12-year-old boy kills bear in Wisconsin to save his dad

A 12-year-old boy from River Falls, Wisconsin, is credited with saving his father’s life by shooting an attacking black bear dead with his rifle.

Ryan Beierman, 43, a business agent for Teamsters Local 120 in Blaine, Minnesota, and his son Owen were legally hunting in the woods near their cabin in Siren, Wisconsin, earlier this month when the incident occurred.

Owen had seen and shot the bear first at around 6 p.m., but only managed to wound it before it ran off. After waiting another 20 minutes and resuming the search, the pair found the bear, with Mr. Beierman’s sidearm shots straight at the bear failing to strike true, he told the Minnesota Star Tribune Tuesday.

The bear then proceeded to attack.

Mr. Beierman was able to block the bear away from his head using his arm, and a scuffle ensued before Owen ended it with a fatal rifle shot.

“I’m fighting for my life. I’m punching and kicking and flailing around. That’s when I saw a flash from the muzzle of Owen’s rifle. The bullet transferred the bear’s weight to one side and I pushed him off,” Mr. Beierman told the Star Tribune.

Owen and neighbors helped Mr. Beierman walk away from the scene and he ultimately got to a hospital. 

Mr. Beierman’s left cheek had to be stitched back to the rest of his face, and doctors also treated puncture wounds to his right arm, forehead and one of his legs. 

“I am officially done bear hunting!  Yeah I did get mauled by a bear tonight, and yes I survived!,” Mr. Beierman wrote in a Facebook post after the fact according to the Daily Mail.