When a pair of Yukon conservation officers executed a search warrant on a Whitehorse man's Prospector Road home last May, they expected to find evidence of an illegally hunted caribou.

What they found went for beyond the scope of the territory's Wildlife Act, and prompted them to call in the Mounties.

Following the search of his home, the RCMP charged Jean-Claude Masse with one count of possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking and 14 weapons charges.

Eleven rifles were seized during the search, along with a Browning machine gun, a .45-calibre handgun, almost one kilogram of marijuana, weighing scales and various drug paraphernalia.

In territorial court Thursday, Masse pleaded guilty to the drug charge and possession of a restricted weapon.

Prosecutor Eric Marcoux told the court that Masse had inherited the machine gun from his father, and had admitted to buying the handgun on the street. It was not clear which of the two weapons was found loaded.

In making his plea bargain, the 48-year-old francophone dodged some serious federal time, as the minimum sentence for possessing a loaded restricted weapon is three years.

But those sentencing provisions, introduced in 2006 and passed by the Senate the next year, were put in place for gangs and criminals with a history of violence, not outdoorsy gun collectors, and territorial court judge Heino Lilles was clearly content to accept the deal.

In fact, the attitude in his courtroom was positively jovial Thursday, as the semi-retired judge walked Masse through the conditions of his sentence to 12 months' house arrest.

"You would do really well if, over the next 12 months, she would be your best friend,” Lilles said of Masse's conditional sentence supervisor.

He gave the supervisor broad discretion as to when and why Masse would be permitted to leave his house, beyond the usual activities of doctors visits and work.

His lawyer, André Roothman, pointed out that his client suffers from depression, and it would be vital to his mental health that he be allowed out during the summer months. With that in mind, he negotiated a relaxation of the house arrest to a 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew after six months.

Masse was allowed to give away 10 of his 11 registered hunting rifles to other licensed gun owners.

Three friends, at least one of whom has been implicated in the pending Wildlife Act charges, sat behind Masse in the courtroom yesterday.

Along with Alan and John Robinson, Masse is charged with a number of offences surrounding an alleged illegal caribou hunt in the fall of 2007.

The Wildlife Act charges are currently working their way through the court process; the three men are scheduled to enter their pleas on Jan. 18, 2011.