Legality of a Hit and Run?

Local paper a few days ago some hunting dogs got ran over and the owner is suing for 3M (750K for mental anguish X 2, plus 750K for punitive damages X 2). Years back when I was a child my dad ran over a hunting dog, next thing I knew my dad floored it, when I looked back the hunter had his rifle pointed at us (he didn't shoot, maybe he was using the scope to get our plates, but I didn't like looking down the business end of a rifle). We didn't call the cops because the hunter would likely be gone by the time we got to a phone (no cell back then, rural america towns are miles apart).

I know that if you hit someone's pet the right thing to do is to pull over and try to make things right as best as possible. But sometimes it doesn't pay to do the right thing. I've made up my mind that if I plow over Lasie I'm flooring the gas pedal. But my question is, how legal is that?

P.S. I've never hit a person, but if I do I'll stop. If I get out of the car or stay in the car with the engine running depends on how safe I feel.