Steve Matthes Article

[Dan V]

Here is an article written by Steve Matthes from the July 1994 Full Cry issue. Some good info, and some good advice.

[Dan Edwards]

Thank you very much for sharing that article with us.

[Nolte]

Great Article. It sure beats the hell out of the squirrel dogs and Laikaa stories they have now.

[r_cordell]

Great article. Was he a regular contributer for Full Cry? If anybody else has any of his articles, let's see 'em. And if anybody knows where to find his book let me know.

[R Severe]

Thanks Dan, good stuff.

I remember a few more article's Steve sent in to Full Cry. The one that really sticks in my mind was one where he ran a female lion off here kill (deer)on the way up a canyon. On the way back he found the ground all tore up around the kill from a battle. There was a bear, dead and covered by the deer so he ran the lion again to see how she looked.
Don't remember the issue but it's in my pile somewhere.

[Mike Leonard]

Steve contributed quite a few around that time, and that was about the time I started writing in Full Cry. He had a very interesting article on how he staked his pups out doubled up on twin chains and how well it worked. I talked to him at length about this on the phone and tried it and it really was amazing.

Steve was an insightful man and much like Wiley Carroll was always coming up with a new device oe system to make things work easier.

[R Severe]

I think I listened to a presentation of Steve's at the San Deigo zoo once. I was just back from the Gulf of Tonkin and the young ladies of the day didn't seem to care for for returning Vets much . A few of us went to the zoo to be around critters that didn't scowl at us.

There was a guy and his wife there with a lion on a chain speaking at great lenth of the habits and facts of the big cats. Didn't catch his name at the time but reconized him and his wife from his book when I got it.
He dang sure knew his cats.

[Dan V]

Robin,
I found it pretty interesting reading Wiley Carrol's book, just how may people used to have "pet" lions. Or maybe captive lions is a better word. It sure would be fun to watch them though. There was some University of Idaho land that I used to deer hunt near about 20 miles outside of Moscow, ID. They still had the high fence up from where Maurice Hornocker studied some lions up there. From what I've been told, they put deer inside this 20 acre fenced in area that had lions in there and were able to study the lions and watch them make their kills. Next time I make it up north, I think I'll stop in and see what written info they have about it.

[R Severe]

Dan
Thats one of the things I really like about Steve's book, all the little things he noticed about his captive lions.

I've got ahold of a few write up's on some of the lion studys, pretty good reading. They have a study going on close to me right now, I'm always pestering the bio's with questions.