Video: How to Score a Bear Skull

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

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

Take a measurement from the occipital bone at the back of the skull to the furthest point at the front, which is usually the teeth. The second measurement is between the zygomatic arches (cheekbones). By adding these measurements, you get the score to see how your bear grows.