A close and scary encounter with a mother grizzly who was protecting her cubs near Bella Coola has been caught on tape.

The incident happened on Oct. 14 and shows a man watching the bears approach a dog in the yard.

The camera points at the ground, and when the man appears back in frame, he's in the yard armed with a shotgun.

He fires a warning shot but the grizzly just keeps coming. He fires again, this time taking aim at the bear's head but the big bruin just shrugs it off and keeps coming.

Luckily the bear drops before it bounces back up and continues its pursuit, giving him time to high tail it to safety.  

According to the YouTube post, the man indicates the gun was only loaded with birdshot and the last shot was his last round.

Conservation officers are now investigating and some have criticized the man for engaging the bear in the first place. But in his online post, he says he has taken numerous bear engagement courses and was only aiming to scare the bear off, not kill or seriously injure the animal.

"I know she'll be sore but she'll now think twice about approaching people."

-with files from CTV