I know that feeling, sorta. The nostalgia. I had never hunted in a group until I married my bride. Her dad, along with a swarm of local guys and landowners did drives around here every year. I was invited to tag along after marrying in. I did, gladly. I've never seen anything any more fun, though it wasn't really hunting, more like a social gathering with plenty of shooting mixed in. Most of those guys are passed on now and there are way too many houses on the grounds where all that took place. Heck, Mason's best friend lives on a property we shoot the heck out of those years.
The houses and swingsets weren't there then. We drive by some of those former farms on our way to hunt. There is a really nice house with a well-manicured yard right where my FIL shot his biggest buck that year. Things change...some of it sucks.