RIVER FALLS – A hunting day in Wisconsin turned into a fight for life.
43-year-old Ryan Beierman and his 12-year-old son Owen were bear hunting in Burnett County.
His son spotted a black bear, shot it, and watched the animal run into the woods.
The two then got a neighbor’s dog to help locate the bear. The dog tracked the scent of the bear’s blood and before they knew it, they found themselves very close to the animal.
“I looked up and the bear was literally five feet away,” Ryan Beierman told Wisconsin’s Midday News.
That’s when he shot the bear and the bear attacked.
“All I could see was claws and teeth coming towards my face,” Beierman said.
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The father used his pistol to fight back, but the bear would not give up.
“I remember the first bite on my arm. There was a crunch. I thought the bear broke my arm at that point,” he recalled.
Beierman said the bear tossed him around like a dog with a toy. That’s when his son Owen shot the bear and killed it.
“He wasn’t really thinking anything, but survival. And that’s what I was thinking,” Beierman said. “I need to win this fight.”
Beierman has numerous puncture wounds from the bear’s bites and scratches from its claws, but he also has his life.
Hear Ryan Beierman’s full interview on the Wisconsin Midday News podcast by clicking the play button above.
