Cody Rich on Building Bridger Watch: Hunter-First Maps, Ballistics, and a New Wearable OS

In this podcast episode, Trent and Matt interview Cody Rich, founder of Bridger Watch, about why he built a hunting-focused smartwatch and how it evolved from wanting usable offline maps and hunting features on a watch. Rich shares his background from Perrydale, Oregon, moving to Montana, early work in Marine Corps training using Hollywood-style special effects, then entrepreneurship through Powder River Cartridge and learning marketing/SEO before starting The Rich Outdoors podcast and building Backcountry Fuel Box. Seeking a larger legacy business, he pursued a Garmin-adjacent niche, raised money, and assembled teams including former Fossil talent and connections to Google leadership and a CTO with Garmin dog-collar experience, ultimately building custom hardware and a new operating system. He describes key features: offline topo maps with panning/zooming, onX waypoint/track/markup syncing, integrated ballistics via Sierra True Data, redshift mode, frequent over-the-air updates, and ongoing battery-life improvements, with purchasing available at bridgerwatch.com, GuideFitter, GovX, and via HSA through TrueMed.

Trent and Matt chat with Chad Alder, newly hired general manager of Born and Raised Outdoors and the first GM not named Trent, who is away at the Hoodoo bow shoot. Chad discusses joining a strong company community, his initial focus on learning the business through risk analysis and identifying strengths and weak points, and how he applied and first interviewed with CFO Ashley. Originally from Southern California, Chad moved to Utah for work and recently relocated to Oregon with his wife, a high school teacher, and their two daughters (ages 9 and 11). He describes family life, parenting lessons, and his oldest daughter's celiac disease prompting early self-sufficiency in cooking. Though not a hunter, Chad has outdoor product and e-commerce experience and shoots firearms and bows; Crohn's disease has limited backcountry hunting. He also shares a background in Hollywood Video, social work with at-risk youth, and behavioral work with autistic students, plus favorite films across genres.

In this Episode Nate and Trent talk about IP 28 and other Oregon Hunting Issues.

Trent and Tyler catch up after a busy spring of bear hunting, including a week in Idaho with Mountain Ops featuring hounds, where four bears were taken but the guest only saw one and didn't shoot; they discuss surprising appreciation for dog hunting, bear overpopulation near home, and how terrain and low bear density can make spot-and-stalk unappealing. The guest recounts a dangerous incident where hounds tried to cross a raging Salmon River fork, leading him to rescue a nearly drowning dog and recover others via an old miners' cable bridge. The conversation shifts to outdoor media: audience metrics favor constant action, YouTube has become crowded, and live hunting "camps" are growing, often funded by attendee fees with sponsors providing product. They argue in-person events may be "future-proof" amid AI, note AI's risks without critical thinking, and describe an AI-driven product scam involving a knockoff Anchor Point bow holder. They also discuss hiring, execution vs ideas, and scaling a founder-led hunting brand.

The hosts discuss feedback from a four-day elk-hunting class with 44 attendees and their podcast, which listeners said is as much about being a man as hunting. They reflect on teaching children work ethic, contrasting physically demanding jobs with current work, and emphasize not "ruining" work ethic by excluding kids from helping; a friend's advice is to let a child assist with projects even if it's inefficient. They talk about giving kids autonomy without overprotection, Wyatt leaving for a demanding summer deckhand job on an Alaska sport-fishing boat out of Seward, and the father's hope he's prepared him. The conversation covers treating kids' ideas with increasing respect, learning alongside them, maintaining love through conflict, and grounding parenting in biblical themes of love and measured, purposeful anger.  

Trent and Matt continue their multi-part "skill and craft" hunting series, reflecting on woodsmanship, learning through failure, and the hard work of elk hunting. They discuss how confidence affects shooting, including experiences with target panic and a dangerous bow failure that created lasting doubt, emphasizing practice and equipment checks before season and after travel due to elevation changes. They outline a practical glassing method: quickly check close cover and perimeters, scan distant areas, then systematically work back through a unit, and stress the importance of quickly landmarking and communicating an animal's location to partners. They frame elk hunting as a team sport where shared "comms" and defined roles (like shooter/spotter) improve success, and they describe stalking and calling strategy: pin locations, consider wind/time, wait for bedding, avoid obstacles that cause hang-ups, and reposition rather than forcing a stalled bull. They close with plans for future guests and broader topics beyond hunting.

In this special episode, we welcome Troy Cribbins, candidate for State Representative, to the barn. Troy shares his diverse background—from being born in Myrtle Point and raised in Portland, to his career as a physical therapist with a doctorate and experience running and owning healthcare businesses. He opens up about his journey, including moving back to Coos Bay to be close to family, his current roles on the Bay Area Hospital Board and Coos Bay City Council, and the reasons he's stepping up to run for state office.  

In this podcast episode, Matt and Trent discuss building hunters through skill and craft, focusing on woodsmanship as a learned "puzzle" of understanding animal behavior, terrain, and sign. They emphasize starting with fundamentals—food, water, shelter—then using tools like OnX to locate clear cuts/units, plan routes, and mark rubs, wallows, trails, and notes to build an experience-based map. They describe practical methods for Roosevelt elk: covering ground by truck/bike, glassing for fresh rubs, bugling every 200 yards to locate elk, listening for stick pops, and learning to judge freshness of tracks, scat, and scent. They compare Roosevelt vs Rocky Mountain elk behavior, stress constant wind-checking, and highlight mindset: don't overthink or talk yourself out of clues, accept the effort, and treat each attempt as learning, illustrated by a story of following cows that led to a close encounter with a large bull.

Trent and Matt discuss not listening to their own podcasts, upcoming travel for their last show of the year, and the approach of spring bear season in Oregon. They compare bear hunting to duck hunting as a social way to get back outdoors and talk about seeing more bears than in past years, concerns about overpopulation, and studies on bear predation on elk calves and deer fawns. They criticize wildlife policy being driven by public votes and advocacy groups, referencing Oregon's 1994 Measure 18 banning hunting bears and cougars with dogs and mentioning IP 28. The conversation shifts to discipline in dog training and parenting, arguing for consistent consequences and leadership. They share bear-encounter stories, cover spring bear tactics (coast vs Cascades timing, south-facing slopes, cameras, calling with fawn distress), and emphasize bear shot placement over caliber, discussing PRC cartridges.   Did you know you can get a discount on the onX Hunt app? http://bit.ly/BRO_onXHuntShop  Use the promo code: BRO and you'll get a 20% discount!    

In this podcast episode, Trent and Matt discuss Oregon's proposed initiative IP 28 (also referred to as the PEACE Act), which would remove longstanding exemptions in Oregon animal cruelty laws for lawful activities involving animals. They say current exemptions include farming, ranching, hunting, fishing, animal husbandry, pest control, and veterinary care, and argue that removing them could open the door to targeting or restricting those activities, ultimately threatening hunting and fishing and potentially impacting ranching, small-scale livestock ownership, pest control, and even pet training practices. One host shares how he first learned about it when his father—who follows politics but isn't a hunter—called from Nebraska after seeing news about the measure. The conversation broadens into concerns about political polarization, people making decisions based on emotion rather than facts, and the difficulty of having respectful discourse in the current media and social media environment. They discuss how fear and anger are amplified by 24-hour news and algorithms, including anecdotes about targeted advertising and device listening, and one host mentions hearing credible claims that phones and vehicle systems can be used for surveillance even when a phone appears off. The hosts also reference recent divisive events and reactions, including the assassination of Charlie Kirk and polarized perspectives around ICE-related incidents, emphasizing nuance and the need for middle-ground thinking. Finally, they talk about how brands and platform owners should decide when and how to take public stances, using a story from Benchmade: Oregon City Police had firearms destroyed at the company, a photo of gun cutting went viral, and subsequent scrutiny of political donations sparked backlash; the host describes internal impacts including threats to employees and his family, while noting the business did not experience a catastrophic drop in demand. The episode ends with a call to research issues, base opinions on facts, listen to opposing perspectives, and speak up for causes rather than staying neutral out of fear.   Did you know you can get a discount on the onX Hunt app? http://bit.ly/BRO_onXHuntShop  Use the promo code: BRO and you'll get a 20% discount!