From the FCS Book of Little-Known Facts – Fox Tossing

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Fox Tossing
An engraving of German aristocrats engaged in the sport of fox tossing or Fuchsprellen (lit. “fox bouncing”)

Fox tossing was a competitive blood sport popular in parts of Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. It involved throwing live foxes and other animals high into the air. It was practiced by members of the aristocracy in an enclosed patch of ground or in a courtyard, using slings with a person on each end to catapult the animal upwards. It was particularly popular for mixed couples, even though it was hazardous for the people launching the animals as the terrified animals would often turn on the participants.

A fox-tossing tournament of the early 18th century, as depicted in Der vollkommene deutsche Jäger (1719)





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