In the dense western Wisconsin woods, close to their hunting lodge, a 12-year-old boy shot and killed an injured black bear that was mauling his father.
According to Ryan Beierman, 43, his son Owen fired a shot from his hunting rifle on September 6, pinning him under the 200-pound bruiser.
“Owen was a hero.” Beierman, who received bites to his knee, arm, and forehead, said, “He shot that bear and killed it on top of me.” In addition, a skin flap on his cheek that had been torn during the incident required sutures.
About ninety miles northeast of Minneapolis, in the vicinity of Siren, Wisconsin, he and Owen had earlier seen the bear from a tree stand. After injuring the bear with a shot from Owen, it fled. After waiting for roughly twenty minutes, the two set out to locate the bear, using the neighbor’s tracking dog in the process.
“We were sort of hung up in a thicket when we heard the dog yelp and sprint past us in retreat,” Beierman stated. “Just then, I stepped into a semi-clearing. I said, ‘There he is, Owen.'”
The bear was about six feet distant before it charged. According to Beierman, he shot the animal with his pistol eight times, but they were all missed.
“Before I knew it, I was flat on my back,” he recalled. “I started pistol-whipping him and it felt like I was striking a brick wall. I tried hitting him between the ear and mouth with a blunt edge of the pistol.”
Then Beierman’s head was slammed by the bear.
“All I could see were his claws and teeth,” he stated. “I lifted my right arm to block him. I remember the first bite. I heard a crunch. The bear was still attacking. He wasn’t going to leave me.”
“The bear was fighting for its life, and I was fighting for mine,'” Beierman continued. “I’m punching and kicking and flailing around. That’s when I saw a flash from the muzzle of Owen’s rifle.”
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The bear was then forced off of Beierman. His estimate of the attack’s duration is forty-five seconds.
Beierman and Owen were driven to a hospital by a neighbor. An ambulance picked them up and drove them the remainder of the way. His cheek wound would take twenty-three stitches to close. Beierman’s right arm had a cut and seven puncture wounds.
Their hunt was lawful, according to a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources conservation officer.
