Police: Bigfoot hunter shoots friend in back after hearing 'barking noise'

On a casual Saturday night hunt for Bigfoot (a.k.a. Sasquatch) in Rogers County, Okla., a "barking noise" spooked one hunter and he “jerked and shot his friend in the back,” authorities there told a local television station.

And that was just the beginning of the trouble for the hunters and their families and in the end three arrests were made in the incident.

The 21-year-old alleged shooter was arrested for reckless conduct with a firearm and obstruction, NewsOn6.com reported. And the victim of the shooting is expected to survive.

The alleged shooter’s father-in-law compounded the trouble when he allegedly threw the suspect’s rifle in a pond in an attempt to hide evidence. The father-in-law was a felon and wasn’t supposed to have a firearm, so the 53-year-old was charged with “felon in possession of a firearm and destruction of evidence.”

Then the shooter’s wife got into trouble when she apparently told police both hunters had been shot by someone else. She was charge with obstruction.

"The aggravating part of this whole deal is that their dishonesty wasted several man hours of not only the Rogers County Sheriff's Office, but our partners at the Tulsa County Sheriff's Office," Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton told NewsOn6.

The hunters may have been encouraged to hunt for the mysterious and possibly mythical beast because of a recent rash of news stories centered on a group’s claim to have Bigfoot DNA.

Omar Pineda (left), Perry Don James (center) and Lacey Pineda (right) were arrested in connection with a Bigfoot hunt that ended in an accidental shooting. (Photos from the Rogers County Sheriff's Department) Omar Pineda (left), Perry Don James (center) and Lacey Pineda (right) were arrested in connection with a Bigfoot hunt that ended in an accidental shooting. (Photos from the Rogers County Sheriff's Department) Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close Police: Bigfoot hunter shoots friend in back after hearing 'barking noise' 1 / 8 Back to Gallery

The Sasquatch Genome Project trotted out video footage of Bigfoot wondering around and sleeping in the woods at a news conference last month and also claimed to have tested “111 specimens of Sasquatch hair, blood, skin and other tissue types.”

“They’re a type of people, they’re a human-hybrid, we believe. And all of the DNA evidence points to that. And they can allude us, so if you get [footage] at all, it can be fleeting,” Melba Ketchum, who has led the Sasquatch Genome Project, told ABC affiliate WFAA.

You can see some of the footage in the video above.

Jake Ellison can be reached at 206-448-8334 or jakeellison@seattlepi.com. Follow Jake on Twitter at twitter.com/Jake_News. Also, swing by and *LIKE* his page on Facebook.