Hypothetical "hunting" situation?

Question

ok, i was thinking, and started wondering, about a hypothetical situation involving a bigfoot hoax. Ok, so, here it is:

what would happen if somebody was hunting, or otherwise in the wilderness with a firearm, and they saw what looked to them as a bigfoot. assuming that in this situation it could be seen clearly, and it is obvious that it's no other wild animal, if the person seeing this, shot and killed the thing, but it turned out to be a "person in a monkey suit" what would happen under the law?

would it be straight up murder? manslaughter? or would it be void because of "misrepresentation" by the vitctim (or some other fancy term, but something like it)...

Answer 1

prolly jail time none the less, and why the h**l would someone be walking around in a monkey suit? lol! good question though, you get my star!

Answer 2

it would be stupidity. even if bigfoot is real, theres no bigfoot hunting season. so... hypothetically, you could get the same punishment as hunting any other animal out of season, and murder.  

Answer 3

It would be manslaughter.

Answer 4

it would likely be manslaughter, especially since it the arugment would be that the hunter thought the person was a creature that doesn't exist.

Answer 5

Where I come from, any dumb@ss that dresses up in a bigfoot suit and goes in the woods DESERVES to be shot.  So, in my world...you are allowed to stuff the b@stard and mount him on your wall.  Even if he is a dentist and a father of four.

"Here is my mounted dumb@*** in a monkey suit."

Answer 6

I wouldn't call it murder, as the hunter was not intending to kill a human.

On the other hand, as a jurist, I wouldn't look kindly on someone who shot a human-looking animal when they couldn't make a positive ID, when the animal didn't threaten them.  If I were the hunter, I would have considered whether it could be a person in a monkey suit.  What other game walks on two legs?  Maybe someone's making a movie?

Also, all big animals are regulated.  If you have a tag for a bear, then you're only supposed to shoot a bear.  If you didn't make a positive ID, and shot a gorilla, you would not only be killing the wrong animal, but a highly endangered species.

Answer 7

I think you should bring the body to the police ASAP dude

Answer 8

It would bring a criminal charge, since I'm sure the hunter wouldn't have a license to kill Big Foot, in or out of season.  And I doubt that any jury would be forgiving of someone whose only reaction to the greatest find in the scientific world was to kill it!