Squaring a bear

[buckbrushoutdoors]

How do you square a bear? I've heard said a few times now but no idea what it means? If a bear measures 6' square how long is it from nose to tail?

[Bobby B.]

How do you square a bear? I've heard said a few times now but no idea what it means? If a bear measures 6' square how long is it from nose to tail?

Lay the skinned out bear fur up on the ground. Ensure he is flat and his legs are properly spread out as well. Measure from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail. Measure the distance from onr fron paw to the other. Add up the two measurements and divide by two. The answer is the square of your bear.

Bobby b.

[Tundra Monkey]

Nose to tail

Claw tp claw across the front

Divide this by 2 and you get the measurement of the hide

No stretching :)

[houndsmen]

Lay the skinned out bear fur up on the ground. Ensure he is flat and his legs are properly spread out as well. Measure from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail. Measure the distance from onr fron paw to the other. Add up the two measurements and divide by two. The answer is the square of your bear.

Bobby b.

That's it, and that is the proper way to put a hide measurement too a bear. Although the "stretch and measure hide length" seems to be quite popular.

[buckbrushoutdoors]

Thanks, never have done it that way. I've only measured from nose to head while still on the body. Do you gain or lose a few inches when squaring it compared to just a nose to tail on the whole bear(fur still attached)

[viral_override]

yep, I was taught nose to tail, claw to claw, divide by 2

[PistonBroke]

.

[6tmile]

When I took my grizzly in the yukon, the taxidermist there measured from the end of the nose to the base of the tail. I asked him if he was gonna measures across from claw to claw to square it, he said if I wanted to pay money he could. He then laughed and said that this was done to get more money out of people for their trophies by paying for lineal feet that really isnt there.

[Tundra Monkey]

I asked him if he was gonna measures across from claw to claw to square it, he said if I wanted to pay money he could. He then laughed and said that this was done to get more money out of people for their trophies by paying for lineal feet that really isnt there.

lol...never thought about it like that.

Typically the claw to claw measurement is a little longer than the nose to tail. Exceptions are out there but this is what I've found

[Lefty-Canuck]

If you measure the hide on the bear you get a more "honest" length IMHO. A hide that has been recently removed will have a bit more stretch up the mid-section and you can gain quite a few inches there :)

Or follow the accepted squaring method mentioned above. I have seen some 5 foot bears morph into 6 foots bears if you get what I mean....opposite of ground shinkage they actually grew!!

LC :)

[Tundra Monkey]

Our polar bear guides would tell us about the 10'er .......we would measure them usually between 8 & 9.

True 10'ers aren't all that common but they are there. I know of one true 11 foot bear taken off of Banks.....freakin' scary.

I used to cringe when the guide told me it was an 8 footer!!!!!

[Grizzly Adams]

I've always figured nose to tail is an honest measurement. Lot of leeway how you position the front legs and the trophy judging guys only go by skull measurements, anyway. Long legged bear, like James M's, kind of throws the formula out of whack. :D

Grizz