Texas Women's Outdoors and Dayton's Biggest Mishaps

Texas leads the nation in dove hunting and barbecue. We also lead the US in the number of women anglers and hunters. Kelly Godfrey with Texas Women's Outdoors joins Nathan this week to talk about turkey hunting and challenges bringing in coyotes. On this week's House Rules segment, Dayton mistakes a mouse for a big hog. The show features outdoor news and great interviews from real hunters across Texas and beyond. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Welcome to Lone Star Trail, a new outdoor show aimed at bringing you hunting and fishing updates and compelling stories from around Texas and right here at home. Get ready to join us down the trail. Now, here's your host, Nathan Smith.

SPEAKER_07 0:22

Hello, friends, and welcome to the Lone Star Trail. I'm Nathan Smith, and I'll be your host today as we learn more about things and people in this great state that we get to call home. Texas leads the nation in several categories like privately owned land and best Mexican food outside of Mexico. We also lead the nation in the number of women who are active anglers and hunters. And here today is our good friend Kelly Godfrey with Texas Women's Outdoors to tell us about everything they have going on, and it does a lot of things. If you're looking for some affordable bay fishing before summer rush gets here, we have the guy for you, and I'll have more on that later. Finally, on house rules today, uh Dayton looks back on some mistakes and mishaps in his more than 30 years as a trapper. All this and more right here, stay tuned. Whether you're looking to buy your next hunting property or have acreage to sell, you need Brian Clark and Ranch Pro Real Estate in your corner. They use the latest in technology to make listings easy for sellers to maximize value. In the market to buy that perfect ranch or hunting getaway, call Ranch Pro Real Estate at 325-642-3630. That's Ranch Pro Real Estate at RanchPro Real Estate.com. The land is their life.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

But remember, nobody's waterproof. Play it safe. Wear a life jacket, designate a driver for the boat, and for a safe ride home. Nobody's waterproof.

SPEAKER_07 2:36

Sponsored by Texas Cards and Wildlife, you're listening to the Lone Star Trail. We're glad you're here. Now let's get back to the show. Welcome back to the show. We have our friend Kelly Godfrey, CEO of Texas Women's Outdoors. She's back on the show today. Hi, Kelly.

SPEAKER_02 3:00

Hi, I'm you.

SPEAKER_07 3:02

I'm great. Thanks for being here.

SPEAKER_02 3:04

Yes, thanks for having me again.

SPEAKER_07 3:05

Yeah, well, you know, it's been a few months since we've have had a chance to catch up. So I'm excited to have you on the show. And and man, you've got so much going on. We've got a lot to talk about. So first up, let's talk about the month of April. We're now in April. Uh April is here. Can't believe it already. But Texas Women's Outdoors has got so many things going on in April. Let's talk about let's talk about that stuff first.

SPEAKER_02 3:31

Um, first thing is our big retreat. We have an annual retreat. We started about three years ago. This year's our third year. Um, we're gonna be in Concan at Neil's Lodges. Um, and we're so excited. We've got a lot of new instructors coming this year. We've got a chef coming this year. We've got some really exciting things coming. Um, Bully Blocker, which is a makeup company, camo makeup, and they do like camo makeup out of Dallas. She's coming. Donna, the founder of that company, her and one of her ladies is gonna come and be at our retreat this year. So that's pretty cool. Super excited to have them there. Plus, all of our instructors from we have handgun um AR stuff to fishing, to fly fishing, to fly tying. We have some antler scoring, we have some homesteading stuff. Um, I'm missing stuff I know. Archery, um, be uh bird cleaning. I'm gonna teach a bird cleaning class. Um, we got a little bit of everything, so it's it's awesome. And we only have two spots left. So they're still trying to register. We got some awesome stuff and super excited.

SPEAKER_07 4:39

And that's April 10th through the 12th in Con Camp.

SPEAKER_02 4:43

Yes, sir. Yep.

SPEAKER_07 4:44

You have been working really hard to get some really cool sponsors for this thing this year. Talk about some of that if you don't mind.

SPEAKER_02 4:51

Yeah, so um every year we look for products, um, you know, to use to have as like either raffle, giveaway items, um, auction. We also do um sponsorships for meals, um, for shirts, um, and also like our swag bags. Every lady will leave with a bag full of goodies, um, some cool things there. So we've so far, I'm trying to think off the top of my head, we have Turtle Box, we have um uh Diligent Defense, we've had um Al Claire Outdoors, which is uh uh ear company that we use, an ear company. Um they do molds and um electric ones that are really cool. L and K Electric, they're out of Comanche, Sage and Stitch, she's out around Fort Worth area, Calco Recon, she's around Justin area. Abbey Farms, um, they are here in Comanche as well. They've um sponsored a meal, Clemens family, they're um around Southwest Texas, and K S Exotics, uh Steve, he is out of Ballinger, and he has donated so much. He's donated our a full a food, um, a meal sponsor, and he made um all the ladies are gonna be going home with home, like handmade by Steve is these um uh cutting boards. And he did he did our um emblem, our logo, and his logo and put TWO retreat, and then he made two big ones that we can use to um raise money for our foundation as well.

SPEAKER_07 6:30

Great.

SPEAKER_02 6:31

Yeah, and he's not a Ballinger.

SPEAKER_07 6:33

You guys do a hunt with him or have done some hunts with him, right?

SPEAKER_02 6:36

Yes, yeah, yes. We usually we've done um some um management deer hunts with him and some exotic hunts with him and a ram hunt with him.

unknown 6:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 6:46

And we're going back this summer to do another just um exotics hunt, and it's ladies' choice, so ladies get to pick whatever they want.

SPEAKER_07 6:55

Wow, that's great. What does he uh what does he have out there? Oh, everything.

SPEAKER_02 7:01

He's got zebra, buffalo, um, black buck, whitetail, uh, odd adles, uh scimitar oryx.

SPEAKER_07 7:12

Neil guy are great to eat. I've had some uh Neil guy, never shot one. That's what I've heard. I've I've had eaten some. I've never I you know a scimitar oryx is on my top of my list. I've I've got a buddy who's got a ranch that I'm like, hey, let's I I would take a management one, you know. Yes kind of a situation.

SPEAKER_08 7:31

But they're definitely on the top.

SPEAKER_07 7:33

I one time in a former life, I helped a guy sort a bunch of scimitar oryx in a shed with shields, and he was like an exotic wildlife broker. And we we got these shields and had to move and sort these cemitar orcs in the dark, you know. Um of course they weren't guarded or, you know, they weren't they were just we ran them in the shed and everything was dark. Well, it was like this time of year, and you know, what moves what starts to move this time of year in Texas, but rattlesnakes. Well, there was three rattlesnakes piled up in the corner of this shed that none of us knew were there. And we worked we worked a hundred and fifteen or twenty of these cemitar orycs around and moved them and sorted them in different pastures, ran through chutes, and we did all that and none of us knew those snakes were in there until we were all done, and then one of them started buzzing. And you talk about it could have been a disaster, a catastrophe, but anyway, that's the that was the first and last time I sorted cinematoporics in the dark in the shed. So anyway.

SPEAKER_02 8:44

Yeah, if they don't feel threatened, they're not gonna buzz around. Yeah, it's crazy how quiet they can be.

SPEAKER_07 8:49

I don't know how they didn't get upset or stirred up, but anyway, God was watching out for us that day, I guess.

SPEAKER_08 8:54

For sure.

SPEAKER_07 8:56

Well, that's great. So you you guys have got tons of of activities coming up. You you talked about the hunt in July in Ballinger. You all also have a turkey hunt coming up the middle part of April in Abilene.

SPEAKER_02 9:08

Yes. Um Cooper is our guide, and we have hunted with him uh I don't know how many times. We've I've known him for over five years now, but um he we're gonna go out to a place he has access to at a a ranch and do some turkey hunting there. All the ladies that went last year, it rained, it was miserable weather, and every single lady last year came home with a turkey. So we're hoping to do the same this year.

SPEAKER_08 9:36

Right.

SPEAKER_02 9:37

But have better weather, better weather would be nice.

SPEAKER_07 9:41

Right. Right. Speaking of turkey, you were able to get a turkey opening weekend, which was last weekend.

SPEAKER_02 9:48

Yes.

SPEAKER_07 9:48

Talk a little bit about uh that experience, if you don't mind.

SPEAKER_02 9:52

Um, it was a lot of work, a lot of persistence, um, a lot of gratitude, a lot of sitting and waiting, and just trying to figure it all out because I'm still new, you know, trying to do all this by myself. And um, I've hunted a lot with my dad, and that was something we did together. But when you try to do all this by yourself, um, it's just a lot of learning every time you step into the woods. And I have not figured out, and I don't know, it's just part of it, but either use a use your call or not use your call or use a decoy, not use a decoy. And then this weekend, when the weather got so cold and then windy, that added more factors, and then it rained on Saturday. My dear lease is um out there in Brownwood, and so we had every weather against us as we could all weekend. But just um trial and error, and finally what I did Sunday when I went back out there is I was went out there about two o'clock, and then it was the wind was blowing so hard, I was just like, you know what? Even if I call, they probably can't hear, depending on where they're at on this place. And uh so I just kind of sat down around a pond and just listened, and then I could hear them way off in the distance. So I I hit my call a couple times, you could hear them gobble back, and then I didn't hear anything again for a while. So I just kind of sat there and all of a sudden I could hear they were getting a little closer, but it's still hard to tell too, you know, as I'm learning, is you know, the difference between the jakes and the toms, and I know there's a big group of jakes because I've seen them, and I knew there's a couple, you know, mature toms running around, and those are the ones I'm after as mature toms. I want the jakes to be you know keep growing and get bigger, yeah. And so I called again, and I could hear they were getting a little closer, so I waited a little bit. Well then up over this hill, here comes these jakes, and I'm like, oh my gosh. So I quit calling, of course, let them kind of take off, and maybe about an hour or so later, I could hear some gobbling again in the distance. So I I called again. Well, all of a sudden, here comes these jakes again, all six of them. And man, so I I just quit calling again, and then about an hour or so later, and it I don't know, it's been maybe this time, maybe it's a little longer. I moved again and set up again, and then I could hear them talking again and uh around me in different areas, and so I hit the call one more time, and the third time these jakes showed back up, all six of them. And this time they got within 10 to 15 yards of me, and it was like, oh my gosh, like nerve-wracking, because I was like, I cannot let them see me because you know I don't want to spook anything, and I'm you know, still just hoping the toms will show up. Uh so I was thinking maybe if I just stayed real still, maybe the toms will come up at some point. Well, then they just kind of you know moved around and they were eating, got a drink of the pond, and you know, they were looking around. You could tell they were like wanting to know what was going on and where this hen was. So I waited a little bit and then they finally walked off. Well, by this point, it's about six o'clock, and I'm like, you know what? I can pack up and go home, or I could just sit here and wait. So that's what I did. I text, I texted my husband, I was like, hey, I'm just gonna sit around and wait and just see what happens. And he's like, Okay, you know, no big deal. So that's what I did. And I'm looking across this area through this little hole, a clearing, and all of a sudden I see turkeys and they're coming towards me, and I'm like, Oh my gosh, okay, finally, maybe these are the toms. Because again, like everything just like they'll either be gobbling or they'll just stop. Like they're it's been crazy this weekend, like there's no constant anything, and no hens have been yelping or clucking either at all, hardly. Finally, a couple hens started clicking, clucking, and so I hit my call just to see if they'd come in my direction. And here they come, all these turkeys, like lines of them. And then there was like hens coming by me, and then there's another group went kind of around me, around this tree, and then this couple turkeys went down to the to the pond to get a drink of water, and I thought they were hen, I thought it was a hen. Well, as it was coming up back towards the um the brush kind of direct direction I was, I got to look in, and I was like, Oh my gosh, that's one of those big toms. So here they come. Like I can finally see them. So finally I get ready, and then from the watching the pond, turn I turned around and looked the other direction. Here's another one. And he turns around and I see his beard, and I'm like, oh my gosh, here we go. So he gets within like 10. I don't know. By this point, by the time I figure it out and kind of you know get my bearings straight again. I throw my gun up, he comes in, and I mean, within 10 yards, I shot him and he just fell straight down. Like I was like, Oh my gosh, like it was so exciting.

SPEAKER_07 15:03

That is awesome.

SPEAKER_02 15:04

Yeah, but it was just like, you know, all the waiting, all the you know, everything finally just paid off, and I was just like, I did it, I finally did it.

SPEAKER_07 15:13

Was that your first turkey?

SPEAKER_02 15:15

By myself, yes. Like I've shot one out of a blind before with a rifle, and like I've been with my dad, you know, when I was younger. But this was doing everything by myself. I've been on this lease for three years. I'm the only female on this lease, so I've had to learn the land, you know, see, you know, go find all the areas where they have been and just kind of you know, learn the area where you can get in those uh those areas and hopefully catch them like I did Sunday night.

SPEAKER_07 15:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:44

So yeah, it was awesome. I'm still I'm still shaking, still excited.

SPEAKER_07 15:48

I can tell that's a well that adrenaline, you know, uh rush. Yeah, after after being disappointed for that many hours and investing all that time, you know.

SPEAKER_02 15:57

That's many years, the last three years. Last year, I actually called one opening morning and it came running right up to me, and I just got so excited I shot and then shot over it. Ah so this year I was like redeeming myself and just I was like, I'm gonna hopefully get one.

SPEAKER_07 16:17

Tell me about your your gun setup. What uh what gun were you are you using for turkey?

SPEAKER_02 16:21

So I have a Breta A400 Extreme and I love this gun. It's a 12 gauge, it's my overall like everything gun. It's um turkey hunting, duck hunting, bird hunting, all the things.

SPEAKER_07 16:35

What kind of choke do you have for turkey hunting?

SPEAKER_02 16:38

Um I usually use either the mod or the fool. I think I still have the mod from bird hunting. This duck hunting.

SPEAKER_07 16:45

Right. Gotcha. So Kelly, your dad has been has been gone for several years now. What and this might be a hard question to answer or maybe impossible to answer. What not just with a turkey hunt, but with everything you've you've accomplished with uh Texas Women's Outdoors? And um, you know, obviously your dad was a great teacher and and mentor, and uh you're carrying that that legacy on. What do you think he would uh say or or think uh today if he could see if he could see you and see what has been done and what you're what you're able to do? What what would he say you think?

SPEAKER_02 17:22

Yeah, um that's a that's a good question. Uh I I would hope obviously that he would say, you know, great job and go you and so proud of you, and you know, especially with my kids now, because you know, he never got to meet my kids. So just sharing that with them and then you know, teaching everything that he's taught me. I'm able to teach my kids and then the women that I meet at all these events that we do too. So it's just I feel like if we don't keep it going, then you know it it'll just get lost at some point and stop. And I I love I love what it's done for me over the years, my whole life. You know, since I was a little kid, he used to take me just walking in the woods with him and I'd help him pick up his birds, or you know, it was his bird dog, or you know, go get squirrels or whatever it was. But those are your foundations, and I just feel like if I didn't have the outdoors, well, now it's like therapy too, because being a stay-at-home mom and everything, I love to get outdoors because it just makes me, you know, clear headed and just listening to the peace and of the woods, and just there's so much to learn. I've especially with this last weekend, like I go into the woods as as one one way as a woman, and then I come out so much more, so much stronger mentally, physically, and everything. Because I just feel like I get more confident. The woods will teach you so much if you just spend the time and just learn to let go.

SPEAKER_04 18:53

Stay tuned right here. Lone Star Trail will return after these messages.

SPEAKER_07 19:00

Whether you're looking to buy your next hunting property or have acreage to sell, you need Brian Clark and Ranch Pro Real Estate in your corner. They use the latest in technology to make listings easy for sellers to maximize value. In the market to buy that perfect ranch or hunting getaway. Call Ranch Pro Real Estate at 325-642-3630. That's Ranch Pro Real Estate at RanchPro Realestate.com. The land is their life. We're back here on the Lone Star Trail with our good friend Kelly Godfrey with Texas Women's Outdoors. Kelly, thanks again for being here and for your time today.

SPEAKER_02 19:38

Yeah, thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_07 19:39

In our first segment, we talked about uh all the things, the great things you guys have coming up uh that Texas Women's Outdoors uh has for the month of April. It's gonna be a busy month with your annual retreat in a Concan happening April 10th to the 12th, and then uh Turkey Hunt uh coming up the 17th to the 19th in Abilene. Uh then you have uh Exotic Hunt coming up in July in Ballinger. Uh probably a lot of stuff between April and July, of course, but those are the those are the top things we discussed. And then we talked about our uh uh turkey season has opened in in the north zone for Texas, and uh you were able to get a a big Tom turkey opening weekend, that was awesome.

SPEAKER_08 20:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_07 20:19

So that's a that's a great uh accomplishment. I've never tried a turkey. I've I've tried a couple times. I'm just not part of my ADHD doesn't let me just sit there and be patient enough.

SPEAKER_08 20:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 20:31

And I've gotten so spoiled to what we're gonna talk about next that it's it's made me a a less effective hunter, honestly, I think. And that is um thermal calling coyotes because I relied way too heavily on the cover of darkness instead of instead of honing my hunting skills and being able to sit completely still or be quiet enough. I'm like, well, I'll just wait till it gets dark, then I'll use thermal. And you know, you still have to be still, you still have to use those skills even in the dark.

SPEAKER_08 21:05

But yes.

SPEAKER_07 21:07

So I want to talk about coyot calling and or predator calling, varmint calling in general. Um, we were talking off-air earlier about how you you say you're still learning and still new, and I'm gonna fall right into that category. Although I've done it for several years, I feel like every time I go out and I think I know what I'm doing, the animals prove me to be a fool.

SPEAKER_08 21:30

Oh, yes. Every time. Every time.

SPEAKER_07 21:32

It's hard. It's tough. And you know, every like we did two contests this year, um, and we did terrible in both of them. And so it's like every year, every year after contest, the bulk of contests are over. I'm like, never again, never doing a contest again. It was a waste of staying up all night. And then, of course, you know, the next year rolls around and we've seen coyotes and we've killed some bobcats and whatever, and we'll all get that bug again and say, Okay, we're gonna enter this. contest and it's going to be different this year. And um one of the things that you know I talk about a lot of people is certain weather conditions, including wind. So obviously, you know, when you're you know you're hunting coyotes, wind is is the I in my opinion, probably the most important factor. What what are some ways, you know, and and this time of year it's just windy. And so when you guys go out and and I know you and your husband hunt um and call some and that's an awesome couples activity that I'm trying to convince my wife to start doing.

SPEAKER_08 22:34

That's fun.

SPEAKER_07 22:35

As our kids get older I think it will be easier and she's she's kind of begrudgingly admitted she will probably try it with me. But um what are some ways that you guys mitigate the wind issue this time of year when you're calling for coyotes or whatever apartments you're looking for.

SPEAKER_02 22:50

I guess it just depends like we um we hunt different places so we have access to our deer lease in Brown County and then we have access to um some family friends over here Abbey Farms and Comanche and we go hunt Abbey Farms his place is more wide open it's not as like thick. So you really have to be you know sure where you're going and kind of try and pick the right spots and and every time we go it's something different. Plus like you said you gotta play the wind is what they call it because you want to make sure that wherever you put your call and yourself the ones not coming wide open spaces um are a little maybe easier I feel like because as long as you know which way the wind are you can get in the opposite or the what is it the opposite direction.

SPEAKER_08 23:41

Right.

SPEAKER_02 23:41

And then like our deer leaves is so thick it's so thick so you can't see through with the thermal so you gotta find little open areas or get up high and look down um and with the the smaller close in areas the wind seems to like circulate like spin around in areas with sound. So at one point yeah it's tough. So at one point you're like all right you're in the right right direction you're doing the right thing and then as you're calling the wind will just sit there yeah wind shifts will spin around on you and then they come in as they're coming in they win you and you're like oh man so I mean it's it's a constant battle constant learning every time we go out there um this last time me and him got away for one evening and we went over there to our dear lease we ended up setting our call at this little pond open area and it was the coolest thing within like two minutes this coyote came in right beside us within like maybe 10-15 yards and I just remember sitting so still because my husband had my gun and I was like all right because we were going to just take turns he shot first I was going to shoot next every time we go out we just take turns of who does what first or whatever however it works out. And this coyote came really close like within 10 yards and then it just stopped and just sat there and we were like uh oh is it see us and my husband couldn't shoot because I was on that side of it like it was to my uh left and so he couldn't shoot it because his he would have been shooting over me.

SPEAKER_08 25:13

Right.

SPEAKER_02 25:14

And then about that time this coyote just all of a sudden backtracks and goes around this brush and then comes around the front right to our call and that's when we were he was able to dispatch it. Like it was just so cool to just see it all play out and just every hunt is so different and we learn something new every time and it's like we never know what we're doing. We just kind of go in with yeah open you know like okay we'll see what works this time or you know how this one goes.

SPEAKER_07 25:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:43

What um what do you remember what sound that cow came into and if it was a male or female that came in it was a male that came in and it was um we downloaded one of these um full stands from Tony Tibby.

SPEAKER_07 25:58

Oh yeah okay yeah I've got some Tibby sounds yeah it it worked right off that's great yeah it was pretty some of it some of it I've played some of those full stands from him you know some of the samples and I'm like that doesn't sound right to me there there's just something that's like ah but yeah but I've downloaded some individual sounds and I've had pretty good success with them. So you know maybe I need to get over myself and and just try it.

SPEAKER_02 26:23

Well and we've tried them at different places and sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't and sometimes just the the rabbit in distress works. I mean uh what we've trying to learn too is you know everybody says read the woods and so it's like you try to read the woods and you either get it right or you don't.

unknown 26:40

Right.

SPEAKER_07 26:41

Well there's so many variables you know something I really want to get into and really try more of is is um and I'm trying to convince my the guys I go with a lot is um I want to start walking into places more often and leaving the truck. We built this nice rack. I mean but it's it's very functional the seats the seats are really nice we we put good seats on it and we've got good um ball head mounts on them um and it's in my truck it's it's very high up and so you get a lot of of visibility. But you know we're driving in in a four-wheel drive four-door wide forward pickup long bed diesel and yeah we've had some success shooting out of it we have but I really want to get into walking into some thicker spots with shotguns and just getting them oh yeah getting them to come in as close as we can and get and and get them with shotguns. I think that would be um and and in some of these areas where like you said you can't see them through the brush or you don't know where they're at or maybe you know they're close but you can't get them to come in for whatever reason I think and the more you know we're talking about using calls and electronic sounds and whatever but everybody and their dog has a geek caller now and there's a lot of educated coyotes out there and um the more the more they get educated the harder it's going to be and so you know I think I think you're gonna have to you're gonna have to sharpen your sticks a little bit and trying to get out there and get to them. I called in one two weeks ago on um after after calling for an hour and a half. I mean I was just so frustrated with with the way we performed in the the contest and I sat up in a deer stand and was like I'm just gonna I'm just gonna watch the sun come up and I had the call going off and on and off and on. And finally I switched to calf in distress which is a sound I never use. Yeah and within about three minutes this cow comes running in fact I had to turn my scope on I was not even ready. Had to turn the scope on and get the gun out the the the window of the stand and anyway I wound up getting him getting him shot but at the same time I was you never know what's gonna work in certain cases.

SPEAKER_08 28:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 28:56

I've had cats come up to um well I called a cat up one time that I just I'd been messing with his caller I just got it and a lot of them have these like PSAs and like um caution noises and I mean I think I played all the sound I was just I was just messing with it. I didn't have a clue what I was doing. Well I switched switched to a bird noise and this cat comes out. Same kind of deal I had to get a shell in my gun and you know so of course and then when I think I know what I'm doing I don't see I don't see right yeah you just never know. My son's gotten really into it our 10 year old's gotten really into it and he he is um he's getting obsessed with it. And we called a Bobcat in one time a couple of months ago and I missed it. And it was like that was the I I don't know if it was if he was more disappointed or if it was me that was most disappointed but I mean the look of defeat on his face after I missed it this dad fell moment.

SPEAKER_02 29:59

But it happens.

SPEAKER_07 30:00

But he still wants to go so that's why let's talk a little bit about uh you posted an infographic on on Facebook about impact of uh women in in Texas specifically and across the nation and some other categories but impact on hunting and fishing outdoor recreation in Texas um over 300,000 women buy licensed uh hunting and fishing license in Texas every year.

SPEAKER_03 30:26

Yep.

SPEAKER_07 30:26

Texas leads the nation in uh hunting fishing participation by women yeah and and then one in five women in the US are hunters that's that's probably the most surprising um statistic to me.

SPEAKER_02 30:42

The the outdoor industry is huge but the female part of it is very small. So it's just still and then Texas being so big that would make sense that we would lead as in the women because you know Texas is huge but um it's just um it's it's growing it's but it's still we're still you know smaller in numbers I guess.

SPEAKER_07 31:09

That's such a huge economic driver in Texas as hunting and fishing continues to grow in popularity and um more money is is is spent and products are more supporting uh hunting and fishing in Texas. So that's great. Great information. And you know you talk a lot about that with your organization Texas Women's Outdoors a lot of a lot of what you guys are doing is is um you know it's not just hunting it's it's a lifestyle and you know you I know that's something you promote um with with your organization and and just your your your contact circle. I know that listeners of this program if if they've if they've heard you before they know uh you started really just by asking a question on Facebook about are there any ladies that want to get together for a camping trip? And and then you've grown from that into this um getting to be a big organization across the state that empowers women to to have a safe space to go do this stuff have uh have a place to look for resources and to learn um learn.

SPEAKER_02 32:16

Yep for sure which is great yeah we're um something too for the listeners just you know um to put out there but if there's any land access or anybody that would want to you know work with us that's a lot of our cost is just going through because Texas is 95 to 97% privately owned and so in order for us to do something for our organization to bring more women outdoors we have to get that permission access either through landowner or ranch or outfitter so if there's anybody out there that would you know love to work with us in some way and you know help us in that sense we would love to have other accesses and open doors on that too stay tuned right here Lone Star Trail will return after these messages we're here talking to one of the fastest growing invasive species in Texas.

SPEAKER_06 33:18

Hi I'm Giant Salvinia nasty invasive species I double in size every week I understand you destroy Texas lakes and ruin fishing oh yeah that's my thing that would be why boaters fishermen and skiers hate you yep but they do give me rides from lake to lake.

SPEAKER_07 33:32

Folks giant salvinia clings to boats trailers and gear so remove even the smallest piece and put it in the trash don't tell them that hello giant salvinia could buy Texas lakes a message from Texas Parks and Wildlife Whether you're looking to buy your next hunting property or have acreage to sell you need Brian Clark and Ranch Pro Real Estate in your corner. They use the latest in technology to make listings easy for sellers to maximize value. In the market to buy that perfect ranch or hunting getaway call ranch pro real estate at 325 642 3630 that's ranchpro realestate at ranchprorealestate com. The land is their life welcome back to the Lone Star Trail on the phone we've got Captain Glenn Ging down in Matagorda Bay.

SPEAKER_03 34:19

Glenn thanks for being here thank you well how's the weather first of all down there for uh for early April how is it looking so far uh this spring has been pretty good we have you know a lot of a lot of times in the spring we've got bad wind problems and we've had a little bit of that but overall it's been good um tides are still I would say lower than average although although they've uh they've come up a little bit but it's still been it's still been a pretty low tide overall uh but the weather's been good and we've been catching some fish.

SPEAKER_07 34:56

And that's great.

SPEAKER_03 34:56

That's great to hear uh what you talked about fish what what kind of conditions what what are you seeing as far as fish uh activity goes right now yeah so um we've been catching a lot of trout uh drifting and fishing um uh you know shell reefs both in east and west bay um and quite a few redfish on the mud flats and in the back lakes um although they kind of seem like it's the red fish has maybe slowed down just a little it was real real good earlier in them in uh March and uh but it's still still pretty good right now. Um for me the last few trips we've been catching primarily trout with a few drum and just a a couple reds here and there. Doing a lot of drift fishing which is kind of normal for us. But also catching quite a few just uh you know anchoring up on reefs and catching them off reefs uh and and throwing both some live shrimp but a whole lot of you know catching a whole lot of them on either gulps under corks or on soft plastics. So a lot of variety then sounds like yes yeah yeah a lot of options right now you know as long as the wind lets us get out there and and you know and we've got quite a few options that that we can take advantage of but when the wind starts blowing it gets a little tougher and it kind of starts boxing us in a little bit more on what we can what we can do.

SPEAKER_07 36:26

Now you've been uh fishing for 40 years or more yeah I um I've been fishing Matagorda all my life so yeah it's kind of like your backyard yes absolutely is so you know if if uh if somebody hasn't ever booked a uh a charter or a trip bay fishing uh what what should somebody expect?

SPEAKER_03 36:52

Well so for with with me anyway um basically all you gotta do is show up with your license um some comfortable clothes and and whatever snacks and drinks you want um so when we meet at the dock you know when we set the trip up um I touched base a few days before the trip and we go over what time we're gonna meet up and and all that kind of stuff and and uh when you show up in the mor the morning of the trip the boat's gassed up and ready uh baits in the live well uh rods and reels are ready to go and all you gotta do is get on the boat and and throw your drinks in and go have a good time. When we get in uh from fishing I I clean our clean whatever we caught and bag it up and and uh you get to take that home with you and it's all ready to go. So pretty much pretty much full service. You know there's you don't have to do just a whole lot.

SPEAKER_07 37:55

What kind of uh if you don't mind talking about your your rates and and kind of price pricing what what kind of uh what kind of rates do you have?

SPEAKER_03 38:04

So standard trip for uh for me is one to three people is is um $800 for that's what we would consider full day and that includes bait and tackle and fish cleaning and everything and then um if you you know if you've got a fourth person it's it's another hundred dollars and then I do at at times just depending on the season there are times that I'll do half day trips. I do a lot a lot of half day trips like in the wintertime and uh and it's a little bit less it's hundred but a hundred dollars less for for a half day but you just just need to just call me and I'll let you know if that's something that that we can do. Sometimes when we've got trips with with kids we'll just do a half day that kind of deal yeah yeah what would you say the busiest season is for you guys if you had to narrow it down to a few months what would be the busiest the the two times of the year that are the most busy are May and June um and then in the fall everybody wants to fish the fall um in the fall we have you know the shrimp migrating out of the bay and we get birds working and um the fishing gets really good. So typically that kicks off in October and and everybody really thinks October you know that that's the month that comes to mind but it just gets better and better and honestly November and December are even better than October and and a lot of years it stays good all the way up into January. And whenever we get a really hard coal front it really drops the water temperatures then it'll kind of drop off and it'll it's still the fishing will still be good in the winter but it changes you know it's it's a different type of fishing um and so but the the fall is for sure the most popular.

SPEAKER_07 39:46

You're a Navy veteran and a former educator of 20 years you're a Texas Aggie.

SPEAKER_03 39:52

Yes sir and uh also have a degree from University of Houston you've you've probably met hundreds of people if not thousands through this this enterprise you had you got to tell me your favorite or or most uh uh comical fail that you've seen on the water what what comes to mind anything that is radio appropriate oh lord um usually it probably has to do with people who fall out of the boat and that doesn't happen very often but I've had uh I've had a few a few times where somebody's walked a little bit further taken a little longer walk than what my boat is and you know that kind that kind of thing that's probably the the at least to me is the the funniest as long as they don't end up hurt. Sure but that doesn't happen very often I I can I can think of a couple and I hate to put out too many details because I hate if one of them hurt it but but uh but I've had I've had a couple of spectacular ones where they they ran out of boat just walked off in the water huh? Yeah yeah yeah just not paying attention fighting a fish not paying attention one of them he was fighting a fish and he walked right off the back deck and he handed the rod up to his buddy and his buddy ended up landing this fish salt in the wound then yeah that's right oh man he got out of the water and he said give him a rod back and he told him and the buddy told him no it's mine now well they probably never lived that down yeah fun stuff yeah well great well thanks for your time uh today uh if folks folks need to get a hold of you it's uh Glenging at gmail.com Glenn's guide service down in Matagorda Bay we're gonna post a link on our social media so that folks can get ready for their May trip down to the Bay and uh spend some time with you hope uh hope the rest of the the season spring goes well we'll catch up with you sometime in the summer and get another update and report from you on how things are in the bay but uh uh best of luck and we appreciate everything you do for us. Thank you I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_07 42:15

You're listening to the Lone Star Trail and it's time once again for House Rules with Dayton House. Dayton is a retired government trapper, a firearms expert an outdoors enthusiast and a true Texan.

SPEAKER_05 42:28

At 76 years old he's still going strong and enjoys sharing his passion of the outdoors with others it's time for House Rules with Dayton House here on the Lone Star Trail thanks for joining us we're back with Dayton House a retired government trapper uh hog hunting expert and uh former outlaw reformed outlaw maybe we should say uh Dayton thanks for being with us again well thank you I didn't get caught it's my only excuse for this and I've told about a few of my personal records and I ought to tell the other side of the story about some of the dumb mistakes or accidents that I've had and a few things I can't tell because the statute of limitations hadn't expired yet. And so I'm not gonna tell all the truth the whole truth but uh there are several times that I've I can laugh at my own mistake if you'll laugh with me and uh not at me. But uh when you can uh say 25 cows at one calling we were out of claims Texas brother lay there then and he wanted to go call in the cows we called up and had twenty five in one time and you you only guess how many we killed we killed one guy I owed out of twenty-five. Now uh that's uh my personal worst, I guess.

SPEAKER_07 44:06

But uh what happened? What happened? I've seen you shoot, I know it's not your your aim.

SPEAKER_05 44:12

No, it's in cotton field, and that shot they just scattered like quail. They were all around us all three or four sides, and uh they were too far out.

SPEAKER_07 44:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 44:22

And at night you can't kill a running coyote. I couldn't, and so uh that was a time that I w wished I could have been there in the daytime and uh I'd done a a little bit better, perhaps. Um killed a prairie dog one time at 914 yards, but uh if you want to know the truth, I shot at him 21 times before I killed him. Kind of like a skunk one night. I had to shoot it 19 times. Oh man. And it was 200 yards away. That's the toughest target that I've ever shot at is a running skunk. From 100 to 200 yards, it's almost impossible. They're about the size of a banana, and my aim's not that good anymore. But there are a few dumb mistakes like that. I've got to tell one on a trapper that I was training in Hamilton County. His name was Ronald McDonnell of a whole name. And I guess he liked hamburgers too, but uh he was kind of a cocky little kid, and he got his thumb caught in the trap, and all he was screaming and hollering, and I went to laughing at him, and he kind of got mad, and he said, Help me, help me, get my thumb out. And I said, No, I'm not gonna do it. I'm gonna teach you how to do it. And he really got mad before he learned how to put the trap on the ground, step on it, and then pull his thumb out. But mistakes like that, now we can laugh about them. I hadn't seen uh the McDonald kid in 40 years, I guess. Last time I heard he is a deputy there in uh Hamilton, but that was a one of the funnier traps. Uh Terry Shriver, he had a dog named Blue, and he treated that better than he did his wife and kids. He'd go through the line at Dairy Queen and get a hot dog. He'd let old Blue eat the weenie and he'd eat the bread. And he thought the world of that old dog. One day there in Comanche, he'd set a trap, put his hat over the trap that was set, so the dog wouldn't get in it, and he'd walked back to the pickup. Well, when he got back there, the old dog had stepped in the trap and tore his hat up. Oh my god. We never let him live that down. But I'd have killed the old dog before I'd let him ride in the cab with me. Uh T.R. Thomas was uh one of the troubleshooters in Gatesville area. He had an old dog, we called him nasty because he tied him in the pickup, he'd get out every time he stopped. And this old dog was so nasty that in the corner of his pickup he had pooped there so much, I hadn't it is 10 or 12 inches in one corner. I'd have fired him or killed the dog one. Run him through the car wash with the truck. Oh yeah. Cleaned them all out at once. A few years back I shot a mouse in a tree. I thought it was a hog.

SPEAKER_07 47:37

Was it this is with thermal? Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 47:40

Uh real Oak Mary, there were some short mesquite trees, and this mouse had climbed up there and was running along the limb, and I thought it was a hog at a hundred yards, and that's how big a mistake you can make with thermal. I couldn't judge the distance and couldn't even tell the difference between a mouse and a hog now. Uh so there are a few dumb mistakes like that that I'd like to take back and hate for people to know about, but uh I guess we ought to.

SPEAKER_07 48:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 48:11

Several times I've shot armadillas thinking they were hogs.

SPEAKER_07 48:17

Same.

SPEAKER_05 48:18

Maybe I ought to look at the tail and see if I could.

SPEAKER_07 48:21

I don't know. There's a couple of brothers in around Rising Star, I won't mention her name, who will not let it go that I I thought there was a hog and it was an armadillo. And it looked, I mean, I s and I even remember saying out the window, there's a big old pig out there, and sure enough, it was an armadillo, and they uh they're still laughing about it every time they see me.

SPEAKER_05 48:41

Well, my automotive friend accused me of killing a rabbit one night. I thought it was a coat. And whenever he walked out there and made the picture of it and brought it back, it sure looked like a rabbit, but uh he said I he thought it weigh 40 pounds, but uh I've I've made a few mistakes like that. Uh my Walmart buddy almost shot a cow one night. I saw the what I thought was a hog laying down behind a log, and I told him, just get out and shoot that thing. And it raised up it was a cow instead of a hog, so that was my fault.

SPEAKER_07 49:25

Well, that's all the time we have for this week's episode. Thanks for stopping by. Me and old Hank the Gar Dog will catch you next week at the same time, same place. If you can't join us on a local station, find the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find podcasts. Also, you can connect with us on Facebook and share your hunting and outdoor photos and stories with us at Lone Star Trail Radio at gmail.com. Till next time for all of us here at the show. So long.