A man who shot and killed a Yukon family's dog on their property this year was fined in a Whitehorse courtroom this morning.

A justice of the peace handed down a $1,750 fine to Daniel Bridge, from Surrey, B.C., for hunting out of season and dangerous hunting.

Bridge was driving south on the Atlin Road on the afternoon of May 11, when he spotted what he thought was a wolf, a six-year-old German shepherd-black Labrador cross named Tikka.

Bridge told the court by phone he hopped out of the vehicle, rifle in hand, and parked in the driveway of the dog owner, Eric Petersen, not knowing there was a cabin nearby or that wolf hunting was out of season.

"I believed that dog was a wolf ... and I fired one round and I killed that animal,” he said.

Bridge then went back to his vehicle and drove away.

He told the court he intended to pick up the carcass shortly afterward:

"I've dealt with wolves before and they're quite smelly.”

Petersen saw things differently.

The retired Yukon Land Titles officer, now in his 60s, was sipping coffee on the porch of his cabin, "and all of a sudden, a shot rang out very close to me.”

Petersen ran toward Bridge, who said he didn't see Petersen, though he admitted he might have spotted "a face” through the trees.

Petersen insisted Bridge "looked directly at me and took off.”

Petersen followed Bridge down the Atlin Road, catching up with him a kilometre further south, near the B.C. border.

After a heated altercation, Bridge agreed to report the incident to the RCMP.

He apologized in court today: "I would like to say to Mr. and Mrs. Petersen that I am very sorry that I destroyed your dog ... there it is.”

"I believe Mr. Bridge is an honourable man. I believe he made a mistake. But it was a very costly mistake to my family,” Petersen said.

"My family's been very affected by it.”

Petersen's wife and two of his four children were in the courtroom.

"Having your dog shot is a different experience than just losing your pet. It's not easy to process,” his son, Sean Petersen, 28, told the Star.

"This is a very emotional issue .... I couldn't imagine my pet being taken from me like this,” Justice of the Peace Gary Burgess said. "I feel for your loss.”

Bridge is new to the territory, having moved north in 2012 and received a Yukon hunting licence.

"When you move to the Yukon or anyplace ... you have to make yourself aware of what the regulations are and where you can and can't hunt,” Burgess said.

For the two Wildlife Act violations, Bridge has one year to pay the $1,750 fine, to go to the Bella Fund, which supports medical assistance for injured animals through the Mae Bachur Animal Shelter, Tikka's first home.

He was also slapped with a two-year hunting prohibition in the Yukon.

Petersen called for a no-hunting corridor on the Atlin Road, along the lines of the South Klondike Highway and the Hot Springs Road. He further suggested a Yukon-wide ban on hunting from highways.

Petersen said the arrival of more campers along the road makes the Atlin Road ban a necessity.

"There are too many residences and campgrounds now all along the Atlin Road, and someone is going to get hurt.”

Petersen also said the absence of trespassing laws in the territory meant Bridge received a lighter penalty than he might have had the incident occurred a couple kilometres further south.