November 27, 2003 - Roosevelt County, NM
Billy Bags a Big 'Un

Tucci Takes Massive Sand Hill Muley In New Mexico Desert

Self professed student of "manly men" Ernest Hemingway, Teddy Roosevelt and Beau Smith, sometime comic creator/filmmaker Billy Tucci took a wonderful 10 point 280 plus pound Mule Deer last Friday, November 21, 2003.

Hunting in the wilds of New Mexico with his father-in-law Andy and brother-in-law Andrew, Billy is trying to make this sound like a legitimate press release but is simply very proud of this accomplishment, beating his chest and looking for an excuse not to do real work at the moment.

For the uneducated, wusses and tree-hugging pseudo-intellectuals among you, the US Department of Natural Resources has determined that there are over 20 million deer in the United States with numbers increasing annually. Successful management from hunting conservationists is one of the keys to flourishing populations since the early 1900's when only 500,000 white-tailed deer inhabited the United States.

Billy, haloed within the swirling aromas of his Becker pipe, describes the hunt as "A long, vast three person stalk at dawn that took us up and through a heavily brushed and cragged landscape littered with rattlesnakes." Having glassed a herd of 20 or so doe, the former paratrooper immediately lowered the settings on his 4 X 14 X 40 mm Zeiss Conquest scope to eight power, unslung his Remington Model 700 rifle, turned around his lucky Army BDU cap and silently crept towards the sand hill summit until…

"We [the buck and I] saw each other at the same time, and quicker than you could read this, I had dropped to one knee, clicked off the safety, laid the crosshairs just below his lungs and squeezed off a 150 grain 300 Ultra Mag round. "

The old buck (only a mere 40 yards away and bedded down against a barbed wire fence) tried to rise but fortunately, the shot was lethal. This was followed by a final coup de grace which put the Muley down for good.

"I couldn't believe the size of his antlers!" The hunter exclaimed. "This was my fourth deer and the others, though respectable, cannot hold a candle to this buck. We believe he'll score about 180 points on the Boone & Crockett registry and look forward to a winter of venison." The rest of the deer meat (about 100 pounds) was given to struggling families and a local church.

The massive buck will be scored and mounted by taxidermist Joshua Rector and will be honored in the Tucci family room next to the fireplace. He would like to thank ranch owner Noel Rippee, and Andy and Andrew for such a wonderful hunt.

Billy, who swears he doesn't have any insecurity issues, is represented by Keith Boesky and blossoming super-agent Mikhail Nayfield of ICM, both of whom think his wife Deborah should leave him immediately.

For a more detailed account on what Billy calls "his last Mule Deer" hunt, please log onto his online Crusade journal at www.crusadefinearts.com. If you haven't registered you can easily do so online.

Now hopefully this lead-slinging past Patron of the Bronx Zoo's Wildlife Conservation Society will find his way back to his real-world responsibilities and get back to work on illustrating the new Shi miniseries.

Always vying for the last word, Billy pompously puffed on last drag of the pipe and finished, "But I still took my buck of a lifetime! Jag off!"

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Media Contacts:
Deborah Tucci
Crusade Fine Arts Ltd.


Billy Tucci
Crusade Fine Arts Ltd.