Editor’s Note: Ashley Jay will be the co-host of Knight and Hale’s “Ultimate Hunting” TV show, which will air this fall on the Outdoor Channel. Where did Jay come from, and how did a young lady who didn’t grow up in a hunting family find her way into the outdoor television business? Since more and more women are coming into the outdoor industry, we wanted to learn how Ashley Jay made it.
After high school, my first stop in college was in Orlando at the University of Central Florida. My next stop was Valencia College. Then I transferred to Greenville Tech where I’m majoring in biology and currently am in my sophomore year of college. But I’ll have to honest. My heart is in the outdoors. I have a firm belief and faith that we can’t appreciate all that God has given us, if we don’t have experiences in the outdoors.
I’m not just a hunter and TV host. I enjoy hiking, riding horses, going fishing and sports. I’m an assistant coach for a high-school volleyball team. I’ve also competed at the National Physique Committee (NPC) national fitness competition. I won the first show, winning first in my class and first overall, which qualified me at a national level to be able to compete nationally. I have two or three more competitions coming up this fall. Also, I’ll be filming with Knight and Hale on some of their hunts. So, this year, I have a really-busy fall.
Besides looking forward to hunting with Knight and Hale, I’m also excited about hunting with Chad Ritter, one of the hunters on “The Hit List,” a part of Commonwealth Productions We've got a trip planned to go to Indiana and hang some tree stands for the coming fall hunts. I’m really looking forward to that and learning how to hunt big deer the way Chad hunts. So, this fall of 2014, I’m competing in NPC, working and hunting with Harold and David, learning more about hanging tree stands and hunting with Chad Ritter. I can hardly wait for fall to get here. Of course, I’ll be wearing Mossy Oak the entire time.
I've just turned 25. Having this much opportunity to do what I love is almost unbelievable. I’m often asked, “What do your parents think about all your hunting activities?” Even though my parents don’t hunt, they love watching hunting on TV, especially the hunts where I am. They love to hear me tell stories about my hunts and what I’m learning. I don’t think I’ll ever get either one of my parents in a tree stand or anyone else in my family. They never have hunted, and I don’t believe they ever will, but they really support me in all my hunting and outdoor activities.
