tough meat
There's a post mortem process that takes place, known as cold shortening. It sound like you could have run into it.
From Encyclopedia Brittanica:
"Cold shortening is the result of the rapid chilling of carcasses immediately after slaughter, before the glycogen in the muscle has been converted to lactic acid. With glycogen still present as an energy source, the cold temperature induces an irreversible contraction of the muscle (i.e., the actin and myosin filaments shorten). Cold shortening causes meat to be as much as five times tougher than normal".
In a field situation, it's easy to cause cold shortening, particularly with larger critters that are often skinned and quartered in cold air, and then cut, wrapped and frozen before the condition has passed. The best way to avoid causing cold shortening is to leave the hide on and reduce the cooling rate in such conditions. Of course, when it's warm, cold shortening isn't much of a concern and carcass coooling may need to be encouraged to avoid spoilage. If cold shortening conditions can't be avoided (the hide has to come off and the critter quartered), the effects can be overcome by hanging the carcass for as long as possible at 2-4 degrees C, for often as many as 10 days. Prime beef is often aged for 14 days, I believe.
Once I learned about cold shortening, I changed my field handling of game as much as can be allowed given the conditions. I rarely experience tough meat anymore. I usually hang field dressed deer with hide on (to avoid drying) for 3-7 days, depending on temperature. For moose and elk, I usually hang the quarters in cheesecloth for as many as 10 days.
Do a Google search for cold shortening and you'll find lots of interesting reading. I think this is the kind of info that should be added to hunter ed. courses. Getting the most out of our game is important. Good meat handling honours the animal and those who eat it.
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