The Ranger is an outdoors person, sure, but is much more than that. A rogue with the right expertise and background is a bushman.
The Ranger is someone who guards the land, protecting nature from man and man from nature. If they weren’t that, they’d be called the Hunter or The Scout or something.
In dnd, they are connected to nature in a way that is generally denoted with magical abilities. Classically, they train with Druids and are often part of their groves, and should be able to easily befriend animals and calm angry nature spirits, but not as simply as a Druid does (Druid casts a spell and it happens, Ranger makes checks and it happens if they succeed).
The animal companion should be a boost to the base class ability to befriend beasts, forming a mystical bond with a beast that allows that beast to exceed their normal limitations and the two to work together in ways that are decidedly supernatural. The Ranger’s abilities should combine with the beast. If the ranger has spells, they should be able to boost the beast just like they can themselves. If they have maneuvers, there should be manuevers that combine ranger and beast actions.
They should be reasonably competent in any terrain, and be exceptional in their primary environment, and that training should provide benefits wherever they are. So, plains rangers could be faster, forest rangers could be stealthier, mountain rangers could have climb speed and ignore certain types of difficult terrain, etc.
favored enemy should be a “study your enemy” benefit that requires no action when used against your favored enemy.