Oh the Smell of It!

by Michele Musacchia Crummer of Muzzy Products Company

     One of my most favorite childhood memories is of the fall hunting season.  Any fall hunting season.  It would be cold, perhaps some snow flurries.   Mom, my brother and I would wait anxiously for the darkness that would bring my father in from the afternoon hunt.  A great big pan of lasagna and a warm fire would welcome him in from the cold along with the inevitable question "did you get anything dad?!  More times than not the answer was no.  But that's allright.  His face white with a frosty red glow from the cold, he would give us each a kiss and head for the fireplace.  He would rub his hands in the warmth and then take his boots and wool jacket off and place them near the fire to dry the dampness from them.  And then, my favorite part (unless of course the answer was yes and we all had to get the flashlights to bring back the venison!)  I would bury my face in his jacket and inhale.    Oh the smell of it!  It smelled like everything good in the outdoors.   Hours of still hunting or sitting in a treestand absorbing the freshness, the woods, the cold air.  Unless you've smelled it you just can't understand.  I yearned for the day I could hunt & experience all that was absorbed in his jacket.

     My brother, John, and I were raised as equals.  Yes, I had dolls & he had trucks, but we were both given the same opportunity to fall in love with the outdoors.  Every weekend when dad went hunting we went as a family together.   I credit my mom for the effort she made to keep us together and give dad the opportunity to pursue his love of hunting with his family.  When dad would practice midday, my brother and I would shoot our bows alongside him.  Johnny had a 14 lb recurve and I had a 12lb recurve, and we were pretty good.

     From time to time when we were getting old enough to sit still for more than a minute, instead of hunting, dad would take us out in the woods to sit and watch deer as they would come down a trail or into a field to eat.  What a thrill!   As we got older, it was just a natural progression that we would hunt.  And we did, as a family.   Even my mother, although never taking up bowhunting  is now an avid turkey hunter and did make two trips to Africa with Dad in the early '70's where she was a dead eye with the 7mm rifle.  And so our home was and is filled with his and her trophies that include fishing as well  as hunting.

     Boarding school limited my hunting opportunities during my high school and college years.  During this time I pursued my love of horses and competed nationally in hunter and jumper competition.  After graduating from Stetson University in 1982  I rode horses  for two more years competitively until   in 1984 dad come out of retirement and started Muzzy Products.  It was time to put my finance degree to work.  Both my brother and I became involved with Muzzy, I on the financial and marketing end and Johnny in the manufacturing end.  With dad's patents and our efforts along with the wonderful people who work with us at Muzzy we have grown to the second largest manufacturer of broadheads in the U.S.   This also allowed me to get back into hunting again.

     And so as a result, I met my husband Jeff in a hunting camp in Georgia.  We belonged to separate leases that shared the same camp.  During the fall  of '91 we were buddies, hunting together at times as guests on each others leases.  With deer season soon over Jeff introduced me to his first love, bird hunting.  I had never been wing-shooting and it opened my eyes and heart to the thrill of the covey rise and a deep appreciation for good dog work.

     We married in the spring of '93 and are blessed with a son, Jeb.   Following my parents example, we continue to hunt as a family.  As early as two weeks old, Jeb started coming to hunting camp with us and has for the last two years.   The amount of time we spend on stand is less (we take turns watching Jeb at camp while the other is hunting.)  But our quality time together is priceless. 

     During my hunting career, I have taken deer with both gun and bow, taken numerous turkeys with shotgun and perhaps the highlight was my wild boar which weighed over 400lbs and required a 100 yard stalk on my belly and ended in a 20 yard shot with one arrow.  The boar  only ran 50 yards.  I also love to fish, both salt and fresh water.

     As some of you may know, my dad passed away in July of 1996, but he left his family a thriving company that is dedicated to quality products for the outdoor enthusiast and  a legacy of love that includes the great outdoors.  I hope my husband and I do the same for our son.  I look forward to the day when Jeb is old enough to hunt with us.  And hope that he too will experience and remember the Smell of It!