The higher score doesn't make a buck better, but it does make it more desirable. If you have 2 bucks, side by side with an equally good shot opportunity, and one scores 125" and the second one scores 150", 99.99999% of people will shoot the larger antlered buck. Why, because bigger antlered bucks are more desirable in the eyes of almost everyone. It is certainly not vain, or weird or any other negative thing, to want to score the buck to see how it compares. This gives relevance to other's scores. It adds to your knowledge. The comparison may be to other bucks you've taken or for what you know to be the normal buck for the area. For someone to suggest that because I want to know how it scores, makes me some kind of lesser hunter, is rediculous.

Now, if someone passed on a larger antlered buck, so they could shoot a smaller one that scored better (fewer deductions), I'd fine that a bit weird. I've heard of that happening, but rarely. Most people scoring their racks, are genuinely just curious as to what the measurement is. It's like when hunters weigh evey deer they shoot - even the little ones. It adds to our information base and is knowledge that satifies curiosity or tells us something about the deer habitat. Heck, I know guys who measure the antlers, weight the deer, measure the hoof size, take chest circumference and age the deer, on every single deer they take. They feel they're learning more about deer and like keeping track of such things.

So yes, there is meaning to numbers. They are factual and they do supply information. No one knows what is in a hunter's mind when he wants to know these numbes, and to judge them negatively is less than admirable in my opinion.