A 12-year-old boy killed a 200-pound bear to save his father’s life during a family outing that went horribly wrong.
Owen Beierman, 12, shot and killed the black bear before it could fatally attack his father, Ryan, who was trapped beneath the monstrous beast when shots to kill it failed.
“My left cheek was cut and blood was coming out of the flap. There were two fang marks on my forehead and my face was splattered with blood,” Ryan told the newspaper. Star Tribune.
“The bear was fighting for its life and I was fighting for mine,” he continued.
The father-son duo from River Falls, Wisconsin, left school and work early to go hunting, something the two often did together, when Owen made the heroic save.
The 43-year-old salesman said he probably would not have survived the attack if it weren’t for his son, as the near-death encounter left him with a horrific cut to his face and fang punctures in his forehead, right arm and leg.
Owen Beierman, 12, shot and killed the black bear before it could fatally attack his father, Ryan Beierman.
The two were deep in the woods of western Wisconsin, near the family’s vacation cabin, when Owen first spotted the forest beast. Pictured: Owen on a hunting trip in November 2022
Owen, a regular hunter, was prepared for such an event, firing his rifle and killing the bear that would eventually fall off his father. Pictured: Owen carries the hunted birds around his neck on a hunting trip in October 2023
The two were deep in the woods of western Wisconsin, near the family’s vacation cabin, when Owen first spotted the forest beast.
Armed with a Legend 350 hunting rifle, he fired and hit the bear, missing the ideal kill zone and causing the bear to flee.
The pair continued to track the bear, which was wounded, in hopes of finding blood trails or other tracking markers. Shortly after their failed search attempts, a neighbor who heard the initial gunshots offered his tracking dog to help with the search.
Just after dark, the chocolate Labrador spotted the bear, prompting Ryan to grab his rifle and fire eight bullets from a distance of 6 feet.
Unable to raise the gun enough to use the sights, missing all eight shots, the bear lunged at Ryan and pinned him on his back.
“I started hitting him with the gun and it felt like I was hitting a brick wall. I remember thinking, ‘You’ve got to do something different. ‘ I tried to hit him between the ear and the mouth with a blunt edge of the gun,” Ryan recalled.
Faced with the monstrous claws and teeth, Ryan placed his arm between his face and the bear’s attack, hearing a crunch and convinced that the bear had broken his arm.
“The whole thing may have only lasted 45 seconds or so, I can’t remember exactly. But it was like he was attacking in slow motion,” Ryan said.
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources conservation officer Dustin Gabrielson confirmed the event, noting, “Everything about the father-son hunt on Sept. 6 was legal.” Pictured: Owen and his brother, Landon, with a turkey harvested in April 2022
Ryan, 43, received 23 stitches in his cheek along with seven puncture wounds to his arm and another cut that needed stitching after the near-fatal bear attack. Pictured: Ryan with a hunted turkey on a hunting trip in April 2022
Owen, a regular hunter, was prepared for such an event, firing his rifle and killing the bear when it finally moved away from its father.
The 43-year-old called his son to alert his family and emergency response teams before they both fled to a hospital, with the help of a neighbour.
“Thank you to all the neighbors who helped me tonight in my time of need! Derek Jaskolka, Randy Thomas, Jeff Stager, Joel Schollmeier, Dillon Mattson and everyone who helped,” Ryan posted on Facebook days after the attack.
Dustin Gabrielson, a conservation officer with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, confirmed the event, saying, “Everything about the father-son hunt on Sept. 6 was legal.”
Department of Natural Resources officials recognized Beierman as a “generous supporter of the agency’s hunting apprenticeship programs.”
“I was on my back and I could feel the bullet going through the bear. Owen was a hero. He shot the bear and killed it on top of me,” the father said of his son.
Ryan received 23 stitches in his cheek, as well as seven puncture wounds to his arm and another cut that needed stitches.
When the duo finally returned home, Ryan told his wife that he was “done bear hunting.”
“I’m officially done bear hunting! Yes, I was attacked by a bear tonight and yes, I survived!” Ryan’s Facebook post continued.