Hunters with crossbows
How a crossbowman should approach animals
How a crossbowman should approach animals by means of a cart concealed with foliage.
Crossbowman approaching game
Crossbowman approaching game by means of a stalkig horse
Shooting rabbits with the crossbow
Joannes Stradanus, born at Bruges 1536, died at Florence 1605, a Flemish historical painter who delighted in portraying all kinds of sport, such as shooting, hunting, fishing and coursing, which he did with wonderful skill and in most realistic fashion. This picture is reduced from ' Venationes Ferarum,' a work consisting of 105 large plates of sporting scenes, dated 1578. The hunters carry stonebows, and the rabbits are being driven from their burrows by smoke and fire. Purse nets and stop nets may also be seen in use.
Crossbowmen killing Deer and Wild Boars
From MS. Gaston Phosbus. Fourteenth century