# What’s considered a big bear skull?



## #1DEER 1-I (Sep 10, 2007)

Recently got my bear skull back and it measures at 18.75. Is that a decent sized bear skull? This is the first bear I’ve ever killed and I don’t really know what a big bear is considered.


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## taxidermist (Sep 11, 2007)

You got a good one IMO. Find a 21" bear and you've got a giant. I'd like to take a trip to Newfoundland and hunt the bears. Big old punkins for heads, and topping 400 pounds.


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## Kevin D (Sep 15, 2007)

20" is the minimum inches required to qualify for Boone and Crockett, and 18" for Pope and Young. I'm convinced our bear here in Utah have the genetic tendency towards big heads compared to other areas in the country. Most boars in Utah after 6-8 years old are going to measure in the 18 to 20 inch range. We don't get the 600 pound plus fat boys like they do in the upper Midwest and east coast, but our bear consistently score better than theirs.


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## johnnycake (Jul 19, 2011)

Kevin D said:


> 20" is the minimum inches required to qualify for Boone and Crockett, and 18" for Pope and Young. I'm convinced our bear here in Utah have the genetic tendency towards big heads compared to other areas in the country. Most boars in Utah after 6-8 years old are going to measure in the 18 to 20 inch range. We don't get the 600 pound plus fat boys like they do in the upper Midwest and east coast, but our bear consistently score better than theirs.


Agreed. All of what follows is from my anecdotal observations over the years, but I think it is pretty accurate. Utah has giant noggins, even on scrawny bodies. In Utah a boar that is close to 6' will usually have a skull around 18-19" and weigh 200-250 lbs live weight, but not too many boars are a true 6' in UT. If it is a true 6' or larger there will be probably a +19-20" pumpkin on his shoulders, but I can count on 1 hand with room to spare the number of UT bears that I know of or had a solid estimate on that were over 300lbs.

By comparison the AK black bears I've seen, very few bears have an 18" or larger skull, including some massive 7' boars that weighed in over 400lbs. I know of one 8'2" black bear taken this spring that only had a 18 1/8" green skull, and he was well over 400lbs! That kind of body size on a Utah bear would be flirting with the world record skull size I'd imagine! A 6' blackie up here is a good/average boar and most of them have a live weight right around 300lbs in the spring, and can be +100lbs heavier in the fall. The black bears up here on average are quite large on the square, but have small heads and middling weights compared to everywhere else. On the east coast they have smallish heads, can get some size on the square (middling) but get roly-poly massive and often on a foot-for-foot comparison will double the weight of a UT bear and 1.5x the weight on an AK bear.


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