Hunter given fright of his life by tree-climbing bear

A hunter in the US was given the scare of his life when a black bear suddenly decided to scale the tree he was sitting in and join him high above the ground, with video evidence of the encounter surfacing on the internet.

The unidentified man was camped high in the tree when a family of black bears began wandering on the forest floor below him.

While they initially paid him no attention, one of the bears soon dashed up the trunk and reached the platform on which the hunter was sat.

The man appears to deal with the situation remarkably calmly and the bear soon returns to the ground to rejoin his companions.

No sound from the hunter is detected throughout the film, until the very end when he appears to swing the camera and exclaim: "Holy s***."

Viewers around the world have praised the man's ability to stay calm with the bear just inches from his face and the video has already become a hit.