Sandy's Thoughts: Berry the Lion Hunting Mule

After my article in the March issue (Western Mule Magazine,page 35) concerning the mule/lion confrontation, I finally found out the truth in its entirety.As Ben Tennison, editor and chief of Western Mule Magazine will tell you, we have searched high and low with all the tools we could muster to get the gritty on this story. The true story took place in southwestern New Mexico, (strange how about most every hound book I have read in the era of the late 1800’s- early 1900’s,takes place in southwestern NewMexico). Some of the best known big game houndmen of those times hunted mountain lions and grizzly in New Mexico.Soon after my story in the Marchissue of Western Mule Magazine came out on the web page of Western Mule Magazine, a proud father,Johnny Anglin,saw my story and told me it was his son’s mule and dogs in the lion story and that they have the negatives of those pictures. I asked if I could talk to his son and he said he was out lion hunting and probably would not be in until late. I said I would try calling him later. The next time I tried calling, he was back out hunting lions again so I asked if he would return my call which he did the next day.The mule owner is Jody Anglin and the mule’s name is Berry. When talking to Jody, I could not help but envy his life style. He sure likes lion hunting and hunts whenever he gets a chance. He is not a commercial hunter but does it for his own enjoyment.The New Mexico lion hunting season runs from October 1st to March31st and I believe it has a quota indifferent areas. (Don’t take my word on this, you need to check with the New Mexico game and fish department.)

About Jody Anglin the lion hunter: I have talked to Jody a couple times trying to be sure to get the story correct. Jody is 25 and hunts lions as often as he can. He runs Walker hounds and has around 12 or13 hounds all the time. Most of the mare registered, but I think what is most important to him is that they run lions. Jody was telling me when he first started lion hunting that he would take his hounds and would walk to areas that had lions and follow the tracks on foot. Then he got Berry the mule and life changed for him and made the hunting easier for him.
About Berry the mule: Jody has had Berry since 1998 and he is an 11year old mule now. When Jody first got the mule and after Jody shot the first lion out, Berry casually came over to the lion and just nuzzled the
lion and casually nibbled it. With each lion Berry just got more aggressive.Jody said it didn’t take more than two lions and Berry got really aggressive to the lion until he got to braying real loud and couldn’t wait to get the cat.
When did this incident take place? As near as Jody could place, the pictures were taken a few years ago, maybe 2002 or 2003.
How did these pictures get on the Internet? Jody said that as far as he could remember, he gave these pictures to his grandpa and his grandpa gave them to Jody’s aunt and that aunt gave them to a friend and that friend sent them e-mail to a friend and it went from there to what it is today. Many have tried to take credit for this man’s experience. I asked Jody about the report about the lion stalking them. Jody’s reply was “It’s every mountain lion hunter’s dream that a mountain lion would stalk them, but that was not the case.” I could not agree more.This guy is living the lifestyle that many of us desk-bound wannabe’s wish we could. I have some young Bluetick hounds who are showing real potential for cats, but I don’t have a lot of time to take them out like I’d like to. For now, I just have to live vicariously through Jody’s story and through the lion and grizzly hunting books that I have searched for in my quest for more information. We are offering these books and also electronic collars for training in our store and catalog. We have been pleasantly surprised at how fast they fly off the shelf. I guess I’m not the only one interested in lion hunting,hound dogs and mules.