I can honestly say I am embarrassed at the conduct of a large percentage of hunters, I've seen it from both sides of this relationship, while on public and private land. Take a look at some well used public land and ask yourself if that's how you would want your land treated. The reality is land-owners are trying to avoid the rubes. I personally am building a portfolio of letters of commendation from previous land-owners to prove I am not one of, "those guys" to any land owner that I proposition.
On the other hand, landowners aren't all virtuous either. I don't want to start going down my list, but I have dealt with, and so have some of my best hunting pals, a fair amount of fraud and manipulative dealing from landowners. Very painful. Just remember how bad being defrauded of your labors or "tokens of appreciation" would hurt before you invest them. I personally don't try to do too much work before the hunt, but that's a case by case basis, and I never give what I can't have stolen and keep a great attitude.
This relationship requires decency in character on both sides to work, not just on the level of one hunter and one landowner, but for the institution as a whole. Every time we, whatever our role in that institution, call on the government to solve our problems we give them the authority to solve them. This indirectly gives authority over all components necessary (determined by the courts) to solve the problem, even if the parties don't like the decision. If you want to preserve hunting for the next generation we better police ourselves.
