Most areas in CO, you're kind of living a lie if you're trying to differentiate a 280 bull from a 320 bull from a 360 bull. If it's a legal bull it's a keeper, and if it's a 6 by 6 it's a trophy.

Bugle magazine is a great source for practicing sizing up bulls, lots of photos. I think the one skill any aspiring trophy hunter should acquire is the ability to tell instantly if it's a 6 pointer or bigger. You do this without counting 1-2-3-4-5-yup 6 points, oh boy oh boy! Look at enough photos until you see what people mean by the "sword point", that's the G-4 point. It is the dominant point on 99% of elk racks out there from a 4-point wimp to 7-point monster. Then, if the bull has a fork behind that sword point you know it's a 6-pointer. No fork, it's a 5-pointer, and almost certainly not a trophy.

Beyond that, the more steps you have in analyzing a rack, the longer it takes, and so many systems can't be applied to hunting situations when the bulls is three steps from passing out of your life forever. If you have time, check the brow tines - do they appear to be out to the tip of his nose if you bent them out straight (they'll usually have an upcurl)? Still have more time? Another simple indicator is how the rack sweeps back. By that I mean, does the rack continue in basically a straight line as it passes the famous sword point? If so it's probably not a big bull. Really big bulls will usually have a pronounced angle of the main beam as it goes by the sword point.

I hope this helps, you're getting some good advice from a lot of the other guys on this post.

Real quick - brow tines that reach his nose are good, look for curl some are decieving(look shorter but curl up and are longer than they look). fourth point is always longest, if any others are close they are exceptional or the 4th is short. Last, the fifth and sixth should look seperate and distinct, not short and slightly webed. The web will be there on all racks, but if the tines are long then you wont notice this feature, only two distinct tines.

Now that's funny!

Quick field judging is usually the norm, so really practice from the G4 back. When my binocs or scope go up, that's all I'm looking for at the beginning. Look at the G4 and back. Beware of the infamous crab 6's out there where the G4 looks good but his G5 & G6are a crab fork (index and middle finger on your hand spread out). If you have time, G4 and back, then brow tines, then G3.

Also, know your area. A unit here in Utah is notorious for little G3's, another is notorious for little 7 pointers, etc.

I look for the fork/fishtail behind the "Royal/Dager/Sword/G4" point that makes it a 6 point. I look for "Ivory" thats where the point curl upwards and go form the dark brown color of the rest of beam to white. More Ivory = longer points.I look how far back on the torso does the rack go. Now, after saying all that I second the point made that when a trophy steps out you don't have to judge you just know.