A 12-year-old boy heroically saved his father from a black bear attack near their hunting cabin in the dense woods of western Wisconsin. On September 6, Ryan Beierman, 43, was mauled by the wounded bear when his son, Owen, shot and killed it to protect him.
“Owen was a hero. He shot that bear and killed it on top of me,” Beierman told the Minnesota Star Tribune. Beierman suffered serious injuries during the attack, including bites to his forehead, arm, and leg. He also required stitches to reattach a flap of skin on his cheek that was torn during the mauling.
The ordeal began when the father and son spotted a bear from a tree stand near Siren, Wisconsin, about 90 miles northeast of Minneapolis. Owen shot and wounded the animal, which fled into the thick brush. After waiting 20 minutes, the pair used a neighbor’s tracking dog to search for the bear.
“We were sort of hung up in a thicket when we heard the dog yelp and sprint past us in retreat,” Beierman recalled. Moments later, he spotted the bear again, just 6 feet away. Despite firing eight shots with his pistol, Beierman missed the bear, and it charged, pinning him to the ground.
“Before I knew it, I was flat on my back,” Beierman recounted, adding that he tried to fight off the bear by hitting it with his pistol. “I started pistol-whipping him, and it felt like I was striking a brick wall.”
The bear then attacked Beierman’s head, delivering a severe bite to his arm as Beierman struggled to protect himself. “All I could see were his claws and teeth,” he said. “I remember the first bite. I heard a crunch.”
As the bear continued its relentless attack, Owen took action. “I’m punching and kicking and flailing around. That’s when I saw a flash from the muzzle of Owen’s rifle,” Beierman recalled. The boy’s shot killed the bear instantly, allowing Beierman to push the animal off him.
The attack, which Beierman estimates lasted about 45 seconds, left him with significant injuries, including 23 stitches on his cheek and multiple puncture wounds on his right arm. A neighbor began driving Beierman and Owen to the hospital, where they were met by an ambulance.
A conservation officer with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources confirmed that the hunting trip was legal.
