Going out into the woods as a father and son should be all about making memories, and this father and son certainly won't be forgetting their Wisconsin hunting trip anytime soon. 43-year-old Ryan Beierman and his 12-year-old son Owen were bear hunting near their family cabin when things went horribly wrong. Earlier in the day, Owen had shot and wounded a black bear, and it had run away. The Beierman duo were careful as they proceeded to walk through the woods as it got dark, but never could have imagine that the bear they had shot earlier would turn the tables on the hunters and hunt
them . It's terrifying to hear how the father describes the initial encounter to the
Minnesota Star Tribune , and how quickly things got ugly:
"The bear was in a stance like a cat about to pounce. The next thing I know, he was on me. He charged and knocked me down. The bear was fighting for its life, and I was fighting for mine. He was only five or six feet away, point blank. As he charged, I shot to kill. I shot eight times but missed. I had no time and I never got the gun high enough to use the sights." In an act of desperation, the father tried using his pistol as a club, getting the bear over and over again. But as you might imagine, the 200-pound bear had the upper hand as it pinned down the father and viciously attacked him:
"At that point, the bear released my leg, maybe reared back a little, and lunged at my head. All I could see were his claws and teeth. I lifted my right arm to block him. I remember the first bite. I heard a crunch. My thought was, ‘He broke my arm.’ But it was punctured, not broken. The bear was still attacking. He wasn’t going to leave me." Ryan Beierman started to assume the worst, and wasn't sure if he should ask his son for help or tell him to run. Before he could decide one way or the other, the muzzle of the 12-year-old's rifle flashed, sending a shot right through the bear that was in full-on attack mode. The father couldn't believe that his son and had saved his life, and described the moment as surreal:
"I was flat on my back and could feel the bullet going through the bear. Owen was a hero. He shot that bear and killed it on top of me." Once the bear was immobilized and had let out its final breath, Ryan started to assess his injuries as he and his son tried to get out of the woods and to a place where he could get medical help. Neighbors apparently stepped in to help, with one taking care of the bear while the other drove Beierman and his son to the closest hospital. As for the injuries that the father sustained, he might have come out of the attack alive, but he was in bad shape:
"My left cheek was sliced open and blood was oozing out of the flap. There were two fang marks in my forehead and my face was smattered with blood." Ryan eventually needed 23 stitches to get his cheek reattached, and was also treated for seven puncture wounds on his right arm and leg. He's got a long road to recovery, but at the end of the day, he's thankful that he's alive. He owes a lot to son, and he's flip-flopping on whether or not he'll ever go bear hunting again:
"I was proud of Owen. He really held it together. But after it was all over, you could tell he was pretty shaken. I told my wife I was done bear hunting. Now, I don’t know, but she’ll have something to say. It was a wild ride. It was a hell of a night, to say the least." Atta boy, Owen. It might surprise some people to know how many black bears live in Wisconsin. A lot of people don’t generally think bears when they think of Wisconsin, but the state actually has one of the largest black bear populations in the country, especially in the northern half of the state. In 2021, 11,530 tags were available and hunters wound up harvesting 3,847 bears… and with that kind of thriving population, many of them can get pretty large. The state also has a number of black bear hunting guides, and they are relatively affordable compared to some of the other states in the country.
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