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

SIREN, Wis. (AP) — A 12-year-old boy has shot and killed a wounded black bear as it was mauling his father near their hunting cabin in the thick western Wisconsin woods.

Ryan Beierman, 43, told the Minnesota Star Tribune that he was pinned beneath the 200-pound bruin on Sept. 6 when his son, Owen, fired a shot from the boy’s hunting rifle.

“Owen was a hero. He shot that bear and killed it on top of me,” said Beierman, who suffered bites to his forehead, arm and leg. He also needed stitches to reattach a flap of skin on his cheek that was ripped during the attack.

Earlier, he and Owen 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 which then ran away. The pair waited about 20 minutes before starting to look for the bear and used a neighbor’s tracking dog to try and find it.

“We were sort of hung up in a thicket when we heard the dog yelp and sprint past us in retreat,” Beierman told the newspaper. “Just then, I stepped into a semi-clearing. I said, ‘There he is, Owen.’”

The bear charged from about 6 feet (1.8 meters) away. Beierman said he fired eight shots at the animal with his pistol, but all missed.

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“Before I knew it, I was flat on my back,” he recounted. “I started pistol-whipping him and it felt like I was striking a brick wall. I tried hitting him between the ear and mouth with a blunt edge of the pistol.”

The bear then lunged at Beierman’s head.

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

“The bear was fighting for its life, and I was fighting for mine,’’ Beierman added. “I’m punching and kicking and flailing around. That’s when I saw a flash from the muzzle of Owen’s rifle.”

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

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

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