The Rich Outdoors Podcast By Cody Rich: Hunter | Entrepreneur | Dad cover art

The Rich Outdoors

The Rich Outdoors

By: Cody Rich: Hunter | Entrepreneur | Dad
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The Rich Outdoors is hosted by Cody Rich, an entrepreneur, and hunter. In this podcast, Cody interviews all kinds of folks about hunting, business and adventure to find the nuggets that will make you more successful in life, hunting, and anything else you wish to accomplish.
Episodes
  • Mules, Mountains & a Collapsed Lung: Justin Helvik on Going All In

    Mules, Mountains & a Collapsed Lung: Justin Helvik on Going All In
    Jun 19 2026
    There's a certain type of person who can't half-ass anything. The kind of guy who decides to climb the Grand Teton on a whim, rappels off a sheer face having never rappelled before, canyoneers into some of the most remote slot canyons in the American Southwest, and packs mules solo through the dark at midnight to make the opener. Justin Helvik is that guy — and somehow, impossibly, he's also a 20-year educator who coached high school football and showed up Monday morning with a collapsed lung and six broken ribs, insisting everything was fine. Justin and I go way back. He was with me on one of my early bear hunts. I helped him build the pole barn that would eventually house the mules he didn't own yet. Life moves fast when you're the kind of person who's always got the next adventure already on the calendar. In this episode, Justin breaks down his unconventional path from desk jockey to legitimate mountain mule skinner — and I mean that in the best possible way. We talk about what drove a guy with zero ranch background to go all in on mule packing, the gnarly wreck on a Montana mountain goat hunt that left him with a punctured lung and broken ribs (and how his mule, Bella, somehow knew he was hurt and carried him out of the backcountry gently), and what it actually feels like to go from being intimidated by stock animals to packing 80 miles through the Yellowstone Thoroughfare. But this conversation goes deeper than mules. We get into the philosophy of adventure — what it means to chase that feeling of uncomfortable, why comfort might actually be the most dangerous thing you can do to yourself, and how stacking experiences over a lifetime is the only real way to build confidence that transfers everywhere. Justin talks about identity, ego, legacy, and what Lonesome Dove's Augustus McCrae got right about living versus dying. He's also got a Substack — From Desk Jockey to Mule Skinner — that I'd encourage every one of you to go read. He's a great writer, and the stories are even better on the page. If you've ever thought about getting into pack stock, or you're someone who's wired to always be pushing the next limit, this one's for you. Episode Sponsors Bridger Watch This episode is brought to you by Bridger Watch — the smartwatch built specifically for hunters, by a hunter. Cody set out to build something better after getting tired of pulling his phone out 100 times a day just to check his OnX map in the field. The solution? Put the maps on the watch. Bridger Watch is the best smartwatch for hunters, period. If you're a watch guy and a hunter, this is built for you. Website: https://www.bridgerwatch.com Coupon Code: TRO onX Hunt onX Hunt is the gold standard for hunting maps, and they just dropped a feature that's going to change how you hunt with a buddy. The new Share Location feature inside the Go Track section lets you and your hunting partner see each other's real-time position right on the map — like a modern-day Garmin Rino, but actually good. Fair warning: this only works in cell service, so it won't help you in the deep dark. But for those in-service hunts? This is seriously cool tech that a lot of hunters have been asking for for years. Website: https://www.onxmaps.com Coupon Code: TRO Timestamp Chapters 0:00 Intro & Sponsor — Bridger Watch 2:15 Sponsor — onX Hunt: New Share Location Feature 4:30 Welcoming Justin Helvik / Catching Up After Years 6:00 Justin's Background: 20 Years in Education, Small Town Roots 9:30 The Path to Mules — Pack Goats, Failed HOAs & Bighorn Disease Concerns 15:00 Justin's Adventure DNA: Ultra Races, the Grand Teton & Canyoneering 22:00 Olo Canyon & Going Where Few Have Been 26:30 The Moment That Made Him Go All-In on Mules (Elk Down, No Help) 31:00 First Experiences with Pack Stock — Intimidation, Trust & Mule Personalities 36:00 Horses vs. Mules: Self-Preservation, Bells & the Classic 'Brakes Are Broken' 40:30 The Mountain Goat Hunt Wreck — A Collapsed Lung, Six Broken Ribs & Bella 48:00 What the Wreck Taught Him About Ego & Risk 51:00 How Adventure Changes When You Have a Family 53:30 Experience Stacking: The Philosophy of Going All-In Incrementally 56:00 Planning the Lee Metcalf Solo Ride & Why You Need the Next Trip on the Calendar 58:00 Wrap Up — Justin's Substack: From Desk Jockey to Mule Skinner 3 Key Takeaways 1. Comfort is the real killer — not the mountains. Justin makes the point that denying yourself the adventures you're wired for is a slow death from the inside. It's not just a mindset cliché — he's seen it play out in his own life. When he's not planning something that makes him a little nervous, he loses motivation everywhere else: at work, at home, as a father. The takeaway for listeners isn't to go do something reckless. It's to identify your version of "uncomfortable" and book it. Put it in the calendar. Then don't cancel. 2. Stack experiences, not just kills. One of the most ...
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    59 mins
  • Identity, Aspiration, and the Anatomy of an Elk Hunt

    Identity, Aspiration, and the Anatomy of an Elk Hunt
    May 19 2026
    Man, I don't know how else to say this — this one got me. I sat down with Christian Zeron, the guy behind the Theo N. Harris Instagram, and what started as a watch-world conversation turned into one of the most honest, wide-open talks about hunting, identity, manhood, and what it means to find something that actually moves you. That's the kind of episode this is. Christian grew up in New Jersey selling vintage Rolexes in college and built a marketing company around it. He's sharp, he's articulate, and — up until about six months ago — he had zero connection to the hunting world. Then a client invited him on a hunt in Kentucky and, well, here we are. He killed his first turkey this spring, he's already got hog hunts lined up in Texas and a dove trip to Argentina on the books, and the guy is all in. Completely, unapologetically, joyfully all in. What I love about Christian is that he brings this fresh set of eyes to our world. He's not pretending to be someone he's not. He's a Ralph Lauren, vintage shotgun, lever-action rifle kind of guy who gets genuinely emotional talking about his late grandfather while butchering his first bird. That's real. That's the stuff hunting is actually made of, and it's the stuff that's really hard to explain to people who haven't lived it. We go deep on the watch world and what Rolex figured out about aspiration and identity that most brands never do. We talk camo as identity, Sitka vs. First Lite, Yeti coolers, LVMH, Omega, Casio — and somehow it all connects back to hunting, brand building, and what it means to be a man who collects experiences instead of just stuff. Plus, we dig into what I'm trying to build with Bridger Watch and Christian gives me some real, unfiltered marketing advice on how to position it against Garmin and Apple. This is the kind of conversation that makes you want to call your old man, fire up a steak, and go outside. Strap in. Episode Sponsors onX Hunt If you're serious about hunting out west, onX isn't optional — it's foundational. We're talking land ownership, access layers, terrain intel, and a full suite of tools built for every phase of the hunt: planning, preparation, and execution. The difference onX makes is simple. It's confidence. Confidence that you're in the right spot. Confidence that you're legal. Confidence that you can find your way back to the truck when the day goes long and the country gets weird. Download the onX Hunt app and become an Elite member today. Use code TRO for 20% off your membership. Website: onxmaps.com Bridger Watch I set out to build a better smartwatch for the hunting community — plain and simple. I was frustrated. I kept pulling my phone out 100 times a day to check onX in the field and thought, why can't we just have the map on our wrist? So we went down the rabbit hole and built what I genuinely believe is the best smartwatch ever made for hunters. If you're a watch guy and a hunter, this was built for you. Use code TRO at checkout. Website: bridgerwatch.com Timestamp Chapters 0:00 — Intro & Sponsor — onX Hunt 1:45 — Sponsor — Bridger Watch 3:00 — Welcome Christian Zeron | Who Is This Guy? 5:30 — From Jersey to the Deer Woods — How a Watch Guy Found Hunting 9:00 — Building a Marketing Company on the Back of Rolex 12:30 — Christian's First Turkey: Buck Fever, Clown Makeup, and Grandfather Moments 17:00 — Why Hunting Hits Different — The Emotional Depth Non-Hunters Don't Understand 20:30 — Serving Elk Steak & The Pride of the Harvest 23:00 — Where Does Christian's Hunting Journey Go From Here? Argentina, Texas, Bear Hunts 26:30 — Identity in the Hunting World — Camo Brands, Sitka, First Lite & the Yeti Effect 30:00 — Decor, Taxidermy, and Why Rural Men Are More Aesthetic Than Manhattan Bankers 33:30 — The Smartwatch Debate — Where Does a Luxury Watch Guy Land on Wearables? 37:00 — Marketing Advice for Bridger Watch — What Rolex Got Right & What We Should Learn 40:30 — The Watch World Deep Dive — Omega, Tag Heuer, LVMH, Casio & Vintage Markets 44:00 — Lever Guns, Grandfather's .35 Remington, and Planning Future Hunts 46:00 — Wrap Up — Follow Christian & Final Thoughts 3 Key Takeaways 1. Hunting Connects You to Something Bigger Than the Kill Christian's story about his late grandfather flooding back while he was butchering his first turkey is one of the most honest descriptions of why hunters hunt that I've heard in a long time. The harvest, the meat, the field dressing — it all becomes this vessel for memory and emotion and people you've lost. And it's something you genuinely cannot explain to someone who hasn't felt it. If you've ever felt your dad or your grandfather or someone you loved in a duck blind or a wall tent, you know exactly what Christian is talking about. That feeling doesn't go away. It doesn't get old. That's why we keep going back. 2. Identity Is at the Core of Every ...
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    48 mins
  • Gray Ghosts and Gridirons: Joe Epple's Journey from Squamish to Stone Sheep Country

    Gray Ghosts and Gridirons: Joe Epple's Journey from Squamish to Stone Sheep Country
    May 14 2026
    Look, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it — life got in the way and we missed a week. But we're back, and this one was worth the wait. Joe Epple is one of those guys who doesn't fit neatly into a box. Retired professional football player. CFL veteran. Director of Business Development for Wild TV — Canada's largest hunt and fish TV network. Co-host of The Edge, now in its 17th season. Father of two boys. Columbia blacktail hunter. Stone sheep chaser. A 6'8" giant of a man who grew up in Squamish, British Columbia, hunting for meat and mushrooming in the rain just to make ends meet — and who somewhere along the way figured out that all those lessons in the wet coastal bush were actually building the foundation for everything that came after. This episode goes deep on what it really means to make the transition from professional athlete to serious hunter, and why the skills that make you elite in sports — goal-setting, resilience, the ability to learn from getting your ass kicked — translate directly to the mountains. Joe talks about growing up in a logging family that hunted out of necessity, not recreation. About being the fat, knock-kneed kid who nobody bet on, who started going to a rusty prison gym at 13 and never looked back. About how hunting blacktails in the miserable, soaking wet coastal bluffs of BC taught him to push through discomfort long before any football field did. We get into the mental game of hunting — specifically what it looks like when you've got 14-day fly-in stone sheep hunts on one end of the spectrum and a four-year-old who snaps every branch and asks to go back to the truck every five minutes on the other. How do you stay present? How do you keep the long game in mind when you're sitting in the gutter on day 10 of a backcountry hunt wondering why you're not home with your family? Joe's got a framework for that, and it's worth hearing. We talk about Kristen's bear — a giant boar that'll likely crack the top 15 all-time in the province. About Joe's most-prized blacktail taken at 12 yards with a bow. About why archery hunting teaches you more about your weaknesses as a hunter than anything else. About what it's like to hunt stone sheep as a resident in BC for a fraction of what nonresidents pay, and why he still hasn't punched an archery tag on one. And about the pressure social media puts on new hunters to skip the learning curve entirely and shoot a 200-inch muley on their first trip out. Joe's a straight shooter (pun intended), genuinely humble, and packed with perspective from both sides of the fence — the elite athlete world and the deep wilderness backcountry. This one's got range. Turn it up. Episode Sponsors onX Hunt If you're hunting out west and you're not running onX, I don't know what to tell you — it's not optional at this point, it's foundational. Land ownership, access layers, terrain intel, route planning — onX does it all. The difference it makes isn't just convenience. It's confidence. Confidence that you're in the right spot. Confidence that you're legal. Confidence that you can find your way back to the truck when things go sideways. That's what elite membership gets you. Website: https://www.onxmaps.com | Use code: TRO — Save 20% on Elite Membership Bridger Watch This one's personal — I built Bridger Watch because I was frustrated. I was pulling my phone out 100 times a day just to check my onX, and I thought there had to be a better way. So we went down the rabbit hole and set out to build the best smartwatch for hunters. Maps on your wrist. Built for the field. If you're a watch guy and a hunter, this is the one you've been waiting for. Website: https://www.bridgerwatch.com | Use code: TRO — Exclusive discount Timestamp Chapters 0:00 — Intro & Sponsor: onX Hunt 1:30 — Sponsor: Bridger Watch 3:00 — Welcome & catching up — the missed week, quick intros 5:30 — Joe's roots: growing up in Squamish, BC — logging family, pine mushrooms, coastal blacktails 10:00 — Why Joe pursued athletics instead of the outdoors — the unlikely path to pro football 14:30 — The transition: retiring from pro sports and returning to his outdoor roots 17:00 — Joe's current life — Director of Business Development at Wild TV, The Edge TV show 20:00 — Raising kids in the outdoors — Walker and Wyatt, making it fun vs. making it serious 26:30 — Cody's excavator story — how to build positive associations with hunting for young kids 30:00 — Spring bear hunting as a family — dance parties in the mountains and Kristen's record-book bear 36:00 — The fat kid with a doctor's note — Joe's aha moment at 13, the rusty gym, and building self-confidence 42:00 — Growing up with zero sports culture in the house — how a 6'8" kid ended up at Washington State on a full ride 47:00 — Blacktail hunting as the foundation — why the gray ghost builds hunters who can do anything 51:00 — Joe's most prized blacktail — the 12-yard bow shot, ...
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    1 hr and 2 mins
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