seen one during the 20 years I have been hunting in Texas. That means most people there won't have the skills to shoot properly at an animal that's coming at them, which is quite likely to give them the shakes anyhow. Those might in deed be better off with a spray. No gun is of any use if you cannot hit running game. Just seeing what results some people here in Germany produce when they have to shoot at running game makes me very careful to recommend using a gun on a charging bear for everyone. If you consider that, practice it beforehand. Here in Europe, we have 'shooting cinemas' for that purpose, I know of none in the US. That would be one: http://www.schiesskino.de/ (You shoot with real ammo at moving game on a movie screen and your hits or misses are then shown on the screen by red dots, computer programs calculate proper lead for close or far away animals. VERY good training)