The real life smokey and the bandit

By Jamie Smith

This Burt Reynolds bear lookalike was captured in a hilarious pose as it relaxed after gorging on fish.

The snaps were taken by photographer Denis Budkov, 33, in a reserve near Kuril Lake in Kamchatka, Russia.

Pic by Denis Budkov/Caters News 

Denis had a brilliant time watching and photographing the hilarious real-life Smokey and he says that he thinks the bear was enjoying it too.

Denis said: “The bears are guarded there by state, so they’re pretty friendly and are used to people already – they understand that people won’t do any harm to them.

Pic by Denis Budkov/Caters News 

“This was a male bear of about 4-5 years old – the pics were taken in August 2017 and it’s this time when the waters are full of fish.

“The bear ate as much as he could and decided to have a rest. It really looked like he was enjoying bathing – he was stretching his paws.

Pic by Denis Budkov/Caters News 

“I was sometimes as close to him as 10 meters and it was fun both to watch and photograph.”