When most people think of a bullfighter as a blinged-out matador with a red cape.
Wrong sport.
Or a rodeo clown.
Wrong guy, although both might share the same face-painting makeup artist.
Rodeo legend Dusty Tuckness and his ilk are a different kind of bullfighter. They are often referred to more accurately as “protection specialists.” It’s their job to put themselves in harm’s way to save a bull rider when he gets in trouble.
And 37-year-old Tuckness is the best there ever was. With all respect to hall-of-famers like Frank Newsome and Rob Smets, Tuckness reinvented the game.
An unequaled 15 trips to the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) and 10 times voted PRCA Bullfighter of the Year, “Tuck,” as his cowboy kin call him, was born to protect and serve. When a cowboy is down and vulnerable, Tuckness is a fearless first responder, always ready to sacrifice himself at any cost.
The GOAT?
“Let me tell you right now, this guy is a 10-time PRCA Bullfighter of the Year, the most decorated bullfighter in the history of professional rodeo,” rodeo announcer Steve Kenyon bellows from the crow’s nest. “He calls Meeteetse, Wyoming, home. How ‘bout it for Dusty Tuckness!”
Kenyon has seen a lot of bullfighters come and go, but never one with the complete skillset of Tuckness.
“He’s got the instincts, he’s got the courage, he’s got the athleticism. He’s as good as they come,” Kenyon said.
Bull rider J.W. Harris agrees.
“Every kid that laces up a pair of cleats, every bullfighter coming up wants to be just like Dusty Tuckness or better than Dusty Tuckness. And, well, good luck with that,” Harris said.
When bullshit hits the fan, Tuck is the guy every roughstock rider wants to see coming to his rescue. They know he is one of the few that will “take a hooking” in their place and put himself on the line for their wellbeing.
“Dusty changed the sport,” said bull rider Trevor Kimzey. “He came in and everybody thought he was just this crazy guy wanting to get hooked. Literally everything the guys are doing now, he started it.”
Tuckness is reckless within reason. Confident, gutsy, certainly heroic at times. All that would make him blush.
The famed bullfighter abhors the spotlight.
“I kinda just like to go do my deal and give God the glory,” he told Cowboy State Daily.
But there is no denying Tuckness has a gift for reading animals and a knack for being in the right place at the right time.
And that place is the heart of disaster where no one else ever wants to be.
Rodeo bullfighters Dusty Tuckness, left, and Cory Wall keep a bull away from Sonny Murphy after he finished his ride during the bull riding event at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in Reliant Stadium on March 11, 2012, in Houston. (James Nielsen, Houston Chronicle via Getty Images) 
This is modern-day rodeo bullfighting at its finest — Dusty Tuckness steps into the gap to take on a bull and give a rider a chance to get away unharmed. (Courtesy Photo) 
Douglas Duncan is thrown and then charged by a bull named Johnny Ho as bullfighter Dusty Tuckness moves in to draw the bull away from the rider at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo on March 13, 2009, in Houston. (Steve Campbell, Houston Chronicle via Getty Images) 
Bullfighter Dusty Tuckness tries to stop Hustle & Flow during the bull riding competition during the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo at NRG Park on March 7, 2015, in Houston. (Karen Warren, Houston Chronicle via Getty Images) 
Dusty Tuckness to the rescue. (Courtesy Photo) 
When the situation calls for it, Dusty Tuckness will get hands-on with a bull. (Courtesy Photo) 
Dusty Tuckness is always quick to credit his success to his faith in God. (Courtesy Photo)
‘This Is A Game Of Inches’
Depending on the situation, bullfighters provide a distraction at the very least — drawing a bull away from a rider who has just come unseated. In worst-case scenarios, these guardian angels become surrogate targets, taking punishment meant for someone else.
“This is a game of inches. It’s a game of bumps and bruises and injury and pain. It’s not if you’ll get hurt, it’s when and how bad,” Tuckness said.
More than a few times the Meeteetse bullfighter has slapped a frisky bull on the nose, pulled its tail or shook it by the horns to get the animal to focus on him and not a bull rider in the dirt.
Bullfighters dread two things most of all in the dangerous rodeo event. A cowboy knocked unconscious or dazed to the point he cannot get up and run for the fence; or the hang up, when a rider comes off a bull except for his hand still caught under his tightly-wrapped rope (handle).
“Sometimes, when that guy is knocked out and vulnerable, when he’s not moving, if that bull cannot be drawn away, we really have to open up and sacrifice ourselves and our own body even more,” Tuckness said. “In that situation, I’m not going to just step in and step out.
“I'm going to be aggressive, I'm going to engage this bull and try to draw him out. Sometimes it means literally grabbing that bull by the horns and taking their shot to make that bull commit to you and step away from the downed rider.”
Tuckness said a rookie mistake is to try to cover a prone rider’s body with your own.
“All you do is make a bigger target for the that animal to come to,” he said.
What Tuckness says he does is to get into the pocket or gap — the area between bull and bull rider — and refocus an animal’s attention to him.
If a rider becomes hung up, Tuckness tries to help that rider keep his feet and will reach up to climb on the bull’s back to get his hand free.
In the heat of the moment, when rider and bull are “in the blender,” hopelessly spinning out of control, Tuckness said there is a kind of calm in the eye of the storm.
“Believe it or not, everything is pretty slow motion for us out there even when it looks chaotic,” he said. “You don't have time to think. And if I'm thinking, I’m late and I'm not doing my job.
“You are no different than a fireman running into a burning building. You are just reacting. Get in there and get everyone out.”
Watch Tuck do his thing.
God, Guts And Great Instincts
A man of deep faith, Tuckness is always quick to credit God for his success. Still, he understands training and preparation are what also keeps him and those around him safe when the wrecks come.
At 37, Tuckness has to do more to keep his body in peak shape for the rigors of the sport. Mentally, he feels as good as he ever has in his career.
“I've been in the business long enough now where you can call me a veteran. I’m not the 22-year-old kid I used to be,” admits Tuckness, who has been fighting bulls since the age of 12.
“Mentally, physically, I feel great. Especially mentally. My mental game has grown through the years. That is a reflection of how much I have put into this as a career,” he said. “Not a day that goes by for the last 25 years or more where I have not thought about bullfighting, and very few days in the past 15 years where I have not done something physically to keep my body in shape to do this.”
Like a bull rider wants to know the “book” on a bull — does it like to spin left, right or buck in place? — Tuckness said he will study video on bulls and bull riders to learn their tendencies. It’s something he keeps in the back of his mind, but never makes that his complete game plan going in.
“You have confidence in your preparation — the film study, muscle memory, being around cattle. You just rely on everything you know, and then read and react in real time,” Tuckness said. “The more you start game planning, that’s usually when things go a little different and you, that’s when it can kind of go to crap, in a sense.
“There is a lot of anticipation and reaction. You go off your instincts and your training. Ultimately, you are dealing with an animal and on any given day they can do what they want.”
Tuckness’ ability to read an animal in the moment is uncanny. It’s what separates him from peers like Cody Webster and Lucas Teodoro, who are both extremely talented bullfighters, but few have the eye Tuckness has developed over the years.
“It’s years of being around cattle and seeing how they move. It’s watching the bull rider (something bullfighters call ‘reading the pilot’). Is he starting to look off, or favoring one side or the other? And it’s having confidence in that preparation is what separates a lot of guys I think,” Tuckness said.
He and his fellow fighters also keep a mental note on which riders are more likely to hang up, and what bulls have enough mean in them that they want to finish the job on a bull rider that has come off.
At 37, Dusty Tuckness has become a mentor to younger bullfighters getting into the sport. (Courtesy Photo) 
Bullfighter Dusty Tuckness, left, and bull rider Sage Kimzey celebrate a successful ride at the 2019 National Finals Rodeo. (Courtesy Photo) 
Dusty Tuckness has a little fun with a rank bull at the 2023 National Finals Rodeo. (Courtesy Photo) 
Dusty Tuckness is the picture of concentration as he keeps a watchful eye on rider and bull. (Courtesy Photo)
Called Home
Like anyone who’s ever stepped in the dirt at a rodeo arena, Tuckness has been hurt and battled back from those injuries. His mother said he broke his arm on his very first bull ride at the age of 5.
“You learn to accept that injuries can happen, and when you are hurt you have peace during your recovery and the fact it will probably happen again,” Tuckness said. “But I feel this is God’s true calling for my life. Through my faith in Jesus and receiving him in my life, I understanding he has a will and a way and a purpose for my life.”
To Tuckness, injuries are just one of the many adversities he has had to face and overcome. He considers it all a testing and strengthening of his faith. He said he frequently returns to New Testament, James 1 in times of hardship, which speaks about being a servant to faith.
The OG bullfighter also leans into his role as mentor and disciple to younger rodeo cowboys. He knows people look up to him as he did his heroes.
“I don't have to do this, I get to do this. I’m blessed to do this. And I want to be a giver. I want to be an influencer. I want to see guys do more than I ever did,” Tuckness said.
Retirement will come soon for the legendary rodeo cowboy. His body simply won't take the pounding much longer. Tuckness said he is not ready to think about that day yet or what he’ll do when it comes.
There is a good chance he’ll head back to the place he’s always called home.
“I don't know where I will go when we are done rodeoing. Wherever I go, Meeteetse has always been home,” Tuckness said.
He has spent the past decade or so operating out of Oklahoma, but is on the road up to 10 months out of the year.
“Every time someone asks where I'm from the answer is always Wyoming,” Tuckness said. “There is not a time when I'm back and I drive through that little town where I don't recall some old memories. I've been a lot of places, seen a lot of things.
“But Meeteetse will always be home. It’s always going to be Wyoming.”
Watch Him In Action
A digital series about famed bullfighter Dusty Tuckness titled “Heartbeat of the Rodeo” premiered Thursday at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody and posted to the Cody Yellowstone Wyoming YouTube channel.
Jake Nichols can be reached at: Jake@CowboyStateDaily.com
