Son Saves Father: Wisconsin, Bear Hunt, Combination 10mm (video)

 Link to Youtube video interview.

On the evening of September 6, 2024, Owen Beierman, 12, and his father, Ryan, 43, were hunting bears near Siren, Wisconsin. Siren is about 50 miles north and 50 miles east of Minneapolis, in northwest Wisconsin. Owen fired a shot at a 200 lb black bear with his .350 Legend rifle. The bear ran off, leaving a strong blood trail. Even mortally wounded bears often run for some distance. The Beiermans borrowed a Labrador retriever from their neighbors and started tracking the bear, about 20 minutes after it was shot. It was already getting dark. Game is often shot just after sunrise or shortly before sunset.  The Beiermans could not know if they would find a dead bear or a wounded bear. They were in thick brush when the first indicator happened. The dog came running past them in full retreat. They managed to take a few steps forward, into a slight clearing.

Ryan saw the bear, very close, under an oak tree, only 6-10 feet away. His eyes met the bears, and the bear leaped at him. He fired eight shots, a mag dump, very fast. He says he managed to miss all eight shots. The bear bit his leg, then Ryan pistol whipped the bear with his empty handgun. The bear let go of his leg and attacked his arm and face. Owen, seeing the bear on top of his father, shot the bear again, stopping the attack. It all happened very fast.  From the nypost.com:

 It was dark when they again came across the wounded bear staring at them from under an oak tree, the dad said.

“He was in a stance like a cat about to pounce,’’ Beierman told the Star Tribune. “The next thing I know, he was on me. He charged and knocked me down,” he said.

“The bear was fighting for its life, and I was fighting for mine.”

The neighbors proved to be very helpful. They loaned their dog to help find the bear. They helped call aid and transported Ryan to where he was transferred to a ambulance They field dressed the bear, and hung it up so the meat would not be spoiled prior to butchering. It is not difficult to find neighbors like this in northern Wisconsin. They are to be treasured. From the nypost.com:

Their neighbors then stepped in to help, with one cleaning the bear and hanging it up for the family while another drove the father and son to the hospital, Ryan said.

The pistol used by Ryan appears to be a Rock Island Tac Ultra FS 10mm.

Here is an image of Ryan’s pistol, from the video done by kare11.com.

If you look at the magazine, you can see it has staggered witness holes and a crease before the front of the magazine, both of which are on 10mm magazines from Rock Island, but not on .45 ACP magazines from Rock Island.

Here is a 10mm Rock Island Tac Ultra FS magazine advertised on the Rock Island website.

A 10mm may not be decisive if no shots hit the target. A common adage among shooters is “you cannot miss fast enough”.  The Tac Ultra FS has light collecting sights.  From Foxnews.com:

“I reached for my sidearm initially hoping to scare the bear away with a warning shot,” said Ryan. “He was only 5 or 6 feet away, point blank. As he charged, I shot to kill. I shot eight times but missed. I had no time and I never got the gun high enough to use the sights.”

Bear attacks have been increasing in Wisconsin with increasing bear and human populations. This bear was shot with a rifle, tracked, shot at with a pistol and finished with a rifle. Because a pistol was fired in defense against a bear, it will be included for completeness of the data. It is a combination defense, not a pure pistol defense. According to kare11.com:

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) says the attack on Ryan is the 14th in the state since 2013.

The bear, at 200 lbs, appears to be a young adult boar. When bears are wounded while being hunted, it is far more likely they will attack people who are hunting them.  Because this bear did not run further, it is likely the would it received was mortal. It is likely the bear would have expired if allowed a little more time. It is easy to see why the desire to avoid wasting game, combined with dwindling light and an available dog, resulted in a quick response.

A Conservation Officer of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resouces said the hunt was legal, according to kimt.com.

©2024 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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