Chambers County Waterfowl Haven

 January marks the end of the Duck hunting season in Southeast Texas and I cannot think of a better time to focus on the life and legacy of Joe Lagow, more affectionately known as “Mr. Joe” to the folks of Chambers County, Texas. I did not have the privilege of knowing Joe, but I have seen him clearly through his daughter, Janet, whose eyes light up when speaking of him. As I listened to her talk of her dad and the impact he had on every life he touched, the song “I Thought He Walked on Water” came to mind. Although Joe didn’t actually walk on water, he spent most of his life tromping through it leaving an indelible imprint in the water fowling world that few can match.
Charles D. Stuzenbaker ~ Well, I worked on a lot of     private property and had dealings with a lot of ranchers, rice farmers, and     landowners but two people really stand out. David Wintermann over in Eagle Lake was a prominent wildlife     enthusiast and managed his land for wildlife benefits. Joe Lagow managed the large Barrow Ranch     and operated a large-scale public hunting program for years.  

  Man Finds “Golden Pond”Lagow Reflects on His Years In Double BayouBy: Jo Hoffpauir  (Partial Article)

A hot cup of coffee and a “little” conversation is just about the most relaxing thing a person can do. But when the conversation is with Double Bayou resident, Joe Lagow, it is anything but “Little.” One recent morning found this writer sitting at Lagow’s kitchen table having a hot cup of coffee and listening as he recalled how he came to Double Bayou and his life before and since. “Double Bayou is as nearest to God’s country as you can get,” Lagow says, as he talks about his home. Born in Dallas 79 years ago, Lagow was educated at Forrest Avenue High School. He attended Rice University on a football scholarship and received his Master’s degree at Columbia University in New York. In 1934, Lagow played football on the first conference team Rice had. He received a bachelor’s degree in science and intended to be a doctor. Having coached intramural sports at Rice, he was offered a job in Conroe. He was hired to set up a football program. When he arrived in Conroe, he found a field full of trees. “I sure hated to cut those trees down,” he said, “but I was hired to do a job, so I did it.” With help from the WPA, the trees were cleared, and a stadium was built. It was rated one of the best high school stadiums in Texas at that time, Lagow recalls. Lagow coached football there from 1935 to 1941. His team had never played football before and the first year they won 1 game out of 10. The second year they won 9 out of 10 and the third year they played in the state semi-finals, scoring 387 points. Only 19 points were scored against them that year.   

 The Barrow Ranch can trace its roots back to 1824 when Solomon Barrow relocated his family from Louisiana to Double Bayou, Texas. His was a traditional ranch raising all that was necessary to survive in a new land. It was primarily a cattle ranch in the beginning without fences as it was open range at that time. The ranch prospered under Solomon’s leadership and he was one the first ranchers to build the land drainage system. 

 Adversity Brings Diversity

The depression years in the 30s dealt a blow to ranchers across the nation who struggled to find new and innovative ways to support their families.  As a way of supplementing his family, R. J. Barrow brought oil production to the ranch with the drilling of the first well in 1930. In 1935 oil production was begun in the northwest corner of the ranch by Sun Oil Company.  The oil produced was used to supply the Allied troops through World War II. There were no roads on the ranch in the beginning, they just opened the gates and the hunters headed in the general direction of the marsh. The first road was built in 1950-51 and at the time of the sale in 1981 there were 15 miles of roads for hunters to travel.

In the early 1950s Trinity Bay Conservation District was created and they began an extensive drainage program in the county to provide additional farmland for rice farmers. The Barrows refused to accept the program and ditches were cut above Barrow ranch causing severe flooding and rice crops to be lost. The Barrows negotiated with TBCD to dig a ditch through the ranch and levee both sides of East Bay Bayou to prevent further flooding. Saltwater gates were installed in East Bay Bayou and Onion Bayou to conserve fresh water and prevent saltwater encroachment. In dry years, these gates were closed in the fall so when rice fields were drained marshes would have adequate water for waterfowl. These gates have been tremendous assets to freshwater conservation and control of brackish marsh to prevent a change in vegetation or marsh habitat suitable for waterfowl. Strict rules and regulations have been made and hunters have been required to abide by the game laws. Those in violation were prevented from future hunts on the ranch.

In the beginning the ranch was hunted all day. In 1957 they started closing at noon to find lost hunters and as a conservation move so birds could rest and feed. Barrow Ranch was the first to practice this conservation measure.  

Before the cane was destroyed in 1962-63 by nutrias, the land was so dense that 25-30 hunters were lost per season on the 23,000-acre ranch.   Search parties would have to search the area by foot aided by airplanes and sirens. Mr. Morrison from the outskirts of Houston, the person missing the longest, was lost for 3 days. He had arrived on Christmas Day, the only day the preserve is closed to public hunting and proceeded to venture in alone. His wife called to check on him and was told the ranch was closed. His truck was found the next day and on the 3rd day trappers, other volunteers, and airplanes searched for him. At about 11:30 Mr. Morrison walked out on his own. He had to eat raw ducks and geese to survive and was hospitalized for 3 days. He had hunted for 15 years, but that was his last hunt. One hunter who had been lost 3 times was asked not to return. Five others died from heart attacks and two froze to death after getting wet. After the cane was destroyed and up to the sale of the ranch only 3 hunters were lost during those 15 years. The lean years also became the springboard for the legendary Barrow Ranch Hunting Preserve.  R. J. Barrow, knowing his land was a haven for waterfowl, first opened the ranch for public hunting in 1931 and Harvey Haynes ran it at that time charging $2.00 per person to hunt.  At the beginning they only had 7-8 black guides but by 1983 Joe had 25 guides in his employ. In 1935 trapping was prime on the ranch with an abundance of muskrat, coon, and otter. In the beginning it was hard to even make enough money to pay taxes as cattle were selling for $8.00 a head and muskrats for 20-30 cents per pelt with the trapper getting half and the landowner half. The most cattle they had on the ranch was in the late 40s with about 4000 head under 8 brands. They lost quite a few cattle in the 1940s during a hurricane and then again in 1961 with Hurricane Carla. Ralph began leasing part of the ranch to rice farmers which served to benefit his hunting operation. In 1944 Charlie Jones began his first crop of rice on the Barrow Ranch north of FM 1985 (originally White’s Ranch Road prior to 1955-56.) In 1946 Skeet Cole began farming north of 1985 and Charlie Jones moved south of it. The ranch was the best migration flyway in Texas, positioned along the coast, the compass of the migrating flocks. The flooded rice fields with their crop residue, created a perfect stopping place for waterfowl making their journey south. When Joe returned from the service in 1945, he took over the hunting operation. The land was blanketed with a perfect waterfowl buffet. Janet Lagow said, “The geese mostly feed where the crops have been raised and in the salt grass and seeds of the upper marshes. The ducks mainly hit the aquatic plants, crustaceans, aquatic seeds, leafy aquatics, and tubers. Some of the preferred plants they feed on are millet, smartweeds, duck potato, sprangletop, barnyard grass, widgeon grass, blunt, spikerush, and coontail.” Joe was gifted with a natural wisdom regarding conservation and quickly set to work to improve upon the already prime waterfowl habitat, cultivating it to make it thick and lush. 

For the Love of the Land

Next to his bride, Elizabeth, his family, and his Lord, Joe had a passionate love for the land. He was a dedicated caretaker of the wetlands and labored to keep it as near God’s design as he could.  At one time part of the land was clear cut and Joe was furious. Janet Lagow said he made his kids get out with him on hands and knees and plant seedlings to replace every tree that had been removed. She is proud of the fact that those trees stand tall and proud today, as a testimony of her dad’s love for the land. In 1961 the ranch set aside 200 acres as a rest area for waterfowl and no hunting was allowed on or around this tract of land. With the refuge on one side and the rest area on the other, adequate resting for waterfowl was provided. Another conservation practice that was instituted was prevention of the plowing of rice stubble and to leave levees uncut to provide food for waterfowl."  The wildlife business is not just a sideline," said Lagow, "It's a part of everything."

A Safe Haven

Joe kept a private game refuge next to his house in Double Bayou. He had a menagerie of animals which included a deer named Francis who was as tame as a dog, an alligator named Buster who came when Joe called, peacocks, African Guineas, pheasants, quail, and hundreds of wild birds of every sub-species. Joe nursed back to health many ducks and geese that had been wounded by hunters and provided food in abundance. He dumped about 50 pounds of feed every day in the summer and 75 pounds in winter, after the grasses had died. He also protected them from predators, such as bobcats and coons. "It takes about an hour to do all this feeding," Joe said, "an hour in the morning and an hour at night. I'm about through raising all this stuff, though," said Lagow, " I'd like to try and do a little hunting myself."  That statement makes Joe a bit of an enigma, for he is both wildlife lover and a hunter! Lagow saw nothing peculiar in that though stating the area can only support a certain population of waterfowl, so it is up to the hunter to control the numbers. “If we don’t harvest them, they’ll die of hunger or disease,” Joe said.

A Land Divided

The discovery of oil in Chambers County brought an economical boost to the area which caused land values to skyrocket. Many, not blessed with a love for the land, were enticed by the dreams of big profits and a rest from the daily grind of managing a farm or ranch and sold their land. Not Joe Lagow though, you see the family land which had been handed down from generation to generation was not just a piece of real estate to Joe. It was a living breathing extension of himself. He refused to sell.  In 1981 an agreement was struck with the Nature Conservancy of Arlington Virginia to purchase the massive Barrow Ranch acreage with the exception of Joe’s 4,600 acres, for the sum of $6.8 million and the Conservancy in turn had agreed to sell to the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service for use as a federal wildlife refuge. “If it has to be sold, I’m glad it’s going to be under the direction of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service,” Lagow said. “That way it won’t be broken up. It will remain the way it is forever. That’s what I really want in the end.” Lagow stated that he had been requested to assist the Fish and Wildlife Department with the reserve and that is what he did. This marked the end of an era for duck hunting on the Barrow Ranch. Although Joe continued to have guided hunts on his remaining acreage it was on a much smaller scale. The young waterfowlers with small pocketbooks and big hearts for hunting suffered more than most, as Joe always kept the hunts at a price they could afford. 

Passing the Torch

Joe was one of 10 sportsmen honored by the Texas Game Warden’s Association as “Outstanding Associate Member of 1981.” Joe had many accomplishments in his lifetime as a conservationist. He worked to stop oyster dredging in the Galveston Bay system (many of the oyster beds had been destroyed when the government used live oysters to build interstate 10,) halted the slaughter of once-threatened alligator in Chambers County, restocked quail in the county after they were wiped out by Hurricane Carla and continued to be a tireless worker for Ducks Unlimited. Russell Clapper once said, “He’s not afraid of controversy, if he thinks it’s right, he’ll plow right in there.” Joe’s past organization and accomplishments include: The Hospital Board, Honorary State Farmer, Member of the Gulf Coast Conservation District, Board Member of the Anahuac Area Chamber of Commerce, Member of the Galveston Bay Foundation, served on The Board of Directors of the Gulf Coast Conservation Association, Member of the Houston-Galveston Area Council, Member of the Board of Trustees of the Chambers County Hospital District, County Commissioner for 24 years, operated Barrow Ranch and Lagow Ranch Hunting Preserve, former Coach of Conroe High School, founder of Pine Island School District and Board of Directors, one of the founders of Ducks Unlimited, Avid Conservationist, and past Director of Texas Resource Conservationist District. Joe stepped into eternity on Friday June 14, 1996 passing the conservationist’s torch to his children, of whom only Janet remains today. Janet said she learned much following in the footsteps of her daddy and observing his passion for the land. When you look into the eyes and heart of this feisty little woman you see the same fire that burned within the heart of her father. I would venture to say as long as there is breath in her body the waterfowl of Chambers County will flourish! 

Large day-hunt operations were limited out interstate 10, but we only needed one: Barrow Ranch, operated by Joe Lagow of Anahuac. Lagow committed his time and effort to providing inexpensive day-hunts on the almost 20,000-acre coastal ranch.

Unguided hunts were $7.50 --a bargain on a college budget. You arrived in the black morning and waited in a long line of parked vehicles until the check-in station opened. The smiling Lagow almost always was seated at the desk, signing passes and offering advice.

The walk-in hunts from the "windmill gate" into the deep marsh were brutal and beating shooting light was impossible. But you shouldered decoy sacks and kept humping and did the best you could. 

The Barrow Ranch encompassed some of the best wetlands on the upper coast, a bounty of grain and water for wintering ducks and geese. The effort to reach the back potholes usually was worthwhile--even with lousy calling. Pictured at left is Joe Doggett of the Chronicle and Joe Lagow.  Photo published in Images of the Hunt by R. K. Sawyer, photo courtesy of Joe Doggett

Baseball legend, Dizzy Dean with a large number of birds killed at the Barrow Ranch in 1953. Numerous other celebrities were frequent visitors of Barrow Ranch through the years.

Photo published in Images of the Hunt by R. K. Sawyer, photo courtesy of Shannon Tompkins

Early 1940s photo of the Army Air Corp on a hunt at Barrow Ranch displaying their harvest of snow geese, specklebellies, and ducks. In photo are their local guides John Jackson (fifth from left) Ralph Barrow (second from right), and Wes Barrow on far right. 

Photo published in Images of the Hunt by R. K. Sawyer, photo courtesy of Jean and Janet Lagow

Bud Bagg's was a welcome sight to the hunters who had no other option for a hot meal on a cold day. In this photo Bud is delivering Jambalaya and boudin to Barrow's Ranch in 1981. From left to right are Barrow Ranch guides J. W. Bones and Gene Campbell with Bud Baggs. Behind the truck are guides Blaine Friermood and Harry Fair. 

Photo published in Images of the Hunt by R. K. Sawyer, photo courtesy of Charles Stuzenbaker

Bob Brister (left) and Joe Doggett (right) were two well known sports writers who frequented the Barrow Ranch often. They had the utmost respect for Joe both as a hunting ranch manager and a conservation, as is evidenced by the articles they wrote about him. Joe always allowed them to hunt for free on the Barrow Ranch.

Photo published in Images of the Hunt by R. K. Sawyer, photo courtesy of Doug Pike