My dad wasn't a hunter, and I didn't grow up around anyone that was. I first hunter in my late 20's with my ex-in-laws and got addicted fast. I learned a little from them but nothing about processing, only how to clean, quarter and drop off at the processor. Me and my wife are very hands on and like to do anything we can ourselves. When I got my first deer a few weeks ago we did some reading and we processed it all ourselves. It was our first go at it so we're not sure if we did everything right so please chime in if I am doing anything wrong. I came home with the first deer of the season and the wife surprised me with a new eclectic grinder (way cool). I iced the meat for 2 days then took it all out and cleaned it to divide it out for aging. We saran wrapped the quarters, and placed smaller sections in zip-locks and placed it all in fridge for a 5 days to age and bleed out the meat. After 5 days we pulled it and began the fun.
Here is how I divided it;
The loins I kept whole and placed together in freezer for steaks.
The backstraps I cut in half and placed in freezer thinking we could thaw and cut into medallions for a family dinner.
The rear quarters i broke down into almost every single separate muscle and froze separately to cut into steaks later.
Front quarters, neck meat and other misc pieces we ground.
We made chili meat, burger (added 50% ground beef), and pan sausage (added pork fat and spices).

So to finally get to the questions.
What can I use to make a roast on my next deer, a whole quarter?
Is it OK to just use freezer bags or should I really buy a vacuum sealer?
Should I have cut my steaks before freezing?
Sorry for being long winded and thanks for any advice.
Does my aging the meat in fridge sound ok since its too hot here to age on a hook outside?

Sounds good to me other than in bags in fridge to age. I prefer a dry age and in bags it's just sitting there in its juices. On a rack over a catch pan is how I do it, extra fridge required. Blood drips off meat through rack and into catch pan.

I wouldn't have froze the tender loin and probably not the back strap either but that's just because I eat it immediately!!

For a roast you can use one of the larger muscles from a hind quarter, or can use the neck (bone in). Some people use back straps for roasts too, but I prefer to use the neck or rump roast.

Using freezer bags is fine for short term, if planning on keeping froze for longer term use a vacuum sealer.

No need to cut your steaks before freezing, freezing half a strap or a whole strap is just fine. I prefer to freeze them whole in case I change my mind about how I'm going to prepare them, (fried cutlets, grilled/Q'd medallions, stuffed/bacon wrapped etc).

You can age in the fridge if your fridge is cold enough, but getting into dry aging or wet aging meat is another subject. If "bleeding out" your venison is what you're trying to do, there is no better method than packing your meat in ice/tilt one end/ & pull the plug. I do this with mine right after the kill. I've "ice aged" old bucks and big boars this way for as long as two weeks with no issues. Normally my meat is only on ice 3-5 days total, depends on the age and sex of the animal. Some people don't age at all.

It's good that you are getting into home processing, and it's even better that you have a wife that is doing it with you. Shoot me a PM in the future if you need help with something.

If its going in the grinder I don't age it.

Like skinner said I would just keep it on ice longer instead of putting in bags in fridge. Put a brick under the opposite side of the drain open the drain and keep it full of ice.

Sounds like you have a pretty good handle on it, keep your mind open and try new things its a lot of fun.

I would add that freezer paper and some masking tape would be more cost beneficial than the vacuum sealer. I've done it both ways, but prefer the paper now. Cheaper and less hassle. Instead of ziplocs, I would also buy some of the wild game ground meat bags in your size/weight preference (1 lb vs 2 lb) and the tape machine for sealing the bags.

Awesome thanks for the feedback guys. I forgot to add that we did get the wild game bags for the ground meats and sausage we made.

Oh and 8Point, Only one of the back straps got froze. The other one was consumed immediately. Did medallions and a chicken fry on them. They were great.

Sounds like you figured it out quickly. Without any meat processing experience in a store or in a processing plant you have it going on. I vacuum pack my steaks and roasts but use the wild game meat bags for my hamburger. The bags are a whole lot cheaper then the vacuum bags. Keep doing what you are doing. Continue to learn each time you do it. Makes it even better when you get the family involved. You got this.

We bleed out our quartered venison in a large & covered tub with ice water for 3 days ,draining & refilling each day.

We then refrigerate sections , straps in wrapped towels for 2 more days before processing/grinding etc....

Comes out great every time

Each to his own but I grind the neck & front shoulders all into hamburger and add no fat or beef .

Lean & Mean

Man, talking about all this has got me excited! Now all I've got to do is find a deer!

Only thing we vacuum pack is sausage it frezerburns easily in anything else I have tried foil, cling wrap, gallon bags, butcher/freezer paper etc. Lasts for years in a vacuum bag.

Freezer paper or vacuum bags are both good. I use them both and for paper I fold the seams down at least two or more times as tight as I can get it. Then I tape all seams with freezer tape. I tend to put my ground meats in freezer paper and vacuum seal straps, steaks, and smoked sausages. The ground meats get used on a regular bases and will keep at least a year if you fold and tape correctly. The other meats will last longer if the seal holds. I have had a few bags get poked from moving around in freezer and they will burn quickly if that occurs. I have processed 8-10 deer over the last five or six years and had very good luck keeping the meat fresh from season to season.

Ok just wanted to jump in here. We just ate one of the links we had made back in Nov of 2012 couple of weekends ago for breakfast. All we used was Glad press and seal. Didn't even have a cure go into our breakfast sausage and it was excellent. No vacuum sealing either we used glad press and seal and this link was great almost two years after processing and putting it in the freezer. I find that press n seal, butcher paper and vacuum sealing all work really well. We regularly eat venison that has been in the freezer for a year or more and it tastes fine!