In the opening paragraph, Ulrich is patrolling his lands while looking for Georg. Essentially, he is hunting Georg as if he (Georg) were a "beast." Both men are so caught up in their feud that they treat one another like animals to be hunted.
Note that Ulrich most jealously guards this one piece of land even though it is "not remarkable for the game it harbored." The practical problem, from Ulrich's perspective, is that Georg is poaching on this piece of land, even though there is not much to poach in the first place. This shows how stubborn Ulrich is in perpetuating a feud over a relatively useless piece of land.
The fact that Georg has never accepted the ruling of the courts shows his stubborn attitude in perpetuating their feud.
The neighbor feud had grown into a personal one since Ulrich had come to be head of his family . . .
This statement illustrates how the feud has ceased to be based upon a logical or understandable disagreement. It is now simply based upon an "inherited" malice between the families. In other words, they have inherited and sustained a mutual hate. They no longer fight over the land for practical reasons.
When the two men are trapped under the tree, they continue to be obstinate until Ulrich makes the first gesture of kindness. But, just before the tree falls, there is at least a hint of civility between the two men:
But a man who has been brought up under the code of a restraining civilization cannot easily nerve himself to shoot down his neighbor in cold blood and without a word spoken, except for an offense against his hearth and honor.
This momentary restraint is a very subtle foreshadowing of the eventual reconciliation. It suggests that, however stubborn both men have become, there still remains a faint notion of humanity and possible reconciliation.
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