I sat down with former Texas Game Warden Glenn C. Mitchell last week. Because my father was an avid hunter, I was interested in game and fish hunting. As a child we ate lots of venison, dove, quail and catfish. In fact, I like to fish. Mr. Mitchell and I had a wonderful visit. Listening to his stories was pure delight.
Glenn Mitchell lived on a cotton farm in Collin County growing up. In 1957 he joined the newly created Texas Fish and Game Commission. Assigned to Rusk and Gregg Counties, he spent lots of time in the Sabine bottoms looking for trappers, fishermen who planned to illegally sell game fish to restaurants and other miscreants inhabiting the brushy woodlands.
At first, he was issued a three foot by three-foot unbleached canvas flag painted with red letters STOP and slightly smaller STATE GAME WARDEN in smaller black letters. If he saw a suspicious person on a rural or ranch road, he rolled down his window, poked the flag hanging onto an old broom handle out the window, got out of his car to have a conversation with the suspect. In addition to the flag, he was issued a book about one-inch thick with all Texas hunting and fishing rules and regulations. He furnished his own car, gun, and handcuffs. Mr. Mitchell chose to use a revolver.
Mr. Mitchell has chosen to donate the flag, now encased in a frame to the Audie Murphy/American Cotton Museum this year.
In 1959 the Mitchell family transferred to Hunt County where they still reside. Big changes came in 1962. The State of Texas provided all game wardens with a 1962 gray Ford car with 6-cylinder engine, red lights, a siren, a decal on both doors and a two-way radio. The flag and broom stick became obsolete at that time. The one to be donated to the museum is a true relic.
Game wardens were authorized to search vehicles for poaching, to arrest anyone who caught over the limit of game, but seldom took a prisoner to court. Placing a heavy fine on the culprit usually did the job. Every year on September first dove season opened at noon. Mr. Mitchell said he looked at the number of doves shot, asked to see a valid hunting license, and made sure the hunter had only three shells in his shot gun. Hunters often got a little crazy shooting dove and went over the limit. Those didn’t go home with them.
I asked about quail. They are abundant around Wichita Falls where lots of grains are produced. But here in Hunt County they are scarce due to fire ants and lack of grain on the ground. However, Mr. Mitchell explained that one of the tasks game wardens performed was restocking fish and game. About twenty years ago or more, several trailers of deer were released at various places in Hunt County. Today, deer can be found all over the county.
The turning point of Mitchell’s career was the construction of Lake Tawakoni. The 37,879 acres of water covers parts of Hunt, Rains, and Van Zandt Counties. It retains flowing water from Caddo Creek, South Fork Creek and Cowleech Creek along with all of their tributaries. He aided in releasing thousands of channel catfish, lots of bass varieties, and crappie as the lake began to fill.
At first no water safety rules existed. No speed limits, no restriction on alcohol, no life jackets meant costly accidents and drownings. It would be ten years before the Texas Legislature enacted the Texas Water Safety Law, leaving large numbers of drowning victims.
Mr. Mitchell retired after thirty-three years with the Texas Game and Wildlife Commission in 1990. The following year he and his wife traveled with friends and relatives. But in 1992, one of his sons bought Coker-Matthews Funeral Home. Glenn Mitchell finds work to do there, he still hunts and fishes, and takes a test every year to retain his game warden certificate. He certainly doesn’t look or act his age.