Y'all are talking measurements. The only time I know a measurement, other than will it hang on a limb or not, is if I have to check one in. Assessing age with certainty, from simple in the field measurements seems impossible. You may do so with some probability within a reasonable confidence limit, but you'd have to be able to exclude outliers based on other knowledge. I'm not seeing it in terms of science.

You can really get sideways trying to compare what you reckon from observation and experience versus the limited conclusions you can make from scientific study. I spend my professional time measuring and analyzing air pollutants scientifically. I often have to remind people what we actually know from having eliminated possibilities is different from the assumptions they can make from personal observation. The subjective observations are generally what we eventually pare down the data to find. Eventually. In between there is confusion if you try to make one match the other.

Remember how Lovett Williams was trashed over his idea that drumming was from rapidly vibrating tailfeathers? That was the appropriate guess based on what had been seen in other species. It was based on data erroneously applied to the turkey.

For a hunter, guesses must be made based on experience as the hunt progresses. Over time you develop a feel for it and prove it out by success. Talking yourself out of it based on what someone else says or a dubious data set is self-defeating.

I wonder is this tweener thing an indication that nest burning is more of an issue than they think and more than they can find with the studies they do.