A Yukon hunter previously convicted of wasting wild game received a seven-year hunting ban and was fined $3,000 in Yukon territorial court Tuesday for violating a court order.

Edward Bernier pleaded guilty to two counts of obtaining a hunting licence when prohibited to do so by a court order.

In May 2013, Judge Michael Cozens issued an order prohibiting Bernier from hunting until May 2017, or until he paid more than $8,000 in fines, whichever occurred last.

Bernier had been convicted of wasting moose meat and failing to affix a seal to the moose.

On Tuesday, Crown prosecutor Lee Kirkpatrick told Justice of the Peace Sharman Morrison-Harvey conservation officers had received information Bernier had obtained hunting licences in April 2014 and 2015.

There is no indication he hunted under those licences, she added.

When questioned by conservation officers, Bernier refused to provide a statement.

Later, he admitted to obtaining them “out of spite,” Kirkpatrick told the court.

Kirkpatrick and defence lawyer Nicholas Weigelt made a joint submission for Bernier’s sentence, asking for a $3,000 fine and a seven-year hunting prohibition.

The fine will be given as a contribution to the Turn In Poachers and Polluters (TIPP) line, operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Bernier misunderstood the terms of the order, Weigelt told the court. He believed he was prohibited from hunting, not having a hunting licence.

Kirkpatrick took issue with Bernier’s offence characterized as a “misapprehension.” He noted Weigelt was already Bernier’s counsel in 2013 and would have explained to him the meaning of the prohibition order.

It also doesn’t make sense, given that he admitted to obtaining those out of spite, she added.

“This has very little bearing in what the sentence will be,” Justice of the Peace Morrison-Harvey ruled when handing out the fine and hunting ban.

During the first five years of the seven-year ban, Bernier will also be prohibited from accompanying any person hunting or any person “armed in the field.”

“It was quite concerning that an individual who had been previously convicted and received a hunting prohibition, to turn around and continue to get licences,” Ryan Hennings, manager of enforcement and compliance with the conservation officer services branch, told the Star today.

“It’s something we take very seriously, and I’m sure the Yukon public takes very seriously.”

The public can phone the TIPP line any time to report anonymously any suspected Wildlife Act violations.

“In recent years, it has become quite the tools for Yukon residents to report such violations to us,” he said.

The Crown dropped four other Wildlife Act charges that had been laid against Bernier on top of violating a court order.

They were two counts each of providing false information and failing to disclose material for the April 2014 and 2015 offences.

The previous conviction stems from a Sept. 22, 2012 hunting trip during which Bernier and a friend shot and killed a moose behind the abandoned Faro lead-zinc mine.

The moose was abandoned, and a witness contacted conservation officers.

The COs “went out and found the partially buried moose by a grizzly bear,” Judge Cozens noted at the time.

The bear came within 11 metres of the COs.

“Mr. Bernier is an experienced hunter, and a Yukon resident who certainly knew better than to act the way he did with respect to this moose,” Cozens said in his 2013 ruling.

Bernier is a lifetime Yukon resident and had been hunting for 28 years.

He was fined $8,625 and had to forfeit his rifle.

To contact the Yukon Environment TIPP line, call 1-800-661-0525.