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Fol. 91

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Gaston Phoebus

Hunting and Slaying the Otter

Livre de la chasse, in French

France, Paris
ca. 1407

Bequest of Clara S. Peck, 1983

MS M. 1044 (fol. 91)
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The otter, like the fox, was little loved because it preyed on fish, not only in rivers but in ponds, cutting into the food supply. Since the otter left the water at night, the lymerer, with specially trained lymers, picked up his trail at the water's edge, where footprints and characteristic droppings would indicate both the direction and point at which the otter left or entered the water. For a single river, as depicted here, Phoebus suggested the use of four men—two on each bank, one to go upstream, the other down. Hunters, with spears or tridents, stab the otter. Were they to miss, the otter would still end up in the weighted nets that were spread above and below the otter's couch (lair). A second otter has been captured in a tree trunk. The otter would then be skinned and his cooked flesh would provide a feast for the dogs.

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Image courtesy of Faksimile Verlag Luzern,