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Video: How to Score a Bear Skull

Clay Newcomb kneeling by a campfire, stirring diced potatoes in a cast-iron pan

Clay NewcombApr 29, 2022

While scoring antlers is a long and complicated process,scoring bears for record bookslike Boone and Crockett or Pope and Young simply requires two skull measurements. The skull is a good tool for comparison because it’s the most accurate way tocompare bears to each other. Skulls must be dried for 60 days to be officially measured.

Use a pair of calipers to take the measurements then use a hard tape measure to mark to the sixteenth of an inch. If you don’t have calipers, two books will work.

Take one measurement from the occipital bone in the back of the skull to the furthest point in the front, which is usually the teeth. The second measurement is between the zygomatic arches (cheekbones). Adding these measurements together gets you the score to see how your bear sizes up.