A 12-year-old boy from Wisconsin, Owen Beierman, heroically shot and killed a 200-pound black bear that was attacking his dad and pinning him to the ground.
Owen shot the bear in a vital area, saving his 43-year-old dad, Ryan Beierman, who was being bitten in the face during the attack near their family cabin. Ryan described the moment, saying, “I was flat on my back and could feel the bullet going through the bear.” He was left with a big scar on his face and wounds on his arms and legs.
Ryan proudly called Owen a hero, saying, “He shot that bear and killed it on top of me.”
Ryan Beierman and his son Owen were out hunting when a black bear attacked Ryan, leaving a big gash on his face. They had left school and work early for the trip. Earlier, Owen had already shot the bear, but it had run off wounded.
Later, they found the bear again, hiding under an oak tree. Ryan described the bear as ready to pounce. “The next thing I know, he was on me. He charged and knocked me down,” he said.
Ryan explained that he was fighting for his life while the bear was fighting for its own. He reached for his gun, hoping to scare the bear with a warning shot. “He was only five or six feet away,” Ryan said. “As he charged, I shot to kill. I shot eight times but missed. I didn’t have time to aim properly.”
Ryan and his son Owen left school and work early to go hunting at their family’s cabin. Suddenly, Ryan was knocked onto his back and struggled to fight off the bear with his pistol.
He recalled, “At that point, the bear let go of my leg and lunged at my head. All I could see were its claws and teeth. I lifted my right arm to block it, and I remember the first bite. I heard a crunch.”
Ryan thought, “He broke my arm,” but it was actually just punctured, not broken. The bear kept attacking and wouldn’t back off.
As Ryan fought for his life, he saw the flash from Owen’s rifle. The bullet hit the bear and knocked it off him, leaving Ryan dizzy as he heard the bear let out a final moan.
Owen, 12, bravely shot the bear that was pinning his dad to the ground. Ryan described his injuries, saying, “My left cheek was sliced open, and blood was oozing out. There were two fang marks on my forehead, and my face was covered in blood.”
Their neighbors quickly came to help. One neighbor cleaned the bear and hung it up for the family, while another drove Ryan and Owen to the hospital.
Dustin Gabrielson, a conservation officer from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, confirmed the incident and said that everything about the father-son hunting trip was legal.
Owen’s shot knocked the bear off his father, saving Ryan’s life. Ryan needed 23 stitches to reattach his cheek and had seven puncture wounds on his right arm, along with more bites on his leg.
“I was proud of Owen. He really stayed strong,” Ryan said. “But after it was all over, you could see he was pretty shaken.”
Even though Ryan had said he was done with bear hunting after this scary experience, he is now having second thoughts.
“I told my wife I was finished with bear hunting. Now, I’m not so sure, but she’ll have something to say about it. It was a wild ride. It was a crazy night, that’s for sure,” he said.
