Meet 5th Generation Hunter Jeremiah Voithofer Founder and Co-Host of MTN Top Outdoors

News and views on 12 Point Hunting Blinds and a whole lot more…

The popular ‘everything outdoors’ show “MTN Top Outdoors” is presently headed into its fourth season and is co-hosted by working man Jeremiah “Jay” Voithofer.

The show has come a long way from its humble beginnings. The vision this small-town lad from a coal mining family in Southwestern Pennsylvania has been realized with the large audience this hunting, fishing, and cooking show has amassed.

The show now airs on the prestigious Sportsman Channel (a buy-in time slot media model), as well as local Southwestern PA Comcast Channel 917, DirecTV Channel 615, Dish Network Channels 395, 9483, Consolidated Communications Channel 43 and streamed on OTT platforms DirecTV, Frndly TV, fuboTV, Sling TV and Hulu Live TV. And of course, you can also find the show on the house network YouTube page at https://www.youtube.com/c/MTNTOPOutdoors .

That’s a considerable amount of coverage for a show that started out as a dream. But as Jay would say, “It’s all in the planning.”

Juggling family life, a job(s) that pay the way and meeting responsibilities at home often make it hard for folks that like to hunt and fish to find the time and money to pursue their hunting dreams. Finding a way to make that work wasn’t easy for Jay either. But once he’d figured it out, he was keen to share knowledge of how to manage it and the MTN Top Outdoors show was the vehicle he produced to showcase it. Acting as its talent and producer at the same time wasn’t easy, but it was an expedition that Jay was determined to undertake.

As a kid at only age 14. Jay discovered the pleasures of movie making with the family video camera when he shot a video of his successful bowhunting turkey day when out with his siblings with whom he regularly hunted and fished, to show his grandfather and family the enormous gobbler he had harvested. Enamored with the ability to share news of his exploits with folks at home, from then on the camera was always in his hand during family hunting trips.

“I went straight from High School to enjoying working life for large companies like UPS and relished the challenges of employment as superintendent on a golf course and as a ‘turf doctor’. During my UPS years I was able to take 3 weeks a year and head out to Illinois to guide hunts. I fell in love with hunting big whitetails there. It has been a lifelong passion for me, hunting and fishing.

It was in 2018 that Jay began spreading the word about his outdoor experiences via the creation of MTN TOP Outdoors YouTube page, plus social media channels.

Jay quickly realized that he would need help to develop his program expertise and to capture the full nature of the hunting experience and knowledge he wanted to share.

Jay began working with cameraman Ryan Guesso, a friend who offered to help out in his spare time with the show. Jay and his wife have known Ryan for many years, and their friendship began when Ryan began working for Jay’s wife at a resort on a permit at the early age of fourteen.

“After six years working for my wife he graduated from Penn State University. After leaving the resort and job hunting I called him up and asked him if he wanted to come to the golf course where I was working as my assistant. Here we are, seven years later.”

During his time at Penn State University, Ryan took a minor in videography, and he put his knowledge to work when Jay brought him on to the show as cameraman.

Ryan Guesso is as enthusiastic about the show as Jay, “Every hunt is an adventure, I’m always looking forward to the next hunt.”

Before Ryan came on board Jay carried the show on his own, which was a difficult task as being both behind the lens and in front of it at the same time is almost impossible. But Jay’s lack of formal experience behind the lens didn’t thwart his ambition to bring his perspective and experiences out hunting to his target audience.

Jay wanted to find a producer/director who could help develop the show further, but producer/directors are not easy to find when you are working on a budget, so Jay and Ryan plowed along on their own.

“I was doing what I could to produce a season. It was horrible, but I did my best. I couldn’t afford a big-time producer and so Ryan and I just got on with it.

But there was a blessing to come that was totally unexpected.

“There was a ‘Jesus’ in my situation, in the guise of Greg Bauer, (a partner in Season 2 and 3 of WorkHardDreamBig Productions among others), who reached out and touched me,” explains Jay smiling.

“I received an unexpected invitation from Greg who asked me to sit down with him in Detroit to discuss the show. I was there in a heartbeat, making the 12 hour round trip was no problem. We were scheduled to just sit down for coffee, but it went so well I ended up staying all day. When Greg came on board everything went to entirely different level.”

Today the show is a 3 in 1 deal, with coverage of the avid sportsman team of Jay, Brian Zarembski and local businessman and chef Jeremy “Huntchef” Critchfield (a neighbor of Jay’s). The avid huntsmen showcase not just harvesting everything from walleye fish to elk to white tail deer to turkeys, but also demonstrate great recipes for cooking the fare.

Hunt chef Jeremy Critchfield

“I think my favorite foodie delight is the charcuterie you can produce yourself such as Kebasi. Showing folks how to make the best of what they hunt is important. Many people say they don’t enjoy venison for example, but frankly I think that’s just because it hasn’t been cooked properly to bring out its best.”

The harvest of meat from the wild as a food source is a mainstay of American life for many, and without the availability to hunt wildlife to bring food to the table even more people would go hungry. In an effort to help folks figure out the best ways to cook and enjoy the bounty that Mother Nature provides in the realm of deer, elk, turkey and duck ( among other proteins), the show’s Jeremy Critchfield shares a multitude of recipes including Jay’s favorite, Wild Turkey Curry.

And it’s not just those that get out in the wild and hunt that enjoy the fare harvested, in a study conducted through phone survey in Michigan it was found that sharing wildlife resourced meat is a common distribution process, and social media helps although there is no legal market for the meat.

Respondents reported consuming 33 different species of game, including feral swine. Seventy-five percent of the respondents had tried game meat and of those a whopping 59% we non-hunters.

Many hunters happily fill their tags and offer up the products to friends and family. Recipes for cooking the meat to perfection are readily available online, so even if you don’t have family recipes to work to passed down from five generations ago, the way Jay does, or a chef handy like Jeremy to show you best methods, everyone can enjoy wildlife meat at their table.

Whether it is recipes for cooking black bear or coyote, or the more commonly consumed deer, MTN TOP Outdoors show has it all.

The use of the whole animal, from nose to tail has become increasingly popular in the culinary world. The practice of actively building back wildlife habitats and wildlife corridors to help the wild animals navigate their way through roads and subdivisions is a call to action heard in the media and is an important step in protecting wildlife resources.

Seasonal migration of mammals, elk, mule deer and the like, has been negatively impacted by man’s interference with construction of buildings and road development. For example, pronghorns in Wyoming will move from sheltered lowlands where they spend cold winter months, to the uplands and mountains for summer grazing.

Movement of wildlife may cover hundreds of miles, and for the avid huntsman this adds to the enjoyment of the hunt. Jay has covered countless miles on his various hunting adventures. The show brings those experiences to his audience where everyone can enjoy the thrill and sometimes disappointments of the mission.

Through the development of the show Jay has always known he needed to target sponsorship opportunities to help fund and grow the MTN Top Outdoors brand and viewership. He explained he has been careful about which companies he works with as for him he truly wants to represent companies that are family run enterprises that bring something meaningful to the table and make life better for the hunter or fisherman.

Take for example his collaboration with Procision Arms, custom-made long-range rifle manufacturer based in his home region of Southwestern Pennsylvania. The latter are high end rifles that rate in the top 3% for accuracy in the rifle industry. Their ultra-accurate rifles offer a 1/2 MOA accuracy guarantee with the rifles when fired at the factory by their personnel and they are a certified Cerakote coating applicator.

Alongside an impressive array of sponsors, Jay recently discovered the advantages of another product line he loves in 12 Point Hunting Blinds.

“I have sat in hundreds of blinds during my lifetime hunting. The 12 Point Hunting Blinds are like no other on the market. Their window and ladder system are innovative. For example, opening the window one handed means you can keep your other hand on the weapon and the slide is quiet. Then their ladders are not made of wood but of metal so will last a lifetime. Perfect for kicking mud off your boots, handrailed for safety. A real quality product.”

In fact, Jay was so impressed by the product, that he recently became a 12 Point Hunting Blind dealer.

“When I met fellow hunter Dave Zook, founder of Horizon Structures who make such beautiful Amish quality horse barns it’ll blow your mind, I knew I had found someone who genuinely believed in producing really good quality products. Together with owner/GM Omar Kauffman at 12 Point, we all took a great turkey hunting trip expedition recently. Dave drilled a huge gobbler! Working with fellow hunters is always a great experience, and sharing the knowledge and encounters along the way is what MTN Top Outdoors is all about. When you have great products to help you it makes all the difference in securing a good result.

People think they don’t have time to hunt or fish, but it is all about balancing everything in life and making sure when you do go on a hunting expedition it is successful. I love sharing ways to that regular working folk like me can manage to do it and do it well. Whether that’s taking a dream trip to South Dakota to score mule deer tags and score a mule deer, or fishing closer to home, it’s all possible with careful planning.”