I have seen a noticable difference in tenderness (not flavor) by letting my deer age. I try and let it hang for 3-4 days. Beyond that, I have not seen any gain in tenderness but you do lose more to drying. And I have not seen that big a difference in whether you let the meat hang or quarter and cool it. Just so you don't kill it, skin, quarter, and FREEZE it all in one day. For instance, if I kill one on a warm day, I will skin it just long enough to let it start to get evaporative cooling (maybe only an hour or soo). Then I quarter it and put it in ice chests and let it age there for several days.

The most tender elk I have had was a bull I killed that I let age 4 days before it was cut and frozen. The toughest elk was a cow I killed and was cut up and frozen in less than 24 hours.

Howeve, I know a guy who says he ages his venison in the fridge just before he eats it. He cuts up and freezes the animal as soon as he can after the kill. When he is ready to eat a package, hedefrosts it in the fridge for 4-5 days and then cooks it. Says it is as tender as if it was aged before freezing. May have to try that one someday.