I have to agree with the majority here. Intent is everything. I was on a youth hunt a few years back, when one of the youngsters took a shot at a cow elk that had not seperated from the herd enough. He ended up hitting the spike bull behind her. His two front shoulders being shattered, his dad put a round through his head, then called the warden to report what had happened. The warden gave them a small fine ($100?) and two points on dad's license. They got to keep the bull.
I thought the dad did the right thing and the warden seemed to respect that.