I've done this a few ways, and I think the biggest take home message is that if you process your own venison, you should absolutely age it in some way. My current process is:
- Quarter and pack out deer, with all the "extra" cuts (neck, flank steak, trimmings, organs) in a separate little bag
- Trim and grill the heart for dinner (it doesn't seem to need aging for some reason)
- Vaccum seal the neck roasts, tenderloins, and any trimmings that will later be ground (any organs I go ahead and freeze)
- Hang the quarters and back straps in a fridge with a small fan and a bowl of water sitting below the meat to create the optimal conditions (you want moving air and pretty high humidity with temp 34-40F)
- after 1-2 days, I go ahead and trim and vacuum seal the back straps and tenderloins and
- continue wet aging all the vacuum sealed bits, and dry aging the quarters, in the same fridge for 14-21 days
- Butcher the quarters, grind or vacuum seal everything, in the freezer it goes.
After dry aging for a few weeks, the top and bottom round steaks from the hindquarter become incredible, tender cuts of steak. I don't dry age the backstraps because you lose too much with the crust that forms, but wet aging (after vacuum sealing) also makes them so much more tender.