When it comes to field judging brown bears, it’s often not as easy to judge as other big game animals. It’s easier to be more accurate and objective when measuring antler dimensions or horns. When measuring body mass or dimension it can be more difficult. 

Brown bears are one of the most difficult to judge for trophy quality. It’s important if you are going on a guided brown bear hunt to know your stuff because you may have to make that decision on your own.   

How to field judge brown bears more accurately, and other points that will help you hone in on supporting information:

 

• Old brown bears are dominant, if other bears clear out of its way, it’s likely mature.

 

• If the bears ears look small in relation to its head or seem to come more out of the side of its head rather than large and towards the top, it’s a sign its a large bear. 

 

• If a bear has a big belly, that’s a good sign it’s large. The closer a brown bears belly is to dragging on the ground, the better sign it’s a big one.  

 

What Squaring is and how to square a bear

Squaring a bear is the process of taking more than one measurement from a bear and averaging it out to get a better picture of its overall size. While some bears have long bodies, and others have longer spans, averaging these together can give a better comparison to others. Additionally, bears hides generally measure out close to square. 

To square a bear: Lay the bear or hide out and measure from nose to tail and add that number to the measurement from paw to paw. Divide the total number of those two measurements by two and you will have your averaged number, the square of the bear.   

Overview of judging methods

There is more than one way to judge a bear, and different measurements tell different dimensions. This sounds obvious but is worth mentioning. The biggest variable is the human element. It’s easy to pad numbers, stretch hide or tapes, but it ultimately comes down to how much you care about the size. Some measure nose to tail, some measure span from front paw to front paw across the chest, and others choose the larger of those two.