Gerhard...........yes, field judging is always an interesting topic isn't it? With animals that are unlikely to hang around and give you a long time to pick the horns apart, like kudu or free range whitetail, you need to have the knowledge base so that you can form an almost instantaneous 'overall impression' of the horns/antlers.
I think there is a desire on the part of most hunters to have some knowledge on field judging the trophy quality and age class of the animals they are traveling a long ways to hunt. It ads to the hunt, as long as it is not all consuming................I get really irritated when I walk up to a recently expired big game animal with a hunter I am guiding and the first thing out of his mouth is, "What will it score?" or "Do you think it will make gold medal?"
Ah, but that is just me and some of my quirky ideas..........
