A video of a young man’s close encounter with a bear cub while hunting near Bonnyville, Alta. has gone viral after being posted to social media.
Last week, 14-year old Davin Grunow was out hunting with Mark White , a family friend, when a family of bears approached their lookout which was in a tree.
One of the cubs climbed right up the tree to investigate.
“We always know, when we go in the stand, if the bear comes up the tree, stay calm,” White, who has hunted for 45 years, told Global News on Monday. “Show respect.”
Grunow remained completely still and the cub eventually climbed back down to join its mother and another cub.
The video had been viewed over 1.4 million times on Facebook as of Monday evening.
This was Grunow’s first experience hunting bears.
“He learned everything that night that I could possibly teach him,” White said.
“He got close, and handled himself unbelievably.”
White accompanied Grunow and his sister for their first bear-hunting trip. They had discussed their plan before the bear got to the top of the tree.
“When the cub went back down the tree, we just stayed and watched them.”
White said there were also other bears in the area at the time.
“It was something that could have gone terribly wrong, but didn’t,” White said.