SIREN, Wis. — A 12-year-old boy saved his father’s life when a wounded bear attacked. The son, Owen Beierman, fired a rifle at close range and killed the bear. The animal, a 200-pounder, fell dead on the father, ending a struggle that lasted perhaps 45 seconds. The father, 43-year-old Ryan Beierman, took lots of bites snd claws. Five stitches were needed reattach a flap of skin on his cheek. The cheek wound itself required 23 stitches. There were seven puncture wounds and a cut on Beierman’s right arm. The attack was in the woods 70 miles north of River Falls in the St. Croix drainage. To game wardens, the father and son gave this account:
> The son shot the black bear, which ran off wounded into the woods. The family dog followed the bear’s blood trail.
> Apparently having found the animal writhing from the Owen’s wound, the dog shot back out of the woods back to Ryan and Owen.
> The father and son moved into the woods for the bear. Suddenly the animal was right in front of them and angry.
> The bear swiped the father on his back.
> The father, armed with a handgun, tried pistol-whipping the bear’s ears and mouth but to little avail. “It felt like I was striking a brick wall,” he said.
> The son Owen shot and killed the bear with his rifle.
“I’m punching and kicking and flailing around, said the father. “That’s when I saw a flash from the muzzle of Owen’s rifle. Owen is my hero.”
Father and son. Safe on porch back home and deciding how to have a taxidermist mount the bear for the family trophy room. The carcass is in the black plastic bag. Mount the head? Front quarters including claws too? The attack was the weekend of September 7 and 8.
Bear attack profile
The Wisconsin Natural Resources Department says 24,000 black bears live in the state, most in far northern counties. Attacks are rare — fewer than one a year on average. Across the border in Minnesota, eight unprovoked bear attacks have been reported since 1987. All the victims survived.