Charging Grizzly Takes a Direct Shotgun Blast and is Hardly Stunned

Although grizzlies are awe-inspiring creatures, the best safety practice for anyone in grizzly territory is to avoid them altogether. This standard warning takes on more urgency when dealing with a protective mama bear and her cubs.

In most cases, grizzly bears want to avoid humans too. However, protective mama bears are a force to be reckoned with—your presence alone threatens her cubs.

Check Out This Horrifying Bear Encounter in the Video Below

Point-Blank Range Shot Doesn’t Stop Mama Grizzly

This video starts with a warning that you are about to view distressing content. A Canadian man notices several bears on his property and attempts to scare them off. He initially fires a warning shot, but instead of running away from the blast, the mother bear becomes defensive.

You can see the man in the clip wearing an orange shirt, and blue jeans, and holding a shotgun. His dog is in camera view, too, attempting to help his human get the bears off their property.

After the warning shot, the man can be seen running toward the bears for a few seconds and suddenly stopping to aim his shotgun. A woman is behind the camera, and you can hear her gasp and say, “She’s charging!”

The moment the man stops is when the mother bear turns and begins charging him. Amazingly, he keeps his calm, never turning his back toward her. He steps backward as she approaches full speed, keeping his shotgun steady and aimed. At this point, his dog is retreating off-camera. His backward steps speed up, and he fires his shotgun directly at the mother bear.

Immediately, she reacts, her head coming down toward the ground while her body flips around. The woman behind the camera, obviously startled, says, “Oh, god,” as she tries to keep the camera steady.

The mother bear can be seen with her legs up in the air, stunned—only a few feet away from the man. She rolls several times on the ground, gets her bearings, stands up, and then continues charging.

Luckily for the father protecting his property, he was able to get inside his home and slam the door before the mama bear could get to him. You can hear the final moments when the man and woman are reunited—he’s breathing heavily as they try to figure out where the bear went.

Later, he tracked the bear, but he didn’t find any blood. He hopes that she thinks twice before approaching humans like that again.

The photo featured at the top of this post is © NaturesMomentsuk/Shutterstock.com