Ryan Beierman and his 12-year-old son Owen of River Falls thought they would be embarking on a normal hunting and fishing trip to their cabin near Siren, but everything changed in a hurry when Ryan was pinned down by a black bear Sept. 7.

The two left for the hunt for a bear in the afternoon, and at approximately 6 p.m., Ryan briefly spotted a bear. After quickly escaping their vision, Owen eventually found the bear again. Ryan gave him the go ahead to take a shot at it.

“The bear started spinning in circles like every bear that I’ve seen shot does,” Ryan said. “He was biting, and where he was biting looked like a good shot.”

Ryan and Owen eventually began to track it, not finding much blood early on. Ryan said that is a fairly normal occurrence when bear hunting because the fur soaks up the blood well. The two followed their neighbor’s tracking dog for a long time through some thick brush and darkness. They arrived at a small opening and the dog became startled.

“I looked up and right at this oak tree was the bear,” Ryan said. “The bear was in like a cat ready to pounce type of position. I started drawing my sidearm and I never got to pull the gun up and actually look down the sites. I was shooting from my hip with the 10mm pistol.”

The bear knocked Ryan to the ground and his pistol was empty. He hit the bear with the weapon as hard as he could a few times, but it felt like he was “punching a brick wall.” Switching his grip to hit the bear with the magazine well of the pistol in the bear’s ear was also unsuccessful. Nothing was working and the bear took its turn on the offensive.

“The bear was coming with claws and teeth, coming toward my face,” Ryan said. “Instinctively, I put my right arm up in from of my face to block my face, and I remember the first bite I heard a crunch.”

Ryan assumed he broke his arm at the time, which wound up not being the case, causing him to think of ways to fend off a bear without the use of an arm. Ryan had his cheek sliced open from what he believes was a bite. The world of pressure all fell into the hands of Owen to help his dad. Owen fired at the bear, ultimately allowing Ryan to break free.

“Everything seemed like it was super slow motion,” Ryan said. “I remember hearing the muzzle report, then I seen the muzzle flash, then I felt the bear moving from on top of me.”

Ryan shoved the bear off of him and away from Owen and the two had come out of the battle alive.

“ did everything right. He started questioning himself at one point,” Ryan said.

Before getting out of the woods, Ryan called his coworker to say that he would not be at work the next day. He also called his wife who thought the bear attack was a joke at first because they had already texted saying they shot at a bear.

Ryan had some major wounds on his face and arm, and he was eventually taken to the hospital where he received stitches.

“ pulled out a pair of them industrial scissors that they cut clothing off with,” Ryan said. “He said I’m going to cut your pants off. I looked down and I noticed I still had my hunting pants on and I said, ‘The hell you’re cutting these pants off, they’re $250.’”

Ryan did salvage his hunting pants, but the shirt had to go as they could not pull it over his open face wounds.

Ryan’s perspective has changed a bit, as he is trying to be more relaxed with his family and get through it all.

“It was tragic for the whole family,” Ryan said. “I’m trying to be more laid back with the boys, help them get through it.”