if the head looks like a basketball with small ears... he has a skull that will score well.

Some guys rate bears by weight, others by squared hides and other by skull scoring...

Don't get me wrong, truly big bears have it all... The black bears that I hunt in SE Alaska have 20"+ skulls, weigh up to 800lbs and square out huge. These are big bruising bears w/ boone & crockett skulls.

I have also shot a couple of bears off the San Carlos Res, in Arizona, that had boone and crockett skulls. The heaviest weighed in at ~425 lbs.

It is just what constitues a shooter to you... skull size? rug size? weight?

For me it is skull size since I just tan the hides because I don't have the room for nor want to spend the money on getting a bunch of rugs done. However, I do mount all the skulls on a nice wooden plaque w/ the details on a brass name plate. Underneath the skull, I have an 8"x10" photo of the kill right below it.

Anyway, when it comes to predators, the two most commonly used measurement methods for "trophy status" is weight and skull size. In fact, it is rare to even see skull size mention with mt. lions. You almost always see "156lb tom" or the like.

SA

PS. If you plan on saving the skull, which I highly recommend doing because it is a neat piece, I'd have it done via dermastid beetles and not bleeching or boiling like most taxidermists do it. Caost is the same.