"Big Nuts" and the Birth of an Obsession

The Rough Run Show started out as an idea that took some convincing.  We were not sure a show about a bunch of bear hunters would be very interesting and we certainly had no idea how one hunts bears.  So local bear hunting expert Jeff Davis invited us out to West Virginia to take a look.  Wow.

Why did we choose the Rough Run boys to film?  Big Nuts!   

The production crew arrived in Fort Seybert tired and worn out from a cross-country flight and the four hour drive from the airport but Jeff insisted, "Let's go tonight."  In the off season, the hunters are allowed to train their dogs and tree bear, only to release them when done.  It's a nice way of keeping the dogs sharp and it also gives the guys an idea of what bears are around and what they are doing.  Typically, the boys hunt in the evening, because the temperature is better for the dogs to run at night, to avoid overheating.  

"Big Nuts" on Squiggy's trail camera (above).

The first night we arrived, Jeff pulled us into his white pick-up truck and off we went.  Rough Run Boy Mark "Squiggy" Swigunski had a line on what seemed to be a big bear.  Squiggy had a trail camera set-up near the corn field behind his house and had caught site of a big black bear venturing by on the way to eat every night.  This corn field is where Jeff took us.  

On this night, a couple of jaded Los Angeles desk jockeys saw their first dog box, they heard dogs "blowing up" for the first time, saw hounds being dropped onto a track, they watched the Garmin's & walkies being used like a musical instruments, and they got to see a black bear sitting in a tree.  All within minutes.  "This is not typical," said Jeff referencing the speed of the treeing and how close it was to the road.  Plus, the bear was perched a mere 10 feet in the tree!  The production team was convinced.  

"Big Nuts" looking down from the tree (above, below right)

 Jeff was very proud of his dogs and gloated that he was able to have a bear treed for us so quickly.  He assured us, it does not happen that easy very often.  When we reached the tree, the bear was enormous, 300-350 lbs.  Being our first bear, it looked huge.  Jeff did agree that it was very large, but also noticed it was a male.  Since the bear was only 10 feet up in a tree, it was very easy to see, yet since it was dark, it was hard to film.  Armed with only our cell phones (please excuse the poor quality images), we started filming and snapping pictures furiously.  What we noticed was the bear was turned butt-end toward us.  And let's just say, you could tell it was a male!  

Our resident taxidermist John Mentus shouts out, "Look at the nuts on him.  We'll call him Big Nuts."  The name stuck.

That night was significant because it cemented for us our desire to come to Ft. Seybert and shoot Rough Run.  It was also the night Jeff Davis began his obsession with tracking down Big Nuts.  This formed the basis for our episode entitled "The Whale" (premieres Sunday at www.roughrun.com).  

Thanks, Big Nuts