When a bear pounced on him last month, Wilf Lloyd was seconds away from death. Luckily, his son-in-law was quick with his rifle and blasted the bear away.

Unluckily, though, Lloyd’s knee was blasted away in the process.

Now the two are speaking about their grizzly encounter and the slow road to recovery.

Skeet Podrasky and his father-in-law were near the town of Fernie, B.C., in October when they came across a grizzly bear in the woods. When the bear attacked Lloyd, Podrasky said he acted.

“There wasn’t much choice. The bear’s on top of him, he’s screaming,” the hunter said. “I remember looking through the scope and seeing the bear.”

Podrasky fired at the animal, but instead it running off, the bear only paused for a few seconds.

“That was probably when I hit panic mode -- that I’d just shot this animal and it didn’t even seem to faze him.”

Podrasky reloaded and kept firing at the bear, eventually chasing it away.

The two were safe, but not unscathed – during the scuffle, Podrasky inadvertently shot Lloyd in the knee.

“I felt the vibration of the bullet go through (the bear’s) body and his body shaking on top of me,” Lloyd said, recounting the near-death experience. “And I’m still screaming at Skeet, ‘Shoot him again, shoot him again, get him off me.’”

He said his legs were free while the bear was on top of him, so he attempted to kick the beast off. It was during one of his kicks that he was hit with the bullet.

Lloyd, though, said he’s only alive because of his son-in-law’s quick actions.

“It is the absolute truth,” he said. “Fifteen to 20 seconds and I’m not here.”

Podrasky called his wife and 9-1-1 after learning his father-in-law was unable to walk. Eventually a search-and-rescue team helped the two out of the woods.

Lloyd spent a month in hospital following the incident, receiving 60 stitches for the bite marks on his arm and five surgeries in eight days for his leg. And while he lost his left knee cap, he kept his life, thanks to his hunting partner.

“We can’t believe the composure that that kid had, to stay in the moment and save my life,” said Lloyd, who runs a taxidermy business.

The grizzly wasn’t so lucky – B.C.’s environment ministry confirmed Podrasky managed to kill the bear.