Watch: Bear joins startled hunters in tree stand

Video footage has surfaced showing a large bear cub joining two startled bow hunters in their tree stand.

The footage, posted below, also shows the hunters trying to remain calm out of fear of startling the bear, which at times was only inches away.

Wes Marchak told For The Win Outdoors that he and his brother were hunting bears from the stand last May in the Canadian province of Manitoba when another cub chased its sibling up the tree.

The footage, uploaded to YouTube by Viral Hog on Monday, shows Marchak giggling as the cub was just opposite his brother farther up the tree. “It was my brother’s first time hunting,” Marchak said, declining to provide his brother’s name.

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The young bear, once it realized it was not alone, quickly returned to the forest floor.

Marchak explained that momma bear had long since left the cubs, which were about 4 years old, to fend for themselves. The hunters did not harm the cubs.

Marchak, however, said he had been hunting “a certain bear with great size and lots of meat to fill my freezer,” and harvested that bruin a few days later.

–Image courtesy of Wes Marchak