Being 44 now, back in my early years before I could carry a gun, I was as excited as could be to be out in the woods next to someone that could carry. The hunt was always a highlight, not so much for the deer kill, but the comradery. Not being a landowner wasn't an issue, myself and mostly everyone I knew that hunted had land that they were allowed to hunt. So we always knew where we could go, and it was gonna be there year after year. My group consisted of my father, aunts, uncles, cousins and other family members. Along with other hunters the property owner let in every year, we knew of them and it was never an issue to share the farm with them. It got to be where we would have campers set up in the fields and make a hunting camp right out in the open. Like I said, we were there to eat, drink, play cards, tell stories, make fun of the hunting follies and maybe see deer. And if seen, have a ball trying to shoot them and usually miss but laugh the rest of the day talking about it.
Fast forward 15 yrs, the farmer sells off and we lose our land. Land owners figure out people are willing to pay big dollars to use their land for hunting. Private land becomes impossible to get onto, so all the relatives go off in their own direction to hopefully find someone willing to let them on to hunt. There's no reason to go into town and register your deer, no longer parade the horns at the local watering hole in fear of having them stolen. Now it's no longer "The Group", it's a go on your own and do what you can situation. That is what ruined it for me.