'I was in shock:' experienced bear hunter jumped by bruin

An experienced hunter got the birthday surprise of his life while hunting for bear in northern Ontario, and he has the video evidence to prove it.

Richard Wesley, 45, was hunting with his family on his birthday near Hearst, a community along Highway 11 about 560 kilometres northwest of Sudbury, when he spotted a large black bear. The animal noticed him too, and Wesley, who was wearing a head-mounted camera, quickly found himself in trouble.

"By the time I realize that he's getting in the too-close-for-comfort zone, he's 12 feet away," Wesley told CBC Sudbury's Morning North program. "Another two seconds go by, he's like 10 feet away."

The bear would only get closer at astonishing speed and despite trying to yell at the charging animal, Wesley quickly found himself on the ground with the bruin on top of him and the camera, which went flying, now lens-down in a puddle.

"He jumped on top of me and all I could remember thinking was 'I'm going to have to try to jab him in the face,'" Wesley said, noting that bears have sensitive noses. Since he was bow hunting, he was able to jab the bear several times with the arrows he had in his hand, he said.

"It seemed like one, maybe two seconds," he said of the amount of time he figured the bear was on top of him. "It seemed like a long time but all I remember is 'he's no longer on top of me.'" The animal then bounded off into the bush.

The confrontation left him in shock, he said, which was evident when he picked up his still-recording camera again.

"I'm a First Nation, Cree-Ojibwa, I'm usually pretty dark," he said. "My friend just called me from Thunder Bay and he said 'you looked really white man,'" he continued, laughing. "I said 'I'm surprised I didn't look green.'"

'They do some funky things'

Despite Wesley's years in the bush running trap lines with his family, he said this was a unique experience.

"I've never really been scared of bears," he said.  "We're wary of them, they do some funky things, but they've never come after any of us."

As for injuries, Wesley said he only suffered a sore elbow from hitting it against a log when he fell and had to ward off the shock. He said he escaped from any scratches or bites.

As for why it happened, he said he figures the bear was defending its territory. "Sometimes when there's more than one bear in a certain area, they fight for territory," he said.

Wesley believes he ended up killing the same bear

While the experience of being pounced on by a bear was frightening, Wesley said it hasn't discouraged him from returning to the bush. In fact, he said he believes he ended up killing the animal on a subsequent hunt Wednesday.

"We looked at the videos, he's got a white scar on top of his eye," he said

That hunt was done from a tree stand — something Wesley said he'll do more of in the future.

The bear was harvested, Wesley said, adding that the animal will be processed.