Talk about getting too close for comfort. A hunter came within what looked like inches of a mama bear and her two cubs while sitting in the blind.

Jamie Stephens was in the woods hunting deer. After not seeing anything for days, his patience finally paid off. But it wasn't deer he was rewarded with. It was three black bears. "That's crazy I have never seen a bear out here. That's awesome dude," Stephens said.

Up Close Look

Stephens got an up-close look too. "It's coming towards us. Don't move. Do not move," Stephens said to his son sitting in the blind with him.

The mamma bear was so close she almost stuck her head right in the blind. "I thought she was just going to continue off to our left and the cubs would follow," said Stephens. "It was a bit nerve-wracking when she decided not to."

Credit - Jamie Stephens via Facebook
Credit - Jamie Stephens via Facebook
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Scare the Bear

Stephens was smart enough to make a loud noise and scare the bear away.

"That was cool," the boy said after the three bears wandered off.

Watch the amazing video and try to remember to breathe. I was shaking and I wasn't even there. How the hunters kept their cool and managed to keep the camera steady is beyond me.

Bear Hunting Laws

Stephens did have a bear tag but the wrong weapon. "I wish I had my bow," he can be heard saying. "I’m a bow snob, I want to kill one with a compound. We were out with the crossbow."

It's not legal to harvest a sow with cubs no matter what you are using to hunt within the state of New York. But the laws are different in Pennsylvania where Stephens was hunting, just over the New York border in Ridgebury Township, about 2 hours and 40 minutes from Utica.

"It's one of those things that may never happen," said Stephens. "If it doesn’t I’ll be fine either way."

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