Earned Not Given | Connor Koch on Risk Tolerance, Resilience, and the Road to Becoming a Hunter

About this episode

Connor Koch shares his journey from a novice hunter to an experienced outdoorsman, discussing risk tolerance and resilience along the way.

EP 681: Connor Koch Some episodes just take a minute to get right. We lost the first version of this one — somewhere out there is an SD card with what I’m sure was a hell of a conversation — and you know what? Maybe that was the universe telling us to go again. Because this one hit different. Connor Koch is one of those guys who just operates on a different level. Arc’teryx ambassador for seven years, a man who’s climbed every 14er in the lower 48, skied big lines from Alaska to the High Sierra, and survived an 1,100-foot avalanche ride in ways that defy explanation. He’s the real deal. And now? He’s deep in the hunting rabbit hole, chasing elk solo through grizzly country with a bow he just learned to shoot, logging 70-plus days in the field and coming home with the kind of stories that remind you why we do all of this. We cover a lot of ground in this one. Connor grew up in a tiny San Diego-area town, never saw mountains until his Nissan’s transmission blew up somewhere near a place called Zzyzx on the way to Colorado. He pulled into Vail Pass, jumped out into the June air, and knew — at a cellular level, he says — that he’d found home…

People in this episode

Host: Cody Rich

Guest: Connor Koch

Topics covered

• hunting
• risk tolerance
• resilience
• outdoor adventure
• mountain pursuits
• personal growth

Keywords

• hunting
• elk
• outdoor adventure
• mountain climbing
• resilience
• risk tolerance
• Arc’teryx
• avalanche
• personal growth

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Arc’teryx

Places: San Diego, Colorado, Vail Pass, Zzyzx, Alaska, High Sierra

More episodes of The Rich Outdoors

• Trail Cams, Habitat IQ, and Building Tactacam: Conversation with Jeff Peel · April 30, 2026 · 1h 2m
• From Mugshots to $300M: The Logan Chierotti Story · April 27, 2026 · 40 min
• From Doing to Being: Why ‘I Am’ Statements Changed My Hunting · April 15, 2026 · 1h 15m
• Josh Smith of MKC: Getting Sued, Scaling Culture, and Taking on Giants · February 12, 2026 · 1h 23m
• Heart Rate, VO2 Max, and Hunt Readiness with MTNtough · February 5, 2026 · 54 min
• Cal Arnold: From Plane Crash to Purpose—Building a Life Worth Living · December 18, 2025 · 1h 17m