I' ll give this a shot. This is my understanding of the differences.

My understanding is that a field trial is a competition between dogs. The field trial is looking for the best dog, or the dog that surpasses its competition. I think they place one through four. This is why you sometimes see " unrealistic" hunting scenarios such as the 300yd. blind retrieves over rough terrain. This extreme type of a test is necessary to separate " the men from the boys" .

My understanding of a hunt test is that the dogs are compared against a standard and it is pass/fail. Many dogs in a certain class may pass the hunt test. These tests are more " realistic" for the hunter, but judge the same basic things such as steadiness, marking, etc. In this test blind retrieves may be 100 yds. vs. the 300yd. example above.

I hope this helps.