Livre de la chasse
Bequest of Clara S. Peck, 1983
Capturing Wild Boars Feeding in Fields and Orchards
After hunters observed, night after night, that boars would return to feed on apples in the same orchard, they surrounded the apples on the ground with an enclosure built up of either wood or stone, over which the boars would be forced to jump in order to feed. After a few nights, however, a pit would be dug on one end of the enclosure and covered with thin branches and grass as in the miniature. The boar, accustomed to an easy meal, would take the bait, jump over the enclosure, and end up in the pit, where he would become easy prey.
Slaying Wild Boars Feeding on Mast
Wild boars would search for mast (acorns and beechnuts) in the woods, which they usually found by nightfall. Hunters, with their pack of dogs, were advised to approach against the wind in order to avoid detection. First, a single dog would be released to locate and bay at the herd of wild boars. When the other huntsmen heard the baying, they would uncouple the other hounds and chase them with spears, as in the miniature. The lead hunter, dressed in green with an oriental scimitar suspended from his waist, has already pierced a boar's side.
Image courtesy of Faksimile Verlag Luzern