4 Comments

I've read that cutting the circle in half may have been a safety measure for shooters and spectators alike. Skeet creates a lot of debris not to mention the potential for accidents. I read the description of clock shooting and was a little horrified.

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Me, too!

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Hi Elaine -

I am an Andover resident, having lived here since 1976, and an avid Skeet shoothe and grouse hunter.

A few months before the sale of 73 Dascomb I was granted permission to enter and photograph the kennel buildings there. It was known as Glen Rock Kennels and was managed by Marjorie Davies, Charles’ wife. They raised, trained and sold bird dogs.

A couple of points in the article are either incorrect or are not fully presented, but it is well written.

There are other sources for Foster’s part in Skeet shooting and the organization nationally of the sport. Foster was the first president of NSSA and the first to break 100 straight Skeet clays.

I am still in touch with the Foster family and with the gentleman, a popular outdoor author, who now owns Bill Foster’s favorite Parker Skeet gun, which I have examined. The Foster family also keeps and maintains Bill’s other Parker shotguns, including that little 16 gauge Grade 2 gun with exposed hammers made famous in New England Grouse Shooting in the first chapter “The Little Gun.”

I am an Invincible Life Member of the Parker Gun Collectors Association and served as editor of our quarterly magazine Parker Pages for some 10 years until my retirement in January 2020.

Dean Romig

Dsromig@aol.com

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Hi Dean,

Thanks so much for sharing your story! You’ve added depth and dimension to our understanding about William Harnden Foster and skeet shooting. I’d like to follow up with you on the points in the post that were incorrect or not fully presented. I want to make sure the story on History Buzz is correct. The History Center has some information in our research files about Foster and skeet. I’m happy to add new information that will give us a better understanding of the whole story.

I’ll also reach out to you through your email address.

Many thanks,

Elaine

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