A 12-year-old Wisconsin boy bravely shot and killed a 200-pound black bear that was attacking his father and pinning him to the ground.
Owen Beierman saved his father, Ryan Beierman, 43, from being bitten in the face by a bear in the woods near their cabin in western Wisconsin, by shooting the bear in a vital spot. His father told the Minnesota Star Tribune..
“I was lying on my back and I felt the bullets go through the bear,” said Ryan Beierman, who was left with severe scars on his face as well as wounds on his arms and legs.
“Owen was a hero. He shot that bear and killed it on top of me.”
The father and son had left school and work early for a hunting trip, and the son in his early teens had previously shot a bear, which was wounded and escaped.
According to his father, it was getting dark when they came across the injured bear again, peering at them from under an oak tree.
“He was like a cat ready to pounce,” Beierman told the Star Tribune. “Next thing I know, he was on top of me. He lunged at me and took me down,” he said.
“The bear was fighting for its life, and I was fighting for my life.”
“My first thought was to fire a warning shot to scare the bear away, so I reached for my gun,” Beierman said.
“He was only about five or six feet away, close range,” he told media. “He lunged at me and I shot to kill him. I shot eight times and missed. I didn't have time and I couldn't get the gun high enough to use the sights.”
Ryan came to his senses, lying on his back, trying his best to shoot the bear with his handgun.
“The bear then let go of my feet, probably backed away a little bit and lunged at my head. All I could see was the bear's claws and teeth. I put my right arm up to block it. I remember the first bite. I heard a crunch,” he recalled.
“I thought, 'My arm is broken' but it wasn't broken, just punctured. The bear was still attacking and wouldn't let go of me,” he added.
As the father fought for his life, a flash came from the muzzle of his young son's rifle, a bullet blasted the bear away from his father, and the father of two was left dizzy as the bear let out a final roar.
“His left cheek was cut open and blood was oozing from the area. There were two fang marks on his forehead and his face was covered in blood,” he said.
Neighbors then stepped in to help, with one person cleaning the bear and hanging it for the family and another driving the father and son to the hospital, Ryan said.
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources conservation officer Dustin Gabrielson confirmed the incident to the Tribune, adding that everything the father and son did with their hunting was legal.
Ryan needed 23 stitches to stitch his cheek back together, and doctors found seven puncture wounds in his right arm and many more puncture wounds in his legs from bear bites.
“I'm really proud of Owen, he kept a really cool head,” his father said, “but it was clear he was pretty shaken up after it was all over.”
His father vowed to give up bear hunting after his near-death experience, but now he's having second thoughts.
“I told my wife I was done with bear hunting. I don't know now, but she'll say something. It's been a tough trip. A hellish night to say the least,” he said.
