A 12-year-old Wisconsin boy is being applauded for his quick thinking and excellent aim, after he shot and killed a 200-pound black bear that attacked his dad on a hunting trip.
Owen Beierman used his hunting rifle to kill the bear that was mauling Ryan Beierman’s face, after the bear charged and knocked down the 43-year-old, pinning him underneath its massive frame.
The pair were on a father-son hunting trip at their hunting cabin in the thick woods near Siren, Wisc., on Sept. 6 when they first spotted the animal. They fired a shot at the bear and it ran away wounded.
They began to scour the woods to see if they could find it and performed grid searches, followed a blood trail and even used a neighbour’s dog to try and track it.
After a few hours of searching, they finally spotted the bear in an overgrown area.
“We were sort of hung up in a thicket when we heard the dog yelp and sprint past us in retreat,” Ryan, 43, told the Minnesota Star Tribune. “Just then, I stepped into a semi-clearing. I said, ‘There he is, Owen.’”
But the bear was close, and got into a pouncing position before it charged Ryan from a distance of approximately six feet.
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“Before I knew it, I was flat on my back,” Ryan recounted to the newspaper, saying he tried firing eight pistol shots as the bear approached, but each round missed. “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.”
“I looked down and all I saw was teeth and claws coming at my face and I remember hearing the first bite,” he told KARE 11 of the bear biting his arm before zeroing in on his head.
Owen, looking on, knew he had to act fast.
“I saw him (the bear) knock him to the ground and I just saw the black outline and shot over the dog’s back and hit the bear,” the boy told KARE 11. “I just felt like, shoot the bear and save my dad; it’s all I really remember.”
In total, the attack lasted about 45 seconds, Ryan said. Once it was dead, he was able to push the bear off him, but his right cheek was hanging off his face and needed 23 stitches. He also suffered seven puncture wounds and a cut on his right arm.
“He needed to go to the hospital when I saw his cheek hanging,” said Owen.
A nearby neighbour helped the pair out of the woods and got them to the hospital, where Ryan was stitched up.
Later, they went back and recovered the bear’s remains and are debating how they will mount it.
A conservation officer with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources told The Associated Press that their hunt was legal.
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