Ep. 43: Jeff Helm - Four Bulls in One Year
In Pursuit
MeatEater
4.9 • 6.8K Ratings
🗓️ 4 June 2026
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week on In Pursuit, Rich and Angelo sit down with Jeff Helm, a Michigan native turned Texas hunter, guide, entrepreneur, and all-around outdoorsman.
Jeff shares how a kid shooting birds out of the backyard bird feeder became a bowhunter who has now taken more than 30 bulls, including four elk in a single season. From DIY backcountry elk hunts to guiding free-range Axis deer in Texas, Jeff breaks down the lessons learned from decades of chasing animals across the country.
The conversation goes far beyond hunting. Jeff opens up about fatherhood, raising his son Jake in the outdoors, the value of shared suffering, and why some of life's most important conversations happen on the drive home from a hunt. They also discuss building community through archery, launching Arrowheads Bowhunting Company, and how hunting has a way of revealing what truly matters.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an IHeart podcast. |
| 0:02.6 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:04.1 | If you do off-season work, you know it beats up gear, scouting, land work, |
| 0:08.4 | crawling through briar patches, brush, weather, long days. |
| 0:12.0 | First Light fieldware is built for all that. |
| 0:14.7 | No shortcuts. |
| 0:15.7 | Purpose-built, durable. |
| 0:17.3 | Hard-wearing where it needs to be versatile, where it matters, |
| 0:20.3 | it supports the work that |
| 0:22.0 | earns the season. Check out First Light's new fieldwear collection at firstlight.com. |
| 0:29.2 | I think variety is the spice of life. I'm, I don't, I don't really like the whole measuring |
| 0:34.4 | contest of, you know, well, I'm better because I use a recurve or a bow or, |
| 0:39.6 | you know, whatever it might be or I can shoot it a thousand yards or a, you know what, if you're |
| 0:44.3 | out there doing your thing and you're enjoying it and like you said the other day and I think |
| 0:49.7 | you posted something, the fellowship, you know, what is a win? You know, there's a lot of times that we just need to unplug. We need to go out there and put man versus beast. And we need to enjoy that sunset, you know, because I know that looking back at 48, I look back and I'm like, my gosh, I squandered a lot of years, just chasing things that didn't really matter. |
| 1:15.6 | Out here, the stakes are real. |
| 1:18.6 | Effective preparation starts with fitness, but it requires so much more. |
| 1:23.6 | This show explores the tools, knowledge, resilience, and skills needed to be ready when it matters the most. |
| 1:30.8 | Join me, Rich Broning, as we apply the decades of wisdom I have gained through training and competition to hunting in the backcountry. |
| 1:39.5 | This is In Pursuit. |
| 1:42.5 | Brought to you by Mountain Ops. |
| 1:46.5 | In collaboration with Mayhem Hunt. |
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