I read The humble Farmer (Robert Skoglund) in just about every edition of the paper in which he writes. I usually find him lighthearted and humorous with a bit of old-school lessons to be learned. I feel compelled, however, to comment on his most recent column, published Nov. 25: “Hunter seeing a deer in anything that moves is understandable.”

I must say I found it to be careless and irresponsible, especially in light of the recent hunting accidents we learned of – the woman being shot and killed by a hunter in her own backyard in Hebron, to name just one. The timing of this column was less than empathetic, especially to her family.

I also find it baffling that when we apply a fancy word or label like “pareidolia” to a behavior, it both minimizes the behavior and its consequences. The definition of “pareidolia” is “a psychological phenomenon in which the mind responds to a stimulus, usually an image or sound, by perceiving a familiar pattern where none exists.” The columnist’s interpretation of this word is “the need of the human brain to make sense out of chaos.”

Either way, this should not be an excuse for hunters to shoot at anything that moves in the woods. The humble Farmer claims that he is not a hunter; neither am I, but I do know that the first rule of hunter safety is to identify your target.

Jennifer Kozel

Sanford