LAS VEGAS, Nev. -- Dusty Tuckness did not set out to win a second consecutive Bullfighter of the Year award.
Sure, the Meeteetse resident would love to challenge Joe Baumgartner's records of being voted to 14 National Finals Rodeo appearances and four Bullfighter of the Year awards.
But Tuckness' goals start much smaller.
"I really didn't look at this year for this award or the Finals," Tuckness tells the Casper Star-Tribune (http://bit.ly/uemJhO ). "I just like taking it rodeo by rodeo and just try to get better and be consistent and everything will play out at the end of the year."
That was a model for success again in 2011.
Tuckness qualified for his third consecutive NFR -- he was an alternate in 2008 -- and was honored as the world's top bullfighter for the second straight year before the event began last week.
It was an impressive feat, particularly when considering Tuckness suffered a pair of temporarily debilitating injuries.
"I wouldn't say any one means more than the other," Tuckness said. "I know I was more nervous this year. You see guys win an award, and some guys win it once, some guys win it twice. Every year, in a way, it gets harder maybe.
"For me, after winning it once, I wanted to just keep getting better and better."
That mission became more frustrating early in the rodeo season.
Tuckness, who struggled with shoulder pain through the NFR and the National Circuit Finals Rodeo, tore his labrum at the rodeo in Fort Worth, Texas, in early February.
"I got it fixed right after Houston," Tuckness said. "They said it'd be three or four months, and I was back in nine weeks."
Tuckness returned to fight at the College National Finals, which took place in June in Casper.
He fought throughout the busy summer months as well. But just as the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association season was ending in late September he was injured again at the Justin Boots Championships in Omaha, Neb.
"I had a bull hook me and get me down and smack me right in the knee," Tuckness said. "Three weeks later, I found out I broke my kneecap."
Tuckness was told he could be ready by early November, but was ready to get back to his strenuous workout regimen when he learned he'd work his third NFR in the middle of October.
"We know who gets to the NFR in the middle of October and I like to start working out hard right after that," Tuckness said. "It took two and a half, three weeks away from me, but I felt like I took the right amount of time and did what I had to do."
For some, the mounting injuries might be a sign to get out of the business.
"When I was really young, I got in a bad wreck with a bull. That's the only time I ever thought, 'Maybe this isn't what I want to do,"' said Tuckness, explaining that his father, Timber, was clowning the performance. "I didn't really know a whole lot about what I was doing, I just knew I was a bullfighter.
"With the support of my family, I just kept pushing and building off of that."
He's been polishing his skills ever since.
And for the second straight year, Tuckness can say he's the best of the best.
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