Lee, the tenderloin is the teardrop piece of meat inside the body cavity and is the only muscle on animal that is never used, thus why so tender and it' s name sake. The backstrap is the strip loin(located on either side of the spine) not a tender loin, it is the choice meat for steak on both domestic and wild animals but is used daily and there for not as tender as the " Tenderloin" .

It is imperative to cool the meat throughly, wild meat rots very quickly and from the bone out (known as green rot), with this being said I always gut and skin ASAP. I have skinned then gutted which is a good method if you have the means and close to camp(also a good way to do it if you are caping for a shoulder mount), but most times I gut where it drops and then skin the animal down. Since I process all my own game and many friends game a year I can' t honestly see any benefit with not gutting, with an animal hanging I can work the knife by myself with little struggle (the bigger game elk and moose are much tougher and require a few pair of hands). Less weight to deal with both dragging or butchering is welcome IMO.