Pepper.
Good God, no way.
I wouldn't use pepper on a feral dumbass human.

On handguns and 'the burden of carry', I've noted this before and I'll say it here again - I've carried (on a belt rig) my large X-Frame Smith and Wesson .50 through hundreds of miles of hound-chasing through this...

...Siskiyou County timber.

With the more slim/trim models like this one...

...carry would be even easier.

There's a lot of talk about just how unmanageable the .500 is or how heavy and impossible to carry they are -- and I stand here to say it's total bullshit.
If you can shoot, you can shoot a S&W500
If you're talking bear/nasty game, there's no good reason not to include the 500 in the conversation.
There are so many 'pussycat' loads for the 500 that are miles past the .44mag which are sweet to shoot, I strongly recommend giving the 500 a whirl.

Cheers
Tinker