A Minnesota man being mauled by a wounded bear was saved by his 12-year-old son, who shot the attacking bear during a legal hunting trip this past September. Ryan Beierman, 43, and his son, Owen, were hunting near their cabin by Siren, Wisconsin, when they spotted the bear and Owen took a shot. The bear ran into a thicket and the two waited before starting to search for it.
During the search with a neighbor’s tracking hound, they hit the trail in a thicket. The dog yelped and then came running back past them as the bear followed. Ryan Beierman told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune he saw the bear about 6 feet away, missed eight times with his pistol and the bear was on top of him.
“Before I knew it, I was flat on my back,” he told the newspaper. “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. Owen was a hero. He shot that bear and killed it on top of me.” Beierman sustained bites on his forehead, arm and leg. Stitches were required to reattach a ragged flap of skin on his cheek.
“All I could see were his claws and teeth,” he said. “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. I’m punching and kicking and flailing around. That’s when I saw a flash from the muzzle of Owen’s rifle.” Beierman was transported to a hospital for treatment, which included 23 stitches for his cheek. His right arm sustained puncture wounds and a gash.
