Skull size boar vs sow
Contributors to this thread:Bears
From: Bwana
29-Jun-22
I realize the intent is to only take boars but for those of us new to bear hunting it can be tough to differentiate, especially in the heat of the moment.
That being said, how does the skull size compare between the sexes?
Please forgive my ignorance on this subject but have only been on two hunts so far.
From: JohnMC
29-Jun-22
In CO you have to check your bears which includes taking a tooth for aging. I have killed 3 CO bears. My oldest bear was a 11 year old sow. The two males were 5 and 9 years old. The sows skull is much smaller than the two young boars. At work but if you would like I’ll post some pics tonight.
From: Bou'bound
29-Jun-22
You have too look long and hard at the P&Y book, and way down the list, to find the very rare "F" in the sex column.
From: KHNC
29-Jun-22
Just as said, boar will be significantly larger than a sow. Have to look at the head closely. The ears especially. Have to make sure the ears are off to the sides of the head. A small boar or a sow ears will be mostly straight up like a german shepherd. Also, a boar will have wider shoulders than a sow, along with larger paws and thicker wrists. A sow will have a fat booty, especially a black one.
From: JohnMC
29-Jun-22
Not a very good picture but the one on right the sow. The larger one 19 something inches officially scored.
From: No Mercy
29-Jun-22
in my 20+ years of scoring for PY and BC, I have measured one female black bear that hit 18 right on the nose. 24 year old female. No other females have ever been that big.
From: Charlie Rehor
29-Jun-22
Sow 18 7/16
Sow 18 7/16
My Sow from Alberta in 2019. Alberta has super genetics. DeerAge came back at 9.5 years old. 18 7/16”. I was certain she was a he.
From: Kurt
29-Jun-22
Big old girl Charlie! Trophy bear for sure!
From: JohnMC
29-Jun-22
Charlie any idea if there are many sows above yours in the book?
From: Mike Ukrainetz
29-Jun-22
We’ve killed 3 Pope and Young sows, 18 1/2 to 18 3/4 green score. It’s very rare. The biggest one weighed 300 lbs with the 18 3/4 skull. It outweighed the next biggest sow by 50 lbs. A 240-250 lb sow looks huge live.
From: Shug
29-Jun-22
Speaking of big sows… I’m Sure Ken Taylor won’t mind me sharing this… He was pretty sure she was a sow but natives in his town asked him for the meat for an upcoming event…
From: Old Bow
29-Jun-22
11 year old sow , 21” + boar over 20 years old I shot in 1983
From: scentman
29-Jun-22
Charlie, that sow was a big one! You thought "she was a a he"... Was she wearing khakis? Nice thread.
From: TEmbry
30-Jun-22
I’ve killed a sow that went 23 14/16. I knew it was a sow but I couldn’t resist. Her skull has a hole on top which looked to be from a tooth puncturing her forehead at a younger age, the bone had nearly completely fused back together.
All that to say it was a brown bear :). My area sucks for skull genetics on black bears. I’ve killed a half dozen 6.5’ boars and only one made Pope at 18 4/16. A pile of them in that 17.5” range. The snout on a bear is the easiest way to identify gender but even then can be difficult on really large females. The picture is a sow with 3 cubs from this spring.
