Ulrich and Georg end up paying for the sins of their fathers (and grandfathers). This feud had been passed on to them over three generations. Ulrich and Georg grew up learning to hate one another. This was normal for them. The narrator even calls Georg "the inheritor of the quarrel." Think about a child born into a family or society that preaches intolerance and/or hate. It is difficult for that child to break that brainwashing. But it is not impossible.
So, the initial cause lies with their grandfathers and their mutual hatred. The first effect was that it was passed on to their sons. The subsequent effect is that the feud continues. And the narrator mentions that the piece of land is not special in terms of hunting. Their feud caused itself to continue. It had become like a tradition.
Think about the word "interlopers" and how it can apply...
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to different characters. Certainly, Ulrich would call Georg an interloper. Georg would say the same of Ulrich. As readers, we might say that the wolves are the eventual interlopers. But psychologically speaking, the grandfathers of these two men are the main and primary interlopers. The grandfathers (and their legacies) prevent Georg from being friends, let alone being generally civil to one another. Their grandfathers caused them and continue to cause them to think this way. It's as if they are haunted by their grandfathers.
The grandfathers are the initial causes/causers of all the strife in the story. Their initial feud is the cause. Their psychological imprint on their sons and grandsons are the effects and, in turn, causes of the feud continuing. This tradition is a case wherein effect becomes the cause, cause becomes effect, and the cycle repeats.
The feud between the grandfathers of Ulrich von Gradwitz and Georg Znaeym caused the hatred of the two grandsons for one another. The effect of that feud, which was the result of a lawsuit over land ownership, was the deaths of Gradwitz and Znaeym. This, of course, is the main cause and effect relationship within the story. However, there are other, less significant examples of cause and effect evident within the plot. For example, the storm that took place as Gradwitz and Znaeym faced one another was the cause of the beech tree's fall, which trapped the two men with no hope of freeing themselves. The fact that each of the two men, who had
been brought up under the code of a restraining civilization cannot easily nerve himself to shoot down his neighbor in cold blood and without word spoken, except for an offense against his hearth and honor,
hesitated in shooting one another led to their entrapment and, ultimately, their deaths.