ASCEND by Ducks Unlimited

Not every women’s hunt or retreat is created equal, and some should raise red flags.

Erin Crider sits down with Kelly Godfrey of Texas Women Outdoors to walk through how to evaluate women’s hunts, fishing trips, and outdoor events before you book.

This episode empowers women to ask better questions, protect themselves, and find safe, legitimate communities.

Topics include:
  • Green and red flags when booking hunts
  • How to check legality and insurance
  • Pricing transparency
  • Finding reputable women’s outdoor groups
  • Avoiding scams and unsafe situations
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Creators and Guests

Host
Erin Crider
Erin Crider is the founder and owner of Uncharted Outdoorswomen, a woman‑owned, woman‑guided outfitter creating safe, welcoming spaces for women to learn hunting, fishing, and fieldcraft. Based in Colorado, Erin guides fly fishing and waterfowl and leads clinics designed to break down barriers for adult beginners. An adult‑onset hunter who moved to Colorado from Missouri, she turned her own search for mentors into a mission to mentor others; she’s now recognized as one of the very few female waterfowl guides in the West and an outspoken advocate for inclusion and conservation. Her work and story have been profiled by regional outlets and across Uncharted’s education blog.

What is ASCEND by Ducks Unlimited?

Ascend is a multimedia platform that spotlights the millions of outdoorswomen across our country who go hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, biking, running, and perform important conservation work every day.

Our web series and podcast feature guests who share their experiences with a focus on entertainment, education, and authenticity. Our viewers and listeners will get to know them and learn all about their passion for the outdoors. Whether you've been in outdoor communities all your life or are just getting started, Ascend is the place for you to follow your story!

Brought to you by Ducks Unlimited.

Erin Crider:

The five questions that we're gonna talk about that Kelly and I just kind of put together the green and red flags of what you should look for, the price point. How is what the event that you're trying to book or, like, the camp or the hunt or the retreat that you're trying to book, how did they come up with that price point? Is you the outfitter that you're about to book or the women's hunt you're about to book or the women's fishing trip you're about to book, is it a legal operation? How to find out if it's legal and insured? How do I find and vet a good host?

Erin Crider:

And how do we find the right women's groups? So we're gonna go through those five topics, so stay tuned.

VO:

Welcome to the Ascend podcast, a podcast by and for women in the outdoors. Every episode delivers real stories, practical how to's, and a welcoming community to help you start, sharpen, or rediscover your passion for the outdoors. Authentic women, real stories, outdoor adventures, Ascend. Presented by Ducks Unlimited, the leader in wetlands conservation. Your next adventure starts here, the Ascend podcast.

Erin Crider:

Welcome to the Do You Ascend podcast where there's real women telling honest stories to empower other women to get outside and get into the outdoors. I'd like to welcome Kelly Godfrey from Texas Women Outdoors today. She has run, her outdoor business for several years, empowering more women to get outside and have confidence in their outdoor skills as well as build her own community. So if you're in Texas, definitely give her a follow. We met when we were just I think we were chatting on Instagram where you ran like, you found my page or something, and you reached out and you're like, hey.

Erin Crider:

Let's collaborate. Alright, Kelly. Who are you? What do you do?

Kelly Godfrey:

Hi. So I'm Kelly Godfrey. I'm based in Texas and small town, country girl here. Grew up in the city. Met my husband later in life, and we moved out here to the country and started a family.

Kelly Godfrey:

So a little bit about Texas Women's Outdoors. We started in April, I guess, technically 2021, total by accident. I had just had my daughter. We had two kids. So my son was first, then my daughter about a year and

Erin Crider:

a half later start a business. Yeah. Just have a kid. Fresh postpartum. I'm gonna start a business.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah. Woman. Part of everything, you know, the works. And to add to it, my husband works for the railroad, so he was gone all the time. Like, gone seven, eight days at a time.

Kelly Godfrey:

I was home by my by myself with two kids. My daughter was born in '19. COVID hit in 2020. So life just just was crazy. My daughter was, like, six or seven months wait.

Kelly Godfrey:

Hold on. Let me back up. Yeah. So 2020 so in twenty twenty twenty one came, And at this point, I was I told my husband, was like, look. I gotta get a break when you get home because I nobody comes and sees you.

Kelly Godfrey:

Everybody's scared to death. Nobody's doing anything. We live in a small town, and I'm still new creatures. We need to talk to people. Mhmm.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah. You can't talk to anybody. Like, it was crazy. Mhmm. And so I was like, I gotta get out of the house when you come home or I'm gonna go insane.

Kelly Godfrey:

So what I did was I just threw it out to my personal Facebook page, and I said, hey. Would anybody wanna go camping with me? And I guess this is the 2021, like, maybe January, February time. People went and about. Yeah.

Kelly Godfrey:

Mhmm. And so I was like, anybody go camping with me? And I had some ladies that were interested. Interested. And so our official trip, I guess, if you will, before we even turned into, like, the business end was April 2021.

Kelly Godfrey:

We went camping at Lake Whitney Park, one of parks at Lake Whitney in Texas, and we had the best time. I had ladies that I never met show up, and then I had some ladies that I knew that were friends, you know, show up. And so I think there was, like, six or seven of us, and I just kinda you know, this is my first time to ever do this. I was like, I don't know what I'm doing, but I'll just, you know, run with it and just see what the group wants to do. So I brought, like, all my cast iron stuff.

Kelly Godfrey:

I brought some wild games because I always love sharing wild game meals. So we did, like

Erin Crider:

That's my favorite.

Kelly Godfrey:

Game, chili. I had venison chili one night, and I think we did a roast the second night all on the campfire and and my little Dutch cast iron Dutch oven. So I was like, you know, if anything, I'll just come share this cause I know I got lots of food we can share, and I love sharing those, you know, wild game meals anyways because Yeah. You know,

Erin Crider:

that's gonna be like one of my favorite things is sitting with a hunter in her wild game and hearing the story, you know, and then, you know, the meal nourishes both of you. It's I don't know.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah. I feel like sharing the wild game with other people and a lot of people don't taste it very often. So the more I can share it, the more, you know, it tells them, like, yeah, it's very very healthy and and it tastes good. Like, people don't realize how good it tastes. So we did that.

Kelly Godfrey:

We did some fishing, you know, all the fun stuff for camping, setting up tents and all that stuff. And then at the end, the ladies were just, like, so excited, and they're like, man, you know a lot of things about the outdoors. You should share it. And I was like, what? You know, I never thought of that.

Kelly Godfrey:

And so I was like, I just really wanted to get outdoors and get a break for my family and my house because, you know, moms, that's just what you do. You need a break. You need a break.

Erin Crider:

Full time job plus two.

Kelly Godfrey:

It is. Yeah. And so they're like, no. We need to do more of this. I'm like, okay.

Kelly Godfrey:

Well, so then from there, I just started planning other things and I started our what we have now, our community group, which is huge now. But anyways, back then, it was just like a few people just to kinda keep all the details in one spot.

Erin Crider:

Is your community group, like your Facebook group? What is it called? How do people find that?

Kelly Godfrey:

So it's Texas Woman's Outdoors Facebook Group. Texas Woman's Outdoors Community Group, I think. Okay. I think that's what it is.

Erin Crider:

There'll be a link.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah. There'll be a link. But it's yeah. Facebook. It's just community group, think.

Kelly Godfrey:

TexFimsOutdoors community. Awesome. Yeah. So from there, we just started putting stuff together and doing things kinda all over. That was my first year, so I was just kinda, like, getting getting what the ladies were interested in in doing, and then we would just do that.

Kelly Godfrey:

So I think, like and then I linked up with, like, a biologist up in North Texas, and we did a dove hunt up there with her, and we brought some ladies with there with us too. And as we kept doing things on the weekends, ladies were inviting their their friends to our group and then just sharing what they were doing and what we were doing along the way, and we just grew. So towards the end of the summer, I was talking to a friend of mine, and she ran a small business. And she was like, you realize, like, when you run a small or when you're doing things like this and people find yourself in these groups or something happens on your trip, you can get sued and your family, you know, they'll take your family's assets and everything, and I was like, That's

Erin Crider:

a big deal. And that's how Yeah. I started Uncharted Outdoorsman. I got the same warning.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yes. And so I never never even crossed my mind and it scared me. So immediately, I was like, okay. I gotta go find, you know, a business adviser. I gotta do all the things.

Kelly Godfrey:

Right?

Erin Crider:

Mhmm. So you skip the I went through the, oh, I don't need that. Like, it's fine. No one's gonna no one's gonna sue me. Everything is legal.

Erin Crider:

It's all fine. Yeah. Boy, was I wrong.

Kelly Godfrey:

Oh, yeah. No. So I I reached out to my college that I went to in Stephenville, and they have a business adviser and all that stuff. And since I was a student there before, all the help and stuff I've gotten was free, and they let me, you know, just make an appointment with them. Anyways, so Nice.

Kelly Godfrey:

That's when I started community. Yes.

Erin Crider:

Small business community is great.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah. It was awesome. I couldn't believe it. So I made appointment with them, got us some insurance, filed. That's when he told me about deciding if I want the nonprofit or an LLC, and I need to look through both.

Kelly Godfrey:

And so I did some research. And at the time, since it was just me and my family, the best thing to do was just turn it into an LLC. And I could do that online or send a lawyer and all that. So that's what I did. Well, then, of course, later on, I find out, okay.

Kelly Godfrey:

Now I have this business, and then, like, now you have to pay all these other fees. Yeah. And I'm like, there's franchise. There's all kinds of taxes. Like, it's crazy.

Erin Crider:

Alone was $8,000.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah.

Erin Crider:

Because it was not going through. Because Yeah. The gentleman looking at it didn't know what an outfitter was and didn't understand the difference between, like, Uncharted Veterans Outdoors and Uncharted Outdoorsman said that we were too close. I'm like, no. They have to hire me.

Erin Crider:

I have the insurance, the license well, the licensing, like, the permits, all the things that you're describing.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah. It was crazy. It never even crossed my mind. I was just like, I'm just looking for a way out of my house.

Erin Crider:

A very expensive way. Yes. And you're looking for a community. Right? Like Yes.

Erin Crider:

You had a a passion similar to the same feeling I was feeling, having a passion to get more women out there because nature is definitely healing. Strap a ducks or not, you're out there trying to have a good time depending on, you know, the single digit temperatures and the high humidity, but Well, here it's hot. We also Kelly and I also live in wildly different climates. What what's like the general area of Texas that you're in?

Kelly Godfrey:

I guess it's more essentially, but west, like Northwest. We're

Erin Crider:

like two

Kelly Godfrey:

where I live, I'm like two and a half hours Southwest of Fort Worth.

Erin Crider:

Yeah. And I'm at nine nine thousand feet in Colorado. It snowed yesterday.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah. No. It was 94 yesterday. I bowhunted. It's archery season right now.

Kelly Godfrey:

Bowhunted at the bottom of our field at 94 degrees.

Erin Crider:

Oh my gosh. Yeah. Our bow hunting season's over in Colorado. I think the West. I think it's over.

Erin Crider:

That's something I have yet to get into. But, yeah, similar situation. So in 2020, as you were saying during COVID, I quit my corporate career and I was like, what do I really wanna do? Because corporate life was kind of eating my soul. I was never home.

Erin Crider:

I was the breadwinner. I worked way too many hours. We don't have kids. I rarely saw my husband who is one of the most amazing gentlemen in the world. And he's an introvert, so, like, he's cool with it.

Erin Crider:

He's like, great. I will feed you when you get home. I will tuck you in bed and then, you know, you'll get up and you'll go again. And it just, like, I felt like my weekends, I was even pre COVID, because I've been fly fishing for about a decade, little more, and I just was aggressively fly fishing. Like, I was going every weekend and I actually started the Facebook group or no.

Erin Crider:

I didn't start the Facebook group, Colorado Women on the Fly. It already existed, but actually a mom was running it. She had had two kids, and they had taken up, you know, full time double full time job. And I was like, hey. Can I put some new life into this?

Erin Crider:

And so I started creating a community. I was working with other nonprofit organizations within the fishing conservation space, but there wasn't, like, a class I could take to actually learn how to fly fish. I was not a big YouTube person and especially at the time, and I was just kinda watching other people and begging anybody I could to go with them, which is definitely not safe. But, yes, similar situation. And then I was also given the warning, hey.

Erin Crider:

If you're putting a hook in the water, you are a guide. You do need an outfitter's license in the state of Colorado. And if you do that, you also need a permit, and those are different levels of how do you describe it? There there's different levels of permitting, and, you know, there's really easy levels to get, like state parks or maybe a city park, and then there's, like, national forest, like federal public lands. Right?

Erin Crider:

And I didn't know any of that because there's not other women. I think Uncharted is the first and only, I hope not, women's organization that is guided by and has all female clients or all female guides. Yeah. I think it might be the only one, which is really sad. But that information didn't exist.

Erin Crider:

And so as I we're, like, putting this out there, if you're thinking about starting a women's outdoor organization, please listen. And drop your questions down in the comments because we will reply and answer them. So what are some of the do you wanna go through question number one? What are the green and red flags? The green flags when you book trips, What are you looking for?

Erin Crider:

I know what I'm looking for.

Kelly Godfrey:

So just from experience, I look for see here in Texas, let me preface this. Texas, anybody can be a guide. You definitely wanna do your research. Definitely. You can wake up tomorrow and do and be a guide.

Kelly Godfrey:

So Mhmm. Anybody can say, hey, I'm a guide, and then, you know, they really don't know anything. So I have I have learned that just by talking to people, sometimes you get scammed. It's happened to me before. I messaged a guy one time and then called him and then told him, you know, I wanted to bring some ladies out to teach them how to hunt and do all the things, do all the things the right way.

Kelly Godfrey:

I want a safe space, you know. And he told me everything I wanted to hear on the phone. And mind you, I was planning this like eight months out. So I mean, it wasn't like something I just threw together within a day or two. You know?

Kelly Godfrey:

I just did this eight months out and just and I would keep trying to go contact him and tell him, okay. Are we here? You know? What are we how are we doing? You know?

Kelly Godfrey:

Just following Yeah. And he still just, by the time we got there, was just a mess, turned into a total crap show, and nothing was done like I'd asked. So you can you can ask all the right questions, and they can tell you all the right things, but when you get there, it could be different is what I've learned. Yeah. So that

Erin Crider:

extra added layer of due diligence you need to do as a new outdoorsman or someone looking to book the hunts or trips is, like, in Colorado, we have outfitters licenses. If you are a felon, which would be like, I don't know, if you don't pay your child support, for example, and baby mama takes you in and you can't get your hunting license and fishing license anymore because you're a felon, you can't get your outfitter's license. So you just type in their name or I also look at the outfitter's license number on the website in Colorado. Yeah. That's type it in, and you could be like, They got that, which also means they have insurance.

Erin Crider:

So Colorado in the West, Montana and Wyoming are a bit different, but Colorado in the West, like, at least we have that. So in states like Texas that doesn't have that layer of protection Mhmm. Gotta be extra careful.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah. So now I've learned from the bad mistake that I will call and ask for insurance questions, how long they've been doing it, what all they do, how they operate, what their, you know, what their experience is. And then what I do now, especially before I even go take a group, you know, like somebody set up a a group hunt for our organization is I will either go myself and stay for the weekend and, you know, go through all the the whole process with them and just see how everything's done, Or I will definitely go in person and just go, you know, set foot on their property, go meet them in person, talk to their guides, ask all the questions, look at their lodging, ask them about their food if it's food involved, See how they do all the things. Go look at their setup and take pictures. So that way, you know, when the time comes, you know, and ladies are asking, what's this about?

Kelly Godfrey:

I can show them pictures. Of course, we put all that on our website too.

Erin Crider:

Yeah. Like, am I sleeping in bunk beds for a thousand dollars or do I get my own room, or, like, what does that look like?

Kelly Godfrey:

Right. Yes. So all the all the right things there.

Erin Crider:

And especially, like, if they're asking for food allergies, like, ask for food allergies because it just feels like all women have them at this point. That's like a green flag for me because I've definitely booked a women's hunt with an organization that no longer exists, and the food was awful. Girl, let me tell you how bad this food was. First of all, it was supposed to be guided by a woman. She didn't show up for day one.

Erin Crider:

Oh. So that didn't rub me the right way. Like, I was like, oh, this is like, I drove three states to be guided by a woman, learn from a woman, be empowered by a woman, And here's her husband and, like, a 21 year old, maybe 21 year old kid, and everyone's drinking. And I'm like, I'm not a big huge drinker, you know, like, I like to have, a a nice cocktail, but or, like, a big deep glass of Merlot wine on a cold hunt. But I if I sign up to be guided by a woman, I want her to be she's my advocate.

Kelly Godfrey:

Right? Right.

Erin Crider:

Like, she's my advocate. Like, she's been like, okay, boys, you just need to, like, bring it down a notch. And it yeah. But the food, until she showed up, she was like, I'm sorry. You guys were served gas station pizza from Casey's?

Erin Crider:

I was like, yeah, girl. Where you been? Where you been? What am supposed to say? I'm allergic to dairy and all the things.

Erin Crider:

Like and that's what I had to eat because I I mean, I always pack, like, my own food because we all do. Right? Yeah. But I I, at almost 40 years old, I want nothing to do with a gas station pizza from Casey's. Like, I grew up eating that.

Kelly Godfrey:

Not when you drive three

Erin Crider:

hours to

Kelly Godfrey:

go to, you

Erin Crider:

know I'm on vacation. Yeah. Yeah. I'm spending my time with you, and my time is precious. Mhmm.

Erin Crider:

Because clearly, especially back in when I had my corporate job, time was so precious. I had more money than time. And so when I was booking a hunt, and at that point, I think it was, like, $600 for a weekend. Hot red flag. Right?

Erin Crider:

Like, I should have greatly lowered my expectations from what snow goose hunting looks like on social media to the price that I paid. I paid Casey's pizza price. That is what I got. Yeah. Right?

Erin Crider:

And when she got there, you know, she made a soup, and that was better, but I was like, yeah, I can't eat anything. It's awful. And we were also in let's see. Was there one, two, three, four, five, six, six bunk beds? They did not put 12 girls in that room.

Erin Crider:

But the room was, like, the average size of my room at home, like my bedroom. And, yeah, they had room for 12 people. I was like, there is no way 12 full grown adult men sleep in this room together. Like, that's not, you know, hot red flags right there. So I love the photos.

Erin Crider:

Yeah. I love the photos so much. I have bought a camera, invested in a camera for my business mainly to do video, but to take photos of, like, previous things so that I can show what people are should expect. Right? Like like, I have a a camping thing.

Erin Crider:

Right? I know I know Texas is hot and, like, has things that will kill you. We just have mountain lions and moose, and those are fine. They're not creepy crawlies that'll kill you here. So we have these outfitters tents.

Erin Crider:

So at first, I was like, oh, yeah. We're going camping. Well, I camp in an outfitters tent. Like, we are glamping, girl. Like, these are canvas tents that we use in single digit weather that can fight off the Wyoming wind and, like, everyone is warm and you can put a stove in it.

Erin Crider:

Like, there's those. So, like, we're not really camping. It's definitely, like, more of a glamping situation. And I've got a cot and, like, a a bougie sleeping pad because every like, you, like, move to Colorado and you, like, buy bougie camping gear, and then you try and figure out how to use it in places on public land because Colorado's 48% public land, whereas Texas is one. Right?

Erin Crider:

So, yeah, it's definitely the accommodations. I wanna see the photos. Oh my gosh. We also oh my gosh. There was one bathroom and the guides used it too.

Erin Crider:

All she had to do as a host, as a guide for that lodge was to buy some flowers, close all the lockers, you know, put the toilet seat, clean the toy tell those boys to clean up after themselves. Put a trash can next to the toilet. Put two. There's, like, 12 women there. Actually, I think there was 18.

Erin Crider:

Another like, that's fine for snows. Right? Like, they're unlimited. The blind is usually huge or, like, a big pit or you're sitting in the decoys. But hot red flag if you're duck hunting and there's 20 people signed up or, like, they have room for 20, that if you count, you know, depending on what the limit is for that state, five, six, seven ducks per person, I think you're just gonna be lucky to shoot your gun one or two times, you know, versus three.

Kelly Godfrey:

Was something I learned too early on. One of the first sandhill crane hunts we went on, I thought we were going to be in a group by ourselves because that's when the guy made it sound like we were. And then we showed up, and there's legit probably twenty, twenty five people in this blind, and, like, five or six of them were the guides and friends, it seemed like. Mhmm. And there's five of us, and we never never pulled the trigger.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah. Because every time they would yell shoot, the guys were all around us shooting before we could even get up with our guns. Yeah. So I always ask the guides nowadays or the outfitters, you know, we just wanna group by ourselves. Yep.

Kelly Godfrey:

How do you know, what's the minimum? What's the max? Obviously, you know, if they say 10 or 12, then we're like, no. Let's stick it to five or six. That's a comfort zone there.

Kelly Godfrey:

You don't want any money more than that. Eight's eight's a good number if you're, like, even those long ones like these done in, like, pit blinds where everybody's just kinda down in

Erin Crider:

Mhmm. And you

Kelly Godfrey:

can just stick your gun straight up so it's safer that way. But, you know, safety is always number one. Number two is, you know, just being comfortable and and making sure that the guys aren't just there, the outfitters aren't just there to make a dollar. So if you're just trying to like fill fill spots, you know, obviously, that's not for us either. We wanna spend time with the ladies and talk about safety, shooting, and then

Erin Crider:

afterwards to, like, get up out of the blind and, like, get up out of blind without Yeah. Being judged by, you know, 10 other dudes sitting in there that have been like, they were born with a shotgun in their hands.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah. And being mansplained the whole time.

Erin Crider:

I have no idea what that's like. Yeah. Because I learned to hunt as an adult. Like, I grew up in a in a household that did not have guns. So it was all new to me in my thirties.

Erin Crider:

I'm gonna learn how to hunt. Okay. Some other things I wrote down besides, like, the transparency of, like, what will this look like. Actually, back to that. So if you're trying to book a duck hunt and they don't have the number of people that they're trying to put in there, like, I actually saw a duck hunt that I was interested in.

Erin Crider:

It was about I think it was like $1,500, and that is like my minimum of what I'm paying. Like, I I've already had my Casey's Pizza hunt. Right? And things are expensive out here. So I would say I wouldn't say it's double.

Erin Crider:

What would you say? I think it's at least a quarter or 30% more expensive in Colorado than it is in, like, the Midwest.

Kelly Godfrey:

In Texas, it's not that expensive down here either.

Erin Crider:

Yeah. Until we get into Elk Hunting, and that's, like, unreal tourist prices. Right? Mhmm. But our demographic is is it's local.

Erin Crider:

Like, we're trying to help local women learn how to go do this and never hire a guide again. Mainly because when I started Uncharted, there wasn't a waterfowl guide that would take me duck hunting in Northeast Colorado, but they would take my husband. So I called, and he was like, no way. I was like, this is sexism. Like, this is not okay.

Erin Crider:

Right? And I'm a corporate girly. I'm like I'm like an Aquarius, Irish, short, sassy. Like, it is it's you don't he's told me no, like, twice in our twenty years of marriage ever because he's scared of the outcome. Right?

Erin Crider:

And it was yeah. And what another one was good. Like, hey. Maybe I was trying to move closer to Denver and not to not have such, like, the burnout of driving an hour, hour and a half to to Denver from the foothills, like the mountains, or all the way to the airport, or all the way to South Denver. Anyways, now that now that we're on that topic, how did I even get there?

Erin Crider:

Perimenopause is how I got there. Yes. It's But transparency back to transparency. So when I guide duck hunts because I think I'm still if you're if you know another female waterfowl guide, licensed and insured guide, not like for fun guide, that is doing waterfowl hunts in the West, please tag her in the comments below because I'd love to meet her. I'd love to go hunting and see exchange information.

Erin Crider:

But when I'm guiding ducks, I have six girls in the blind. Sorry. Not six. Three. That's good.

Erin Crider:

Like, that's pretty decent. Geese, I would do up to six. Right? Like, their flocks are bigger. It's usually a cheaper hunt.

Erin Crider:

Like, I it also has to be worth my time to go out there, pay the landowner, you know, do all the things, make minimum wage. Like, if you're thinking about starting an outfit and starting women's organization, make sure, like, your your bare minimum, like, what you're trying to make is at least minimum wage because if you get there as the business owner, like, good on you. Whereas snow goose hunts, we do some of those. They're way out east. Like, you're pretty much in Kansas, Nebraska.

Erin Crider:

Right? Those can definitely have more. Like, I've put 10 girls in a blind, and we're going as friends. It's cheap. Think if we paid, like, a 150 or $200 a gun.

Erin Crider:

And since we're already guides and I make my guides, like, when I take them out, I'm like, yeah. You're gonna help me put out the decoys. Like, you're not paying me. Yeah. So we knew how to set everything up, and the guide was very appreciative of of us.

Erin Crider:

And but we still had some new girls in there for sure. And this blind opened like this out of it was on a trailer, like but it opened like, you had a lid. And even I struggled to open the lid. Like, how many times do I get get the opportunity to open the lid and jump out of there? Right?

Erin Crider:

So having a few practice shots with a guide not being like, hey. Keep it down. Like, we're almost at shooting, like like a snow geese. It doesn't whatever. Yeah.

Erin Crider:

There's gonna be a bunch of them. Like, that's a big deal. Oh, yeah. Full circle. Yeah.

Erin Crider:

There wasn't a waterfowl guide that would take women

Kelly Godfrey:

Oh, wow.

Erin Crider:

In Colorado, and that is how Uncharted really started go getting going. Okay. Because I I couldn't find someone to teach me how to fly fish that I could just pay for, show up to a female guide with other women. Like, I went through the state, which, by the way, great. They have free, as they should, Colorado Parks and Wildlife is a $3,250,000,000 organization funded by hunting and fishing licenses and park passes.

Erin Crider:

So they've got free opportunities. If you're in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, there's lots of free things that you can sign up for, but then you have to qualify. And I never qualified. And I never then after I if I did qualify, like, then you have to get picked. I just wanted to book a Saturday, learn how to fly fish, maybe meet a friend to go fly fishing with, and it just didn't exist.

Erin Crider:

And so, yeah, my husband was like, oh my god. Please don't go back into finance. And he was like, yes. Let me build you a really nice website and you can, you know, do this thing. And now it is like a machine.

Erin Crider:

Right? Like, is rolling. Yeah. And you're rolling too. But, yeah, I always appreciate the transparency.

Erin Crider:

So if you ever get on our website and look at our event descriptions, there's so much information to the point we send a second email.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah. Yeah. We've learned more details, the better. Yes. Because for women, women wanna know everything.

Erin Crider:

Well, you gotta get babysitting, you know, maybe you need a dog sitter or a house sitter and the dog can't come on the camping trip. Like, probably don't wanna take a dog big game hunting with you.

Kelly Godfrey:

You know? Yeah.

Erin Crider:

It's gotta be worth, like, that timepiece. Like, what what would it take to get me off the couch? Because I can just sit on the couch. Right? People are lazier than ever now.

Erin Crider:

I don't get that opportunity.

Kelly Godfrey:

I have two kids and chickens and a I would love to just sit on the couch.

Erin Crider:

I could sit on the couch. I got nothing nothing going on if I'm not thinking about being outside. You know? But then the leases for waterfowl, very expensive. Are you ready for your first horror story, or is this be the second one?

Erin Crider:

Don't know. Okay. Here it goes. So when I first started guiding, right, and I had been shooting ducks, and I'd been at this a couple years. I learned from some guys that have been done doing it for a lifetime.

Erin Crider:

I'm a good caller for what I need. If I went to Louisiana, I would be terrible. Right? But no one shoots at our ducks. They come off of the Canada Prairie Pothole area.

Erin Crider:

They fly through Montana when everyone's worried about archery season and big mule deer and elk. Then they get to Wyoming where nobody lives, and then they get to little me in my duck blind. Right? I don't have to be able to do a whole lot, but what I how I do call, I have to be really good and understand, like, how the science behind how the ducks work. Right?

Erin Crider:

I couldn't afford a lease on water. For example, last year, me and another outfitter who is a gentleman in the waterfowl world so far, we put in on a lease for $40,000 together.

Kelly Godfrey:

Oh, wow.

Erin Crider:

Because I could guide it during the week because I have a lot of stay at home moms as clients. I've got entrepreneurs I can take off midweek. Like, when the weekend is crazy, they stay home. Like, I have a lot of that demographic. So weekend or weekday duck hunt, perfect.

Erin Crider:

Right? A lot of storms blow in through the week too where he's mainly, like, booking big groups on Saturdays. $40,000. We lost. We lost to a club that just the landowner hated him, and he said the most money wins.

Erin Crider:

Well, I can't charge local women $500 to go duck hunting. Right? Like, that's unreal. That's those are tourist prices. And you'd and since I have to pick days so far in advance so people can get babysitting, people can get dog sitting.

Erin Crider:

Right? I knew that that probably was not gonna be awesome, but I picked my days, and I would pick them in July, and I would pay for all the gun fees. So, like, now I'm I'm in the hole a couple thousand dollars with this duck hunting club. Actually, this was like just a hunting fishing club, like, pay per person. And they told me, oh, we love it.

Erin Crider:

We love working with women. We love them. Like, I we're all married to them. And I'm just like, okay. Why is this happening right now?

Erin Crider:

Well, they wanted our photos. And I said, like, let's just see kinda how this goes. Right? And as I'm writing a check for several thousand dollars and I'm picking opening day of the split, so we have a split in our waterfowl season in Colorado, I pick opening day. This is four years ago.

Erin Crider:

Yeah. I'm new as I'm a new guide. Right? Like I started in 2021, But I've been hunting for a long time, but none of that mattered because the landowner decided he wanted to hunt that day.

Kelly Godfrey:

Of course.

Erin Crider:

At Shooting Light. Oh, man. I don't know if you've ever seen mascara run at Shooting Light, but me and my three darling clients who are now very good friends of mine, and we actually go on hunting trips to get one of them is actually now an upland guide with Uncharted. It was such a bond because when they went home, specifically, her husband was like, if y'all were men, that landowner would not have bothered you. I am really upset because that now I'm negative money and have bad experience.

Erin Crider:

I'm crying. Like, this is there are birds everywhere. It was the last, like, good waterfowl season in Colorado. We definitely all I could have shot, and we could have all four had limits. Like, of ducks and geese, there were that many birds around.

Erin Crider:

We were so excited. I brought champagne, and I made elk stew the night before, and I brought that. Three hours, I drove this elk stew in my plugged in Crock Pot in my truck. You know, big deal. Just to have the landowner decide, I'm gonna hunt it today Yeah.

Erin Crider:

At shooting line. Nice. And what could I say? Right? Yeah.

Erin Crider:

So I email the club, and I'm like, hey. Actually, the guy he was, like, calling me. He was, like, also telling me, hey. The landowner's coming. Y'all need to move.

Erin Crider:

And I'm like, I paid you for this in July. Yeah. Not only did I pay him, but I paid him almost double because it's opening day of the split, and I booked it. As women plan, I booked it in July. I have never gotten such a rude email that I still have from the owner of this business who swore up and down how much he loved to get women into the outdoors.

Erin Crider:

And that is really sad. And Yeah. Now, like, he had he was new business owner too. Right? And I see them at booths or at, like, different expos.

Erin Crider:

They have their booths. Sometimes our booth is near theirs, which is fine. But now my guides, because I'm a bigger organization. Right? Now they're talking to my guides.

Erin Crider:

Oh, book us. Book us. And my guides are like, oh my god. There's this great company. We should totally book them.

Erin Crider:

And I'm like, if you know what mascara running looks like or how quickly it freezes, opening day of the split. But if you're ready for so, like, that was a new guide thing. Didn't know the landowner from Adam. Never talked to him. Right?

Erin Crider:

Didn't really know this guide service or, like, the the day lease service. Thought I did. Right? Like, they kinda read me what I wanted to hear, but it's the same in my mind as what I see in the women of waterfowl Facebook group that I run with another gal, and like, we're when you post your hunt in there, it's like, put the link. Like, we wanna see the link.

Erin Crider:

What is the website? Like, let women do their due diligence. And then girls get really upset when I just delete it. I'm like, well, you didn't read the group girls. Yeah.

Erin Crider:

I put that in there. Right? And they're just like, why? I have been working with so and so via this nonprofit for I don't know how many years, and I am, you know, this very awesome influencer just like SendingIt, and I'm like, well, why doesn't the Outfitter have a website? Hot red flag.

Erin Crider:

The outfitter doesn't I don't this could be someone's uncle. Anyways, the more sheriff's reports that I get sent from girls being assaulted by different guides and outfitters around the country, And ladies, we believe you. You don't have to send me the sheriff's report. If you say you were assaulted, I'm I'm not gonna be the, like, the girl that's like, really? Where you what were you wearing?

Erin Crider:

Because that doesn't make doesn't make sense. She didn't ask for that. Right? But I just look at some of these women, not in the face, obviously, so I'm on my phone, and I'm just like, I don't know whose property you're on. How do you know if it's not uncle so and so who just got out of prison and they've got so and so's cousin?

Erin Crider:

Like, right now, America is going through like a trust problem. Right? It's an outbreak of people not having trust in each other, and I'm there. I'm there. I'm like, if I don't get to personally meet this landowner with the trauma that I've been through and I don't get to be able to have their contact information, I'm not hunting their property.

Erin Crider:

Yeah. For sure. Unless, like, unless you're in, like, your situation, Kelly, where you worked with your landowners for a long time. Talk about that. Like, give me some green flags.

Kelly Godfrey:

So we've started so now that I I'm trying to remember where we're at, but

Erin Crider:

The landowners you work with and how you develop those relationships year after year.

Kelly Godfrey:

So where I started was, you know, I'd meet them in person, talk to them, go hunt with them myself or, you know, have a good good rapport when I go visit with them or whatever now. Some have been fantastic. We have quite a few now that we've used every year. We go let's see. Now we're on like our fifth season, fourth season Yeah.

Kelly Godfrey:

You are. Most of which is awesome.

Erin Crider:

Yeah. And Business owners don't make it that long. No. Like, it's usually one, two years, and then you're in a male dominated industry as a woman. And you're five?

Erin Crider:

Not

Kelly Godfrey:

easy. Yeah. Well Girlfriends for in August, we hit four. This August will be five. But, you know, hospitality too is a huge thing.

Kelly Godfrey:

Like, if we're gonna show up and I mean, you can't always you know, the animals don't always work like you want or you might not see anything, you know, depending on weather, whatever is going on in the world. Texas is notorious for being 94 degrees one day and then 55 the next day. I mean, animals, you know, don't tend to move like that. They either, you know, want it a certain way or you'll see more movement during different times. And Especially when you're

Erin Crider:

booking, you know, year out. Like, I've got girls booked in May for fly fishing stuff. I have no idea what the conditions are gonna be. It could snow. So you gotta go for something

Kelly Godfrey:

else. For everything. Yeah. And but, again, so hospitality is everything. As long as the the owner's there and the guides are there and they've been, you know, telling us, you know, trying to keep everything.

Kelly Godfrey:

I lost my train of thought. Sorry.

Erin Crider:

Perimenopause, welcome. Yeah. You had kids, so your your hormones are probably working or mine are like, my adrenal glands are like, nope. But year after year, you work with a lot of the same outfitters, and I'm gonna guess you were saying that some of them didn't work out.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah. So I mean, obviously, we don't go back. Back to the hospitality. So where I'm at with that is even if the birds don't fly or that kind of thing, as long as you make us feel welcome, seen, heard, you know, give us the time that we need to to to work through whatever it is. You know, women are a little different than men, obviously, and, you know, we want time to take everything in.

Kelly Godfrey:

We wanna we have emotions. So I always try, you know, remind men like we're a a group of women and it's like herding cats sometimes. You know, we like to sit there and chatter and talk with each other. So if you need us here at a certain time, make sure you tell me ahead of time so I could get them, you know, the group ahead of time here and then we'll be there on time.

Erin Crider:

Yeah.

Kelly Godfrey:

But yeah. The main thing is hospitality, you know, having good lodging, having a safe place. Oh, that was the other thing I was gonna talk about too earlier. You had mentioned, you know, hunting with a different group versus your own. I always ask to, like, make sure you tell them you just wanna hunt with your women only and your group only, and that's with lodging as well because there's some lodges out there that will cram in men and women in the same area.

Kelly Godfrey:

And we either rent the whole place out or Oh, as a group. Yeah. Or we'll make sure that, like, our women will have their own rooms. So at least at night, you know, you can shut the door. You have your own bathroom.

Kelly Godfrey:

You have your own beds, that kind of thing. And you're not sharing that space with other women or other men. Sorry.

Erin Crider:

Right. Right. Which a lot of people

Kelly Godfrey:

Those are

Erin Crider:

always not comfortable with. I'm one of those people.

Kelly Godfrey:

Don't Yeah. Don't assume that because you sign up, you're gonna get your own space. You always need to ask those questions.

Erin Crider:

Mhmm. Because it's hard as, like, the host of the trip, right, which is really hard job. It's a hard job. These influencers that are doing a fantastic job at it, let me tell you, it is not easy. They make it look easy.

Erin Crider:

But to keep, like, the toxic masculinity of filling limits every time in all the talk from migrating over to your women's group that is brand new hunters. Right? Like, they're just learning. And now they have this expectation of getting a limit of birds when it's 70 degrees outside. It it crossed over.

Erin Crider:

And then the women are like, you know what? That I didn't get my limit. Like, I'm out. Right?

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah.

Erin Crider:

And we will all suffer, and conservation will suffer if we don't keep women addicted to buying hunting and fishing licenses and duck stamps. Just found my duck stamp from last year. And while we're on that note, we did wanna throw out there, Kelly and I are here to empower women. When we we have both seen women tear each other down, and let me just tell y'all, when one woman makes one other woman look bad, we all look bad. We all look bad.

Erin Crider:

So don't be that gal. We're not trying to be that gal. We wanna empower women to get out there. We wanna really tell you how to be a great camp host. It's really important.

Erin Crider:

What you're doing is important, but you gotta do it the right way. Yeah. And that's expensive.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yep. Yep.

Erin Crider:

Okay. What's the next point I have on here? Price point. We kinda talked about talked about Yeah.

Kelly Godfrey:

We did a little bit on that one.

Erin Crider:

Yeah. Like And I I was

Kelly Godfrey:

just gonna add too, like you said, Colorado's a lot more expensive. Texas Yes. It's you could probably find a good hunt anywhere from $2.50 depending on if you want lodging and food involved or you just drive in to like Dang. More than that. Like, some turkey hunts go for like $152,500 dollars nowadays.

Kelly Godfrey:

Like, it's so it just depends on lodging, guides fees, land fees, food, all that stuff. So I mean, it's it's kind of across the board as far as prices. I know with our organization because we have these great partnerships that we work with and they know what we're doing and what you know, a lot of times we bring in our own people that guide, so it keeps the cost down as well, so that helps too. And That's what I do. We're able to to make them lower, you know, like 400, 500, $600.

Kelly Godfrey:

So Yeah.

Erin Crider:

Keep that affordable too. Texas gals. You're not trying to get, you know, people from out of state, really

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah.

Erin Crider:

To to learn about Texas culture. You want Yeah. The Texas community to find someone to go camping with over COVID. Right. You know?

Kelly Godfrey:

Yes. And Texas is 95% privately owned land. So in order to go and enjoy these places and, you know, find where the birds are like down the marsh or whatever, you have to go through an outfitter or landowner of some sort. There's extra cost involved there too, you know. So just keep that in mind.

Erin Crider:

Yeah. I would also say like that is almost like what I was paying. Like, I was paying for access. Right? Mhmm.

Erin Crider:

Yep. To the properties. Now we mainly guide on public land. And when I say guide, we're attempting to take wildlife. It's classes.

Erin Crider:

Right? Where the other outfitters, especially fly fishing, they get so mad at me individually and they watch my Instagram story, and then I see the fly shop on there and I see them not being real happy. And I'm like, y'all, I asked all of y'all if you won a win women's program, and the answer was no. And then when I did it, you were like, well, you'll never get permits. And then I was like, here's my permits.

Erin Crider:

Yay. I did it. It was a back like, a front and back piece of paper. Like, don't tell this Irish little short gal, Aquarian. No.

Erin Crider:

Like, she's gonna take her her idea and turn it into a business. You know? Right. I probably just needed a hug, But, yeah, the access to not have to, like, run a website and pay for insurance and the permits and filing tax returns in the different states and paying workers' comp and employment, paying QuickBooks $3,000 per year just to pay your Everything

Kelly Godfrey:

costs money and time is money too. Like, I spend so much time away from my family and and that kind of thing too. And, you know, I make time for them as well, but, you know, some people don't realize that.

Erin Crider:

Yeah. How much work.

Kelly Godfrey:

How much work and time and we do our research, you know, there's still sometimes things that happen that are just out of our control because, you know, obviously we can't run it ourselves because we have to go through the Outfitters or whatnot or we have to take a group to public land, which who knows what you're gonna get on public land out here in Texas.

Erin Crider:

Probably some needles.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah. You just never know.

Erin Crider:

There's some of that in our in our public land for sure.

Kelly Godfrey:

So we're always like, you know, making sure all of our t's are crossed and our i's are dotted. We do the best we can with what we can, you know, control with what we can. So

Erin Crider:

And setting it to like a price that you know you would have paid sitting in their spot. That's what we always do. We

Kelly Godfrey:

try and keep in our mind that, you know, there's single moms, you know, women with one income like my family. That was the thing for me when I got started was my husband, he's the sole provider of our family. So when I went out to find things to do, it had to be affordable and I had to like save up. But I also realized too, is it's also considered like an investment because you're investing your time, you're investing, you know, time away from your family, but you also wanna get these good things out of it, you know, as you go as you do the things. So education, the conservation like we were talking about, and just getting some experience from other women is always, you know, my biggest thing too.

Erin Crider:

Yep. Like, you're mission driven versus, like, just photos. Mhmm.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah. We're not I don't we're not there just for the photos. We're there for the memories, the time. Every time I go on and do one of these or host one of these events or, you know, meet different women across wherever we're at, I take home way more than what I brought there. So and a lot of times it's not harvesting birds or animals because to me that's a bonus.

Erin Crider:

Mhmm. It like fills your cup.

Kelly Godfrey:

It does. It really does.

Erin Crider:

Me too.

Kelly Godfrey:

I enjoy it.

Erin Crider:

I took two gals on a grouse hunt on public land, and this is where the outfitters get mad at me. Those things are, like, I don't know, thousand dollars. I pay I I was charging, like, $1.50. Because I knew my clients would want like, they would be like, okay. I will pay that.

Erin Crider:

But I also don't have to put them on grouse. Right? Like, I'm trying and grouse is like a forest chicken, by the way. It's a chicken that lives in the woods, and they taste delicious. But you upland hunt for them, so you're wearing orange, got a shotgun, you could be a brand new hunter.

Erin Crider:

It's like low barrier to entry. Right? Took them on to public land, and we got into the grouse. And then they went together several days later. How That's what it's about.

Kelly Godfrey:

You know? I told some girls That's what this last weekend that were at our one of our hunts. I was like, I've noticed y'all hang out outside of Texas Woman's Outdoors, and I think that's great because they met at one of our events. They realized they live somewhat close to each other, and they now do stuff. And I'm like, that's the whole point of this.

Kelly Godfrey:

Like, meet women and find friends. Like, now you have friends all across Texas or wherever.

Erin Crider:

Yeah. Definitely. And that's the community we're trying to create because women are the fastest demographic to drop out of the outdoors because Mhmm. Kids, divorce, marriage, taking care of parents, being deployed, having to move because of deployment, funds, just having a bad year. Like, women are not only taking care of kids, but also expected to have a full time job in many places.

Erin Crider:

That's Oh, yeah. I think that's three jobs total.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Mama mini hats.

Erin Crider:

And let's just hope you marry an emotionally mature man. Right? Maybe this is a good time to take a break. If you are listening and you have other green flags that you look for as someone that books hunts, to learn or to be a tourist in that state and experience that conservation effort, drop them in the comments. What are your green flags?

Erin Crider:

Alright. Welcome back to the DUSN podcast. Kelly Kelly Godfrey and I are talking today about red flags, green flags of things to watch out for when you're booking your outfitter or booking your women's hunt, booking your camping trip through women's organizations or Facebook group or influencers. What should you be looking for? How much should you pay?

Erin Crider:

And our next topic is, is this a legal operation, group of friends, or, like, a vetted influencer? So I've seen things in several different areas. And, again, we're not trying to make women look bad. When one woman makes or says bad things about another in the outdoor industry, it makes us all look bad. So keep that in mind as we go through this.

Erin Crider:

But is this a legal operation, and is it a group of friends? So I have never booked an outfitter that like, personally, that I tried to fill with, like, random people, but I know it it definitely happens. Right? Like, I have a feeling, and you may have the same feeling, that some of these, like, Alaska harlequin duck hunts or Alaska caribou trips or, like, the really expensive stuff. And I I just smell this because they're in my DMs too.

Erin Crider:

Right? They're like, hey. Bring out a group of gals, and you get to go for free. And you have to fill the blind. Those.

Erin Crider:

Yep. And I mean, like Costa Rica and Patagonia, I'm like, these gotta be scammers. Right? But some of them are definitely real. And I'm like, oh, I'm so sorry.

Erin Crider:

I'm not going to just fly out there.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah.

Erin Crider:

And bring women with me when I've never met you. Red flag.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yep.

Erin Crider:

However, I did go to Alaska to vet. I was gonna do a cast and blast in Alaska. It was probably just gonna be I don't know what it was gonna be. But I flew out there and I saw the lodge, and it was okay. It was, like, affordable.

Erin Crider:

Right? Like, I like to camp, so it wasn't it had walls and running water and heat. Like, it was fine. It had a commissary area. You could bring bring and prep your own food, which clearly women are about.

Erin Crider:

Like, I would rather save the money on a chef and cook myself, right, when I wanted it. Same. Right? I don't want someone's, like, three year old buck deer that's been, you know, freeze dried or frozen

Kelly Godfrey:

Oh, man.

Erin Crider:

You know, for lunch. I don't mind going stopping at the grocery store and, like, picking something up. And they had cameras in the room. What? My husband came with me and, you know, the owners chatting me up.

Erin Crider:

Right? Chatting me up. And my husband comes back and he's like, alright. Time to go. We're leaving.

Erin Crider:

And I was like, oh, wait a second. You know, he's telling me no. That's like warning. Right? I'm like, okay.

Erin Crider:

And so he's like, so you can walk in the back. There's cameras pointed in the bedrooms. And I was like,

Kelly Godfrey:

oh, right.

Erin Crider:

Like, let's go. You know? Like, ladies, these places exist. They have Yeah. Really great followings.

Kelly Godfrey:

They have

Erin Crider:

straps of ducks. They've got king salmon. They've got all the things, including videos in your bedroom. That's creepy. So, like, influencers, gals that are putting together events, You know how hard you would get sued by me if I found out I was being recorded at your event?

Erin Crider:

Pretty hard.

Kelly Godfrey:

Crazy.

Erin Crider:

So, like, it's a very serious thing. So if you're gonna just lollygag and be like, oh, yeah. We're gonna go to Alaska, and I've never done this before, and you've never been there, y'all get on a plane, spend the money because a lawsuit is a lot like, to sue someone, it costs like a $100 Mhmm. Just to get started and go through all the discovery and things like that. So, like, please let it be known.

Erin Crider:

And they're still in operation. Reported They're still in operation. So just know that that exists.

Kelly Godfrey:

So Yeah.

Erin Crider:

Camp hosts, influencers, gals that are new to the outdoor space that think, oh my gosh. This is gonna be so great because I'm naive about what men do to women in the outdoors in the middle of nowhere at four in the morning in a boat on a raging river. Just know that that's on you, you better have an LLC to protect yourself. And if you're a nonprofit, it doesn't matter. Yeah.

Erin Crider:

It does not matter. You need to protect yourself. And it could be as something as simple as like calling up your homeowners insurance and seeing what they've got, You know?

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah.

Erin Crider:

Because you don't wanna be in that situation, and nobody wants to see a woman in that situation, at least no one I hang out with.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah.

Erin Crider:

And I'm so I'm vetting people for things like that. So I've never booked an outfitter outside of Colorado. I've never booked an outfitter and run them through my business. Like, we are the outfitter. If I'm gonna hire somebody, I'm just gonna, like, get a group of friends and be like, do guys wanna do this?

Erin Crider:

I have to put down, like, a $4,000 deposit. Are you in or not? Right? Give me the money before I book them. And by the way, it's in a year.

Erin Crider:

You know? Who knows what the weather could be like? But we're going, and we're definitely not canceling. And so that's another thing, canceled trips. That really gets under my skin.

Erin Crider:

When I was learning how to fly fish, I did track down a woman. She, like, built her own rods and sold them. And she was like, hey. I'm putting on a free clinic, aka please buy my rod. Right?

Erin Crider:

And I was probably gonna buy a rod anyway. She's a woman. She seemed friendly. She's got kids like you do, Kelly. It just seemed inviting.

Erin Crider:

So I sign up, and I catch my, like, I don't know, second fish, but first fish correctly, like, just explaining all of the things. But she almost canceled because I was the only one to sign up, and it was, like, two and a half hours. It's probably three hours for her that day. I was the only one that signed up. She didn't cancel on me.

Erin Crider:

You know? And here here I am, the only female outfitter in Yep. All of North America. Please tell me that that's not true. Drop them in the comments if there's another female outfitter in North America.

Erin Crider:

Surely, there's some in Alaska. 25% of hunting and fishing licenses go to women in Alaska. 10 here in Colorado. One or 2% in the nation. So it's we're small.

Erin Crider:

Hopefully, there's gonna be more. But just know that when you're booking your trip, how did it come about? Did it end up in some random girl's DMs, and she was like, yeah. I'm gonna go do this. Kelly, I don't know if you've seen some of these platforms coming out with influencers.

Erin Crider:

Like, they aren't the business minded side, but they're the best camp host, retreat host ever, but they can work with these other platforms and be insured or, like, the guides have been vetted through that outfitter. They fill the the trips for them.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah. I haven't seen that yet.

Erin Crider:

Yeah. It's it's like a big thing in backpacking here in the West because those permits for just hiking are really hard to get because you don't make any money. Right? Okay. The National Forest wants to give permits to those big elk hunters.

Erin Crider:

Right? Like, $10 a client. I think I saw one for, like, 13 or $12.05 here recently too for a big bull. Yeah. That's a tourist thing.

Erin Crider:

Right? Like, I'll never be able to charge people something like that. Yeah. At least that's not in my dream plan. But there are platforms you can go through now.

Erin Crider:

So going to a Facebook group and finding a random woman who has zero experience or let me tell you, I think this is my fifth year guiding. Right? I think it took two full years as an owner doing this full time to really understand how women learn and what they want and studying that professionally. Yes. Like, before this career, my last chapter was I built mainly widows, but women's financial plans, and all I did was listen to them and and fulfill their dreams if I could, like, make things happen.

Erin Crider:

So I already had that part down. So seeing, like, a random bear hunt that's, like, I don't know, a thousand dollars, that's not how much bear hunts cost. Like, Google it for the area. But the mentality that Kelly and I are trying to warn you about is, like, why are bear hunts actually normally, like, $5.07, 10,000, and this girl's bear hunt is a thousand? Yeah.

Erin Crider:

Hot red flag.

Kelly Godfrey:

It is waving hard. Definitely do your research.

Erin Crider:

Yeah. Like, there's something going on Mhmm. With that situation. Yeah. So those are those are all the things about different ways.

Erin Crider:

The other thing that I see that I'm not, like, against, because I I get it. It has to be done. But sometimes waterfowl folks specifically is what I see. Camp post or, like, the girl putting together the event and filling it. Right?

Erin Crider:

So she is filling the guide's books. Guides love that. They don't have to market as much. Right? They want women's photos.

Erin Crider:

Then they post them for, like, an entire month straight, and you see them for multiple years aft just so you know, you gotta tell people if you don't want your face on their social media, yes. You could take my photo. Please don't post it. That's totally cool. Weren't they gonna say no?

Kelly Godfrey:

Like We have a waiver too. Yeah. Waiver. We have a checkbox that says, do do you mind if we share? And they can check it or not.

Erin Crider:

Yeah. We're always at like, I hire photographers, and I'm like, you have to ask people. And because we do have people. Like, we've got air force bases here and a lot of military, and they aren't on social media. But I'm trying to advertise things.

Erin Crider:

Right? Like, this is what it looks like. So those are that's yeah. Pictures. But maybe the camp post or whoever's putting it together have a realization or even ask.

Erin Crider:

Right? Like, it's all about transparency. Are you going for free and upcharging the other seats to make up for the money, and that's why it's, I don't know, a 100 to $500 more expensive for us than it is for, like, on their website? Yeah. There's nothing wrong with that.

Erin Crider:

Right? I feel like it's a niche. I will pay that. I will pay extra money to not be mansplained

Kelly Godfrey:

Right.

Erin Crider:

Because it's not gonna go well for them. And then I'm triggered. Right? I'm really trying not to be triggered on this podcast today because it's hitting all of, like, my traumas and sensitive things, but it's so important because I don't want women to go through what I've gone through. I'm like, please help me save you.

Erin Crider:

And what what I've seen, like, come through my DMs, trying to manage groups and things like that. But, yeah, I'm okay with paying a little bit extra money. It's a niche thing. I'm into it. Yep.

Erin Crider:

You know? For sure. It's a hobby. It's not a right, unfortunately.

Kelly Godfrey:

Don't mind if women wanna reach out to me too and just ask, like, hey. Have you used this person or not? Like, what do you recommend? Because like I said, we've been doing this for what? Four, five years.

Kelly Godfrey:

So we kinda see the goods and, you know, the good ones.

Erin Crider:

Yeah. Like my When I put on an event for the first year, right, it's never as good as this second time around. Because when I'm sitting at the campfire with my people, I'm like, tell me what you hated.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah. Tell me what you loved. Yes.

Erin Crider:

You know, what it what what would you have really done? Like, what Yep. Would you have done different if it were me? Mhmm. And then how much would you pay?

Erin Crider:

And Yes. Unfortunately, most of the time, girls are like, you are not charging enough money. I'm like, okay. Well, no one's out there doing this where I can just, like, compare my business model to somebody else's. Right.

Erin Crider:

So I'm just like

Kelly Godfrey:

too. Yeah.

Erin Crider:

Okay. How many hours is minimum wage? And I build that in. That's how I get to my pricing model.

Kelly Godfrey:

See, Texas is so low. I think it's, what, $7.25 still. Like, it's crazy. Yeah.

Erin Crider:

Oh my gosh.

Kelly Godfrey:

No. I think ours is, like

Erin Crider:

I think last year was, like, 14 something. It's, like, $15 an hour now.

Kelly Godfrey:

But we have we have a survey too. We're actually about to send one out. We try and send one out to everybody like once a year and just get feedback.

Erin Crider:

I need to

Kelly Godfrey:

learn Yeah. That from What are we looking for? What do you wanna see new? What is your price range? Where are you located?

Kelly Godfrey:

Because that's a big thing too with Texas. Texas is huge. Mhmm. So we try and, you know, put events in different areas. Of course, you know, again, Texas is huge.

Kelly Godfrey:

So sometimes you have to drive to where the the birds are or where the animals are that we're focusing on, you know, the target or, you know, fishing trip. You you know, depending on freshwater or offshore, you gotta drive. I mean Mhmm. A drive for me, like, I'll drive from my house to South Texas, Southeast Texas where I'll duck hunt a lot and Winnie with this outfitter that we just fell in love with when we first started. We hunt the marsh there, and I'll drive five and a half, six hours just to hunt ducks because I know it's a great time and, you know, depending on Gentleman there.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah. The gentlemen are there. Yeah. They're very nice. We used

Erin Crider:

send them to Colorado. Like, Yes. We have one person in water.

Kelly Godfrey:

Love having a group there. They love that we're bringing in new women. They love, you know, that we're teaching. We'll even, you know, show them how to breast out a duck or whatever. We'll talk to them about, you know, all the things.

Kelly Godfrey:

They Feathers

Erin Crider:

for grass.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yes. Yes.

Erin Crider:

I have a duck foot ornament, Kelly. Look. It is rose gold with witch and feathers attached to it. It hangs on my wreath every year. That's so cool.

Erin Crider:

It's it's nice to know you have, a waterfowl and community that's behind you where I feel I feel, and this so it's not wrong, that the waterfowl community in Colorado is the opposite. In Wyoming, lots more like, Wyoming is like, oh, yeah. You just you're born with the shotgun. Yeah. Get in here.

Erin Crider:

Yeah. Right? Like, get in here. Okay. You take the next shot.

Erin Crider:

Colorado, we have 1% water. It is I have had shotguns pointed in my face on Thanksgiving Day. Oh, wow. Yeah. And they're like 17.

Erin Crider:

I'm like, I will fold you in half with my rage of of hormones right now. Like, don't even play with me, child. You know? Then you gotta go the sheriff and then, you know, and it's just like, you don't know whose life you're ruining just because they wanted your duck hunting spot. Come on.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah. I hear that a lot here in Texas with the public land because there there is not that much. And so Yeah. I've personally never hunted public land here just because I've heard just so many horror stories because Don't wanna be in that. Again, there's not enough to share and everybody's stacked in there and, you know, fights happen and all that stuff.

Kelly Godfrey:

So

Erin Crider:

because we don't trust each other.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah. Because

Erin Crider:

no one's teaching etiquette anymore, it seems like. Right. Like, oh, grandpa raised him right. Really? Because was grandpa throwing fists like that?

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah.

Erin Crider:

Or were there just not as many hunters or was there just not as much public land? Something changed in every state. And, I mean, I when I see women at my trailhead, I turn in to like a middle school boy. I'm like, oh my god. Girls.

Erin Crider:

Girls. Yes. And, like, whoever I'm with is just like, oh my god. She's doing it again. And I'm like, you know, like,

Kelly Godfrey:

hi. Yes. I know.

Erin Crider:

Because I'm like, they're they're out here. They're voting for it. They are comp like, putting money into the Colorado system to buy their hunting and fishing license because they care. And that tag represents an opportunity. It represents Mhmm.

Erin Crider:

Going out with girlfriends and just like, I don't know, maybe you're just bird watching instead of balk watching. Yeah. Like I do.

Kelly Godfrey:

I love the fact that like some of our mentored hunts that we've done, you know, we've taught them and either they borrowed a rifle from somebody or they borrowed one from, you know, somebody within our organization or whatever, and they have now bought their own and, you know, doing their own thing and going to different places and harvesting animals. Like, I just I love it. I love seeing it and love when ladies share all that too.

Erin Crider:

So how do you vet a good host? So if you go to the women of waterfowl Facebook group, I'm just gonna keep using that one as a Yeah. And because it's it's not no one owns it. Right? It's just they.

Erin Crider:

Right. If you see someone post a hunt in, like, their flyer and maybe their flyer doesn't have, like, all of the information on it, but, like, what what are you looking for? If you're interested in that hunt, what's your next step? Are you clicking on her profile?

Kelly Godfrey:

Probably do some Facebook stalking. Yeah. I'm an FBI agent. I do some Facebook stalking. I'm not gonna lie.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah. Always look at the the outfitter they're using because the majority of them except for you, the the only female guides that I know are you, and I think there's one other one up north somewhere, but I Some in the

Erin Crider:

Midwest, I think.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah. Midwest. Mhmm. So, you know, always looking at that and just seeing what their face or the website says, you know, obviously, Westside.

Erin Crider:

There's Lauren Taunty in New York. Oh, yeah. A guide.

Kelly Godfrey:

She's officially a guide now. That's right. I remember that now. So there's very few out there, so definitely look into it.

Erin Crider:

I will tell you. Would say if they're

Kelly Godfrey:

all in, they're legit. Like you're saying, website's always good. Yeah. Facebook and and and just, you know, send them a message. Say, hey.

Kelly Godfrey:

You know, and ask them some questions. They're gonna be, you know, answering those too just to kinda build your trust, I guess, is the word I'm looking for.

Erin Crider:

The trust factor.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yes. The trust.

Erin Crider:

Like Yeah. I would for sure follow someone for several months or Yeah. Even go back, like, what did last year's Yeah. Fly fishing group look like? Like, what did they do it last year?

Erin Crider:

Who went I

Kelly Godfrey:

heard that from several women. They'll follow our organization for like a year or two and they're like, this is my first event. I'm like, can you follow this for that long? They're like, yeah. We wanna make sure you're real and you're not going nowhere.

Erin Crider:

And I'm like, awesome. Like Yeah. I wanna

Kelly Godfrey:

like, it and that these are things I learned along the way. Like, been doing this for four years, going on five years. Like, there's so much that women look for, and I've learned that myself because, you know, again, it's all new and we're growing like crazy and just trying to do the best that we can and keep on going and keep empowering women.

Erin Crider:

Yeah. And, Kelly, I see you as, like, just paving the way for women in Texas to, like, find the right things and try and close the wage gap a bit in the outdoor world. I'm trying to do the same and, like, give warnings to people too. Like, oh. So I work with them.

Erin Crider:

I'm obviously not gonna do it on a national podcast, but I'm like, oh, I worked with them. Wouldn't do that because you'll be praying before every hunt, and not every client wants to pray before every hunt, and I am one of those clients. Yep. And it's just different. Right?

Erin Crider:

Like Mhmm. So if I go to your Instagram. Right? Because that's mainly what I'm looking at. Like, I see that you have kids.

Erin Crider:

Right? That's something you're definitely gonna be talking about in the blind. So if I'm a woman who has kids, we have symmetry. I love the breast cancer awareness thing that you put in your hair for your daughter's first haircut. You posted about that.

Erin Crider:

Like, I connect with that because you're Yes. Supporting women in the outdoors. Mhmm. Green flag. You know?

Erin Crider:

Yes. None of your I'm like, okay. Cool. She's into archery. Here's another thing I look for.

Erin Crider:

You got a lot of food on here, girl. You got a lot of wild game on here. We eat well. Yeah. So you're not, like, hunting for antlers.

Erin Crider:

I'm not hunting for antlers. That's symmetry with me. Right? Mhmm. I see that you're mission driven.

Erin Crider:

Yes. You're about conservation and education. Great. I'm gonna learn something. And I've kinda, like, given up TV at this point since COVID.

Erin Crider:

So I'll my brain like TV. My brain is hungry for knowledge like this because I starve it for just like, you know, I'm not someone that's just gonna follow, like, look at Instagram reels constantly. I just my brain look at my bookshelf. I had to take half of them downstairs. Like, my brain wants knowledge, and I see that.

Erin Crider:

So, like, that symmetry. Red flags, you don't have any. I would tell you, oh my god, girl, you need to take that down. Red flags I look for are signs of, like, trophy hunting means something different here in Colorado. Right?

Erin Crider:

And this is to me. I don't I'm not I'm a new big game hunter. I don't know if I could pull the trigger on a big bull elk. I don't know. I just got my dove I got my first backcountry buck last year.

Erin Crider:

Like, that's where I'm at. Right? Yeah. That's And so when I'm scrolling through and I see, like, African safari, I don't understand that.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah.

Erin Crider:

Like, I don't I don't I haven't looked it up. I can't hate on it because I don't know anything about it. But Nope. That's, like, gonna be a turnoff for me because I have not been educated on how, like, how many zebras are where and where that food goes because you can't bring it back here. But you're eating yours, but you have to do here in the West where you get a ticket.

Erin Crider:

Yeah. And definitely no laughing matter, but, like, like, I recently just I didn't think about it, but recently I posted, like, my favorite cookbooks. I usually try and post the delicious food my husband makes for me because I had to I had to get he was, like, by himself. Also, he's like the bodybuilder builder lifestyle. Right?

Erin Crider:

So Oh. He wants to cook his own food anyways. Nice. But he is a good man. He last year, he was like, do not bring any more deer home.

Erin Crider:

Because we like to I like to process the vet homes. We do

Kelly Godfrey:

ours too. Yeah.

Erin Crider:

And, like, seeing that would be cool. Mhmm. Red flags. If I see them oppressing women, I'm out. Or other minority groups, I'm out.

Erin Crider:

Yeah. Absolutely not. I cannot sit in a blind or be on a trip with a woman who does not believe in my voting rights or my right to own a business. Not gonna happen. Because I'm gonna support her with whatever she wants to do except that because that actually is contradictory and doesn't let you let live her lifestyle.

Erin Crider:

Right? Like, you do you, but, like, I'm not going on your trip because this is my time. This is my time, and I wanna spend it with people that are positive. Oh my gosh. Know you

Kelly Godfrey:

and I have

Erin Crider:

seen this. Seeing somebody post, like, this is a drama free zone. Girl, if you have to say this is a drama free zone, you are the drama. Like, healed women are not gonna be like, well, you know, it's just this is supposed to be a place of compassion. That's how we keep women in the outdoors.

Erin Crider:

For sure. People are gonna mess up. People aren't

Kelly Godfrey:

gonna like, they're That's everyday life. If you can't mess up and then learn and grow from it, you're doing this for the wrong reasons anyways. Yeah. Especially running a business, doing anything. And and I always tell ladies too, you start, everybody starts somewhere.

Kelly Godfrey:

So Mhmm. However that may look or be, like, don't don't feel bad about it and don't get angry about it. Like, use that as positive and learning. It's all a learning experience. I'm learning stuff every day.

Erin Crider:

Don't know how to do everything. Yes. Keep just saying students of nature because

Kelly Godfrey:

And open mindedness is a huge thing too. Yes. You've gotta be open minded. And if you're not,

Erin Crider:

this is If you're like, I am really set. Like, I'm from the Midwest. Right? Like, people are really set in what they grew up doing, and they do zero research outside of that. And I just don't like, we moved to Colorado because I just

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah. I can't. I can't. Yep. There's so I love learning different ways.

Kelly Godfrey:

Like, even our doe hunts, we just did two weekends in a row, and we taught ladies how to fill dress animals, like, up or feet up. And so then it was like, okay. Who's more comfortable this way? Who's more comfortable that way? Because that's one of the things I like to teach too is like, you'll learn so many different ways to get to one

Erin Crider:

Green flag.

Kelly Godfrey:

One way. Yeah. And then you're gonna take all these different ways and you're gonna figure out what works best for you as a person. And so that's where, you know, we wanna teach all the different ways or say, you know, you might see this this way here, but when you go somewhere else down the road, you're gonna see it a whole different way.

Erin Crider:

Yeah. Like uncle the way uncle Buck hunts Yes. Doesn't necessarily have to be the way that you hunt. Right. You cannot shoot animals from a truck here in Colorado.

Erin Crider:

Yeah. No. Other hunters will also haul you to jail. Yes. Where in Texas, like, lot of the Midwesterners that I get that come to Colorado, they're like, oh, I don't hunt because I don't, you know, you know, I don't wanna and I'm like, oh, that's illegal here.

Erin Crider:

Like, it's just different and it's different in every state. So those are other things that I would be looking for as I'm like scrolling through an Instagram, like, okay.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yep.

Erin Crider:

Is that like, my main thing, is this woman going to be an advocate for me if I get lost at the airport?

Kelly Godfrey:

Oh, yeah.

Erin Crider:

What if my gun doesn't come you know, what if it gets lost? Does she have a backup? Like, how how onboard is she really for babysitting for me since she's going for free? Right? Like, what and when we get moms to our camp, believe me, if we don't have to be up at 6AM, I'm like, grossly.

Erin Crider:

Like Yes. There's no one here. Also, if you wanna just start fly fishing at 10AM or the after I'll drive back around and get you, like, sleeping. It's great. No one's here.

Erin Crider:

It's fine. You're just different. Yeah. For sure. Anyways, so that's how I try and vet a good host.

Erin Crider:

I really try and find that symmetry. Like, if they fly fish, I'm like, okay. Cool. But there's a lot of people in fly fishing that I'm like, oh, big fish only? Cool.

Erin Crider:

You know, if it's all like monster, like, you know, here's my, you know, piped up brown trout. I'm like, okay. Well, I really like wild fish in wild places. Yeah. And I will hike very far to go see them.

Erin Crider:

So you just gotta find that symmetry and understand and be reflective on yourself of what you know you are triggered by. And Yeah. Obviously, I run a woman's empowerment. We both do group. If you're gonna, like, say something that the patriarchy would also say because women do mansplain, I'm out, and I'm definitely not paying or tipping or any of that.

Erin Crider:

Like, I'm not I also didn't know tipping was a thing when I got into the like, when I booked my first fly fishing guide. Ladies, you Yeah. It's the same as a restaurant. You pay your 20%. Okay.

Erin Crider:

How did I find the right women's group? Kelly, what's your website address since you're drinking?

Kelly Godfrey:

Texas Women's Outdoors.

Erin Crider:

How do they find you? You're on the Gram. You're on Facebook.

Kelly Godfrey:

So we have a Facebook community group that's private, women only, no men in there whatsoever. And then our Facebook page where everybody can be see that and share it. And then our Instagram is at t w o twenty twenty one outdoors. And then our website is texas womens outdoors dot com, and that's where you can find our story, all about us, our team. We have a great team all about empowering women too, is great to have that support as well.

Kelly Godfrey:

And mission driven women is a huge thing because they're on the same page as I am. And so we look for those kind of women too for our team. And then to register for our events and details, all that's in there. All the details. The details.

Erin Crider:

And you have payment plans.

Kelly Godfrey:

Right? Some do, some don't. It just depends on the event that we're doing. If it's like a more expensive event, we'll break it up into separate, like, deposits. But we generally just do deposits, and then if we need the balance upfront, we'll take that too as it gets closer.

Erin Crider:

Yeah. And some nonprofits and, like, local organizations you can look for would be, like, at archery ranges. There's gonna be some business cards out there. Maybe there's a women's league or something like women's shotgun league too. Local fly shops, local fishing, fish and tackle places may have a a local fishing group, but definitely state wildlife agencies.

Erin Crider:

They for sure are charged with outreach for hunters and anglers. And I know only about thirty thirty two of the 50 states still have women's programs, and they can check the box even if they take one woman out or whatever. But just know that if you're in you might be in one of those states, so you might wanna check that out because that is funded by other people's hunter or hunting and fishing licenses. Yes. So you can go, but you have

Kelly Godfrey:

to qualify. Yeah. Here, it's Texas Parks and Wildlife, and I know TWA has some adult programs too, and then we offer for women. Mhmm. So

Erin Crider:

And you're looking for that advocate in your group that's gonna be the contact. Do you wanna be able to contact them ahead of time? You're looking for that consistency. Does she do this every year? Does she do it every quarter?

Erin Crider:

Does she do this every month? What is it? Does he do it? Do they do it? What is it?

Erin Crider:

If they should have a conservation partnership, that's important. Like, we donate $2,000 and raise $2,000 forecasting for recovery, which is Yep. Women with breast cancer, survivors of breast cancer get to go to one of the nicest we have fly fishing ranches here where they stock the trout in, like, in, like, all this little area, and you get to learn how to go fly fish for them. And they have, like, the oncologists and the nurses and everybody there. So we send one of those gals too.

Erin Crider:

There should be something like that on the website in some area. And, like, influencers that are doing this professionally and doing it really well, they have their own website. Find it. Yeah. Ask them for it.

Erin Crider:

For sure. Maybe they just start bad at being like, I don't know. It's websites. They feel weird selling. There's better be a website if she's really good at it.

Kelly Godfrey:

It'll show they're invested too, don't you think? Yes. Okay.

Erin Crider:

Because they have put money into it just like you and I have. Hot hot red flags. Competition, don't put women in competition. That's not good.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah.

Erin Crider:

No. If they're focused on the clout, you know, that's not great. Yeah. Like, you remember back when we we were in high school and college, it was like the peace signs, which I'm totally bringing back. And clearly, your daughter is beating me at it.

Kelly Godfrey:

She's great.

Erin Crider:

Yeah. And, like, the duck lips, you know, so whatever the modern day version of that is, I'm looking for that because I'm just not I would be in the back like

Kelly Godfrey:

Yeah.

Erin Crider:

Like, take take give it get a picture of me, like, you know, pulling these, like, gutting the deer, like, something cool. You know? Something that's like, my gosh. If she can do it, I can do it. Not the millennial duck lips, whatever the modern day thing is.

Erin Crider:

Maybe your daughter and

Kelly Godfrey:

I should try and

Erin Crider:

bring that back. I'm so out of that loop. We we live in the woods or something weird. But lack of a clear mission. They should have a clear mission.

Erin Crider:

Very clear. And it's not, yeah, let's go get limits of ducks. And if you haven't listened to my last podcast that I recorded with Sarah Fleming from, Ducks Unlimited, we talk about expectations for new hunters and how to hunt the migration and when to hunt the migration. So if you haven't listened to that, you definitely should. But give some love to some women's organizations and gentlemen in the industry in our comments because we do like to see those.

Erin Crider:

And if there's other things you like to see on podcasts like this from Kelly and I, please tell us because we're trying as hard as we can to get more women's organizations legal and safe and in good places where they're sustainable too. Girls are getting paid because there is a lot of turnover because of all the things women have to do in the outdoors.

Kelly Godfrey:

Yep.

Erin Crider:

For sure. We're looking for stability. We want you to have stability. We want conservation to have stability, and that's why we're here. But it only takes one woman to make us all look bad, and you know that if you're actually in and paid by the outdoor industry, you don't want other women to look bad.

Erin Crider:

So No. The negative talk, the, oh, drama, that's all gotta go. You need professionalism. Because if women were thriving in the outdoors, men could have handled it by now. And that's my plug on men for this for this one.

Erin Crider:

We'll see if it gets cut. Alright, Kelly. Anything else you wanna say about your amazing organization?

Kelly Godfrey:

The other thing I love about this is, you know, we bring women in and, you know, women spend the majority time with children. So the more we can teach and educate women, they can teach their children too. And that way, it keeps moving forward later in years.

Erin Crider:

Yeah.

Kelly Godfrey:

And so that's that's a huge thing for us here at Texas Woman's Outdoors too. Like, we love just sharing whatever knowledge it is, and that way women can take it home, share it with their friends, their children, and anybody else, you know, they wanna get outdoors because Mhmm. You know, that's why we're here. We wanna keep this going.

Erin Crider:

Send this podcast to a woman in Texas or a woman in Colorado that you wanna get out hunting and fishing together or just to say that you thought about them. Yes. You know? We're not doing enough of that. Like, I've been sending random texts to my girlfriends.

Erin Crider:

2025 has been hard over here. So random hey. Just thinking about you. Here's a podcast that I I enjoyed and it made me think about you.

Kelly Godfrey:

Right.

Erin Crider:

Send it on away.

Kelly Godfrey:

For sure.

Erin Crider:

Well, thank you so much for your time, Kelly, today. This is so much fun. Again, Kelly and I run a a monthly women's outdoor business group. If you'd like to be a part of it, please let us know because we are trying to tell you all of our pro tips and how we screwed up and how we don't want you to screw up.

Erin Crider:

Yes.

Kelly Godfrey:

I wanna learn more too.

Erin Crider:

Yeah. I need to learn how to put how to send out a survey. I pay enough to Mailchimp. You'd think they'd send it out

Kelly Godfrey:

Put it on our next month list.

Erin Crider:

Yes. It's a project. Yeah. I'll have, like, so many projects in its hunting season, but that's okay. It's totally fine.

Erin Crider:

We're all gonna make it. I could be still on Wall Street here in finance. So well, thank you so much. You can listen to the DU Ascend podcast wherever you listen to podcasts, and we hope you follow along and subscribe.

VO:

Thank you for listening to the Ascend podcast. New every week, the conservation driven podcast one week and our adventure video series the next. Watch the Ascend adventure episodes on the Ducks Unlimited YouTube channel, and be sure to like, share, and subscribe. Opinions expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect those of Ducks Unlimited. Until next time, follow your outdoor story wherever it leads you. Ascend.