Kendell Cummings and Brady Lowry, along with their friends and fellow team members at Northwest College in Powell, Wyoming, found themselves at the mercy of a grizzly bear.

The students were out antler hunting, when they noticed bear marks on the soft ground.

It was actually Lowry who noticed the bear marks then later told his friend, Cummings. Just moments later, the bear showed itself to the boys.

So when the collegiate wrestler “started hearing crashing coming through the tree”, he yelled “bear” to warn his friend, but he was too late.

The grizzly was already after them.

The bear had immediately tackled him, causing the student to fall “about five feet off a small ledge”.

“It started chomping on me pretty good. It got a hold of my left arm, it was shaking me around, broke my left arm,” Lowry told CNN affiliate KSL.

Cummings was also there watching the whole scene unfold, and he knew he could not just run away and leave his best friend behind.

He began yelling in the hopes of distracting the bear, but it didn’t work. So he decided to throw stuff at the bear but that didn’t work either.

Not knowing what to do, he braced himself and began to attack the bear to save his friend.

“[H]e jumped down and grabbed the bear … and yanked it off me,” Lowry recalled.

The bear turned its attention on Cummings. It “chewed him up a bit”, as he said, and then the wild animal stepped back for a moment.

And when Lowry turned to approach Cummings to check on him, the bear returned, this time more aggressive and turning the situation into a life or death moment.

The grizzly bit Cummings on the head and cheek, before making its way back into the forest. That was more than enough time for Lowry to call 911 with emergency responders rushing to the area to help them.

Lowry was also able to locate their other two teammates.

He and Cummings had separated from them during the hike.

Three of the guys went back to the mountain to look for Cummings. They found him “limping down the mountain, drenched in blood”.

“(Cummings) asked me how he looked and I said, ‘You look great, we’ve gotta go!’” Lowry said.

The college students were taken to a Billings, Montana hospital where they received medical attention for their injuries.

“We become best friends going to hell and back with each other. Seeing someone sweat and bleed … coach teaches us that.

You aren’t going to leave a brother behind,” Lowry explained.

Cummings suffered the most severe injuries, but he is thankful to his brave friends for saving him as well.

A terrifying encounter only served to make the guys stronger and tightened the bond between them.

The local authorities confirmed the bear attack, warning that there are “six to 10 different bears moving between agricultural fields and low elevation slopes”.

Watch the boys share their horrifying encounter in the video below!

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Source: YOUTUBE – KSL NEWS, CNN