Well this is an old thread, but I think I can make a useful contribution.
I was wondering what all of you thought about this, so I searched, and lo and behold ! there's a thread. However, it was not quite what I was hoping for. There is a huge debate over this issue, and it seems like everyone has their own way to do things, and are not willing to try any other way. That's fine, if you are happy with the way things are going, why change ?
I have been butchering my own wild game for a while now, and up until this year, just hung it in the garage if temps were cool enough, or cut it up right away if they were not. And I didn't have any complaints about the tenderness or flavour of the meat. But I was always curious about the ageing process.
So this year, in anticipation of a moose hunt 2 days drive from my house, and long range weather forecasts looking like the temps were going to be way too high to just hang something at camp, then drive home and get it cut up, I built a walk in cooler that is transportable, and will run off a generator. This part of the story ends with we shot a moose, skinned and quartered, hung in the cooler for 2 weeks.
After moose hunting, I had two deer tags burning a hole in my pocket. I am primarily a backpack hunter, and off I went. Long story shot, I hiked up into where I had seen a buck the year before, and guess what ? he's still living there. So I shot him, without him being the least bit concerned. I skinned and deboned right there, and hiked back to the truck. I put all the meat except one rear quarter into the walk in cooler, and proceeded to butcher the one hind quarter.
2 weeks later, I cut the rest of the deer up. That same night, we did a test. One sirloin steak from the aged deer and one sirloin from the non aged deer. The aged was one hundred times more tender, with a milder taste. As far as I can search, this is the only time anyone has ever done a test like this, using the same animal.
So, all the stuff from the rest of the internet notwithstanding, from now on I will be hanging my deer for 2 weeks minimum, with the skin off certainly, and probably deboned as well. I am fortunate in that I have a walk in cooler that will keep the temperature wherever I want it, otherwise I would say butcher the game before it has a chance to spoil.