What did Drake McBride do when he saw the panther ?

The owner of the oil company (Drake McBride) and his project manager (Jimmy Lee Bayliss) are in the swamp because Twilly has notified officials that he has seen poop (or SCAT, in this case belonging to a panther) near their drilling site. The two men are there to meet an official and know that their illegal activities are about to be discovered. Neither group knows that the other is there. The two men also see the panther, and Drake McBride shoots at it. The bullet injures Mrs. Starch. Twilly and Smoke take Mrs. Starch to the hospital, leaving Nick and Marta to reunite the cub and its mother. At the same time, the detective and the arson investigator arrive on the scene.