A 12-year-old boy fatally shoots a black bear mauling his father during a hunt in western Wisconsin

SIREN, Wis. — A 12-year-old boy shot and killed a wounded black bear as it attacked his father near their hunting cabin in the dense woods of western Wisconsin.

Ryan Beierman, 43, told the Minnesota Star Tribune that on September 6, he was pinned under the 200-pound shotgun when his son, Owen, fired a shot from the boy’s shotgun.

“Owen was a hero. He shot that bear and killed it on top of me,” said Beierman, who was bitten on his forehead, arm and leg. He also needed stitches to reattach a piece of skin on his cheek that was torn in the attack.

Earlier, he and Owen had spotted the bear from a tree stand near Siren, Wisconsin, about 90 miles (144 kilometers) northeast of Minneapolis. Owen fired a shot, wounding the bear and causing it to run away. The pair waited about 20 minutes before beginning a search for the bear, using a neighbor’s tracking dog to find it.

“We were kind of stuck in some brush when we heard the dog whining and sprinting past us to retreat,” Beierman told the newspaper. “At that point, I stepped into a semi-open space. I said, ‘There he is, Owen.'”

The bear charged from about six feet away. Beierman said he fired eight shots at the animal with his pistol, but all missed.

“Before I knew it, I was flat on my back,” he said. “I started hitting him with a pistol and it felt like I was hitting a brick wall. I tried to hit him between his ear and mouth with the blunt end of the pistol.”

The bear then jumped at Beierman’s head.

“All I could see were his claws and teeth,” he said. “I raised my right arm to block him. I remember the first bite. I heard a crunching sound. The bear was still attacking. He wouldn’t leave me.”

“The bear was fighting for its life, and I was fighting for mine,” Beierman added. “I was punching and kicking and flailing around. Then I saw a flash out of the barrel of Owen’s gun.”

Beierman was then able to push the bear away. He estimates the attack lasted about 45 seconds.

A neighbor began driving Beierman and Owen to a hospital. They were met by an ambulance that took them the rest of the way. The wound on his cheek would require 23 stitches. There were seven stab wounds and a cut on Beierman’s right arm.

A conservation officer with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources said their hunt was legal.