Hunting lodge full of great memories

BIGELOW, Mo. – When Bill Graff set eyes on the recently renovated Sportsman’s Lodge last week, it brought back a flood of memories.

He drifted back to the early 1960s, when the lodge was the talk of the hunting world.

Located near the Squaw Creek National Wildlife Refuge in northwest Missouri, it attracted hunters from across the country who wanted to partake in some of the nation’s best duck and goose hunting.

Lavish, it wasn’t. In fact, it was described as “a hunter’s dormitory,” with 26 simple rooms and shared bathrooms.

But the Sportsman’s Lodge still became the place to go. Graff remembers the days when baseball greats Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Ted Williams would stay here during hunting trips – and how the locals would hang around just to get a glimpse of the celebrities.

Maybe that’s why he was so impressed when he returned to his one-time favorite hunting grounds last week and saw a piece of history restored.

“The ballplayers would come up here to get away from everything,” said Graff, 80, who once lived in the area but has since moved to Richmond, Mo. “I was a pretty good caller at the time and the guys who would take them hunting would always have me go along.

“Ted Williams was just a prince of a guy, and Maris was a gentleman; real soft-spoken. But Mantle. ...truthfully, he wasn’t a good guy. He thought he was pretty important. He looked down on everybody.”

The original business opened in 1960.

As word of the area’s hunting grew, Sportsman’s Lodge became the headquarters for the rich and famous. Mantle, Maris, Williams, Hank Bauer, Jimmy Doolittle, Tom Watson – they all stayed here.

The lodge closed its doors in 1999.

When Kansas City real estate broker Bill Huttig accompanied a friend on a duck-hunting trip near the Four Rivers Conservation Area, he was taken by the atmosphere surrounding the duck club.

“I hadn’t hunted for some time, but it was great getting out again,” said Huttig, 52. “I wanted to get a ‘man cave’ of my own.”

He searched on Craigslist and found a listing offering a hunting lodge for sale. He drove up to Bigelow and was greeted by a rundown building with holes in the roof and a lot that was overgrown with brush and trees.

But the more Huttig learned about the history of the lodge and the significance it had in northwest Missouri, the more intrigued he became.

Today, the rejuvenated lodge stands as a reminder of Squaw Creek’s past and a beacon for its future.

He and partner Roberta Feist opted to sink some money into the place and renovate it to resemble something out of the past, yet with modern frills.

They worked on the main building – fashioning a restaurant, bar and meeting rooms – and nine cabins, a house and a mobile house that can be rented out.