Doesn't need to be proved, just plain ole common sense.

Steve, I agree with the first part of your message or to be more accurate I just do not know any better. However on the second part I disagree. In France it is very usual to let the meat age for 4 to 7 days at a temperature slightly above freezing. It is called "faisander". The meat processed that way has a more gamy taste. Trust me you will know it when you eat it and you will have to drink a good full body red wine to wash it down. Yummy!

Note: If you let the meat age for 6 or 7 days make sure you do it in perfect conditions because the meat can acquire some nasty organisms and allergens.

Yes, I do know that this process has been used for a long time. The French are world reknown for their cooking so I wonder if it is their cooking skills or the hanging part that makes the meat taste better? Most hunters don't have a place to hang it in such perfect conditions, so it is best that they never attempt something like this in my opinion. Even the hunters who have it processed by professional butchers, how many will hang a deer for 6 or 7 days for you? I have never heard of any since most want to process as many deer as they can in the shortest period of time. One can do a much better and cleaner job at home than these professional butchers will.

No consensus I guess. Harvest it, process it, enjoy it.

Deer have femurs??I just process my own, then you know what you're getting.

The best deer and elk I've had have been ones I processed right away with little or no "hanging" or ageing. Since deer/elk have so little fat in the meat comparred to beef, I think the rules are different in that respect.

For me, kill em and freeze em is how I like mine.

I agree with steve863. Meat does not age so fast that the quality becomes an issue unless it sits over night in hot woods. Take a good clean kill shot rather than the "MEAT SAVING" shot.
http://www.wideworldofhunting.com/shot%20placement.html
Me personally, I like a high shoulder shot. Breaks the animal down immediately. Possibly breaking the neck.
Clean meat, vac pack and freeze right away. Never soak in milk or water. Always tender and clean.
Good Luck!

FWIW I don't believe in "aging" game either. As Power points out the process has more to due with fat which game is basically void of in the meat. Aging is nothing more then a controlled rot, the problem with wild game and aging few have the ability to control this process (aka the hanging temperature). If you can keep the animals core temperature 33-37 degree then by all means hang it, if not you are much better to get the core temperature down (body temperature out and to ambient temp- air) then process. If you allow the meat temperature to swing or stay up you run a risk of green rot, which starts at the bone.FYI, being"aging" is rot the higher the core temp. the faster the process. On the opposite side freezing stops the process.

What I do believe in is a relax period, this is basically allowing the carcass to come to ambient temperature and rigor mortise to be completed. Rigor is the processof sugar to lactic acid and then back to sugar. This process is completed within 24 hours of death. Personally I don't like hot boning, it's just easier to cut. As far as hot boning leaves more blood in the package, quality IMHO is uneffected. Tenderness marginally but as i mentioned earlier you don't know what your getting till you got it..so I can't honestly attributeit to hang time alone.

I never bought into any of those theories before either, but after shooting a pig and putting one of it's backstraps on the grill that night and finding it tasty but somewhat tough I asked about how to tenderize the meat and got several suggestions of soaking the meat in salty ice water for several days and draining the water periodically and I tried it.

The same pig, the same cook, the same grill the opposite backstrap a week later was MUCH more tender than the first one.

That's as close to proof as I can come up with.

P.S. - The only problem was that I got a little carried away with the amount of salt and there was no need to add any salt to the meat at the table that's for sure!

http://www.chefdepot.net/agingwildgame.htm