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 tool for comparison because it’s the most accurate way to compare 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.
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