In all my years hunting elk and moose I have never heard that.

All of the elk and moose I have ever killed or been with people who have killed, we got the hide off them and then deboned ASAP. It's critical to get the meat cooled quickly. My common sense tells me that deboning would only hasten the cooling process. I have never had any issues with meat immediately deboned being tough. I did see the front shoulder of a non deboned moose spoil once. I suspect if it had been deboned the meat would have cooled more quickly and possibly not spoiled.

Don't confuse deboneing with aging. You can debone it immediately and then still age it under controlled conditons and wind up with very palitable meat.

Randy

"You cannot invade mainland America. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass"
~Admiral Yamamoto~

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty. ~Thomas Jefferson~