The man who killed the black bear that the Pennsylvania Game Commission has described as the largest wild bear ever seen in York County recently was found guilty of illegally taking game.

Gregory Myers, 67, of Newberry Township, was found guilty February 5 and ordered to pay a $1,200 fine plus $117 in court costs by District Judge Richard Thomas, who did not also impose a $5,000 replacement fee requested by the commission.

Thomas found Myers not guilty of a second charge of resisting or interfering with the commission’s investigation into the incident.

The possibility of a revocation of Myers hunting license will be determined by the commission at a future date, noted State Game Warden Amy Nabozny.

According to the commission, Myers used a crossbow to shoot the bear, which weighed 480 pounds field-dressed and was estimated at 560 pounds live-weight, on November 12, 2018, two days after the close of the archery hunting season for bear in 2018. He was hunting on a farm in Fairview Township, York County, at the time.

Game wardens confiscated the skull and preserved hide of the bear at the hearing, noting that they will remain in York County for use in the commission’s education programs.

In 2018, when the statewide bear kill was 3,153, hunters legally harvested four bears in York County.

Last year, when a record 4,653 black bears were killed across Pennsylvania in all hunting season, just one bear was taken legally in York County.

Among the 58 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties where bears were harvested in 2019, York was at the bottom. Lycoming County topped all counties in 2019, with 284 bears taken by hunters, followed by Clinton and Tioga counties, each with 267 bears killed.

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Contact Marcus Schneck at mschneck@pennlive.com.