John Barsness in a November 1996 Field and Stream article admonishes that freezing meat too soon can cause "cold shortening" of muscle fibers. This contracts muscle fibers, setting them in a way which isn't affected by standard methods of tenderizing -- moist, slow cooking; marinades; aging -- all of which work upon the connective tissues between muscle fibers. Barsness says to get the meat down to 60 degrees within 4 hours and then down to 45 degrees within the next 12 to 18 hours. After this you can keep the animal -- aging -- for quite some time if the temperature remains below 50 degrees. Well, as you know, hunting conditions aren't real conducive to carefully controlled temperature environments, but this give some idea of what is ideal.

My butchering book says that if the weather is warm, hang and skin the deer immediately and put the meat, presumably cut into quarters, in a cooler for 24 to 48 hours before you cut it into pieces. If the weather is cool -- nighttime temperature from 26 degrees to 40 degrees and the daytime temperature not above 50 degrees, leave the hide on and hang the deer in a cool, airy place out of the sun. Do not let the carcass freeze within the first 24 hours. If it does freeze, as soon as it thaws, cut it up immediately, package, and freeze. This is form "Basic Butchering of Livestock and Game" by John J. Mettler Jr.

Again, general parameters. Cool the meat. Try to keep the meat close to but above freezing for 48 hours. Then skin and butcher it. Under adverse heat conditions, you are driven to other procedures.