A familiar theme of Foster's art - this from New England Grouse Shooting.

Don, in August I took a tour, by invitation of the Harnden family, of historic Harnden sites in the Wilmington & Tewksbury area (next towns to Andover's west) during their Harnden Family Reunion. Many of them Didn't know of William Harnden Foster and they were delighted to learn of him. I donated a copy of New England Grouse Shooting to the Harnden Museum at the Harnden Tavern in Wilmington, Ma.

Destry, I bought this Lynn Bogue Hunt print... it was tacked to the wall of the 'clubhouse room' of the main kennel house. The seven or eight thumbtacks were very old and rusty - I just know Foster stuck it up there . . .

From New England Grouse Shooting
"Grouse hunting without a dog is not grouse hunting at all."
"Hunting with a good dog during the shooting season is the essence of the sport and because of the shortness of the season many grouse hunters continue to follow the grouse with their dogs, fully absorbed in watching the work and continued training, with no sense of loss because the gun is packed away at home..."
"As the grouse hunter's interest in better dogs increases he becomes more careful of the only bird on which a grouse dog can be made and thus becomes more sparing in his shooting in order to preserve a supply of game that is more important to his future sport alive than dead."

"Flushed"

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../298465623.jpg

By William Harnden Foster, and possibly depicting his son with Foster Sr's 27" barrel 20 gauge DHE SN 225905.

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../298465485.jpg

And BTW: the Ithaca NID Skeet Special was advertised in the July 1926 National Sportsman, only 2 months after the game was named! Was the Ithaca Gun Co. tipped off in advance of the announcement in order to accelerate production of a designated skeet gun?
And why did the skeet logo appear two years later on the L.C. Smith “Skeet Upland Special” and not on that gun?

http://pic20.picturetrail.com:80/VOL.../357598443.jpg

Geerificus, Dean...sounds like a great tour. I guess bringing a Parker hammer gun and a fox skin to lay on Ev's grave for a photo op might cause a stir in suburban Boston...

Indeed it would Don. It would certainly cause more than a raised eyebrow.

While I was on the Harnden tour I asked Dan Harnden, the family historian, if he could show us Everell Harnden's home and when we passed the spot on Rte 38 (the Boston to Lowell Turnpike) Dan pointed to a strip mall and said "That's where it was. . ."

Don said he might be interested in buying Ev's house. By gosh, he may already own it!

William Harnden Foster was the twelfth shooter to break a 25 straight skeet birds with the .410. He did this at the Everett, MA Gun Club on August 24, 1932 with a Parker double. We don't know if it was the .410 Parker that was mentioned earlier.

It would be interesting to know where in Everett, Ma. the Everett Gun Club was located. Today Everett is considered to be a city, there is no open space large enough that shotgun pellets would fall within the boundaries of the property and, (drum roll please) the discharge of firearms in the city of Everett is strictly illegal.

The .410 I am researching as possibly having some connection to William Harnden Foster was made in 1939, so it's not that gun.