Texas Game Wardens have filed 74 charges against a New Braunfels man accused of illegally killing at least 13 white-tailed bucks in Comal, Hays, and Bexar counties between the fall of 2024 and late summer 2025.
Darrell Maguire, 55, allegedly shot some of the animals with a crossbow from his vehicle, removing only the heads and leaving the carcasses to waste, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) said in a statement today.
He was arrested in September on wildlife and drug possession charges.
While executing a search warrant of his residence, wardens recovered evidence they say linked him to multiple poaching scenes.
Wardens said Maguire also exceeded the annual bag limit during the 2024 hunting season, allegedly taking five white-tailed bucks over the legal limit in Bexar County.
From June through September 2025, investigators believe he illegally killed at least eight of the white-tailed bucks in residential areas across Comal and Hays counties.
The investigation began in June 2025 after multiple white-tailed buck carcasses were discovered in Comal and Hays counties.
Several of the incidents occurred in residential neighborhoods, where wardens recovered crossbow bolts from front yards and porches.
In late June 2025, TPWD reported that a deer shot from a roadway in a residential neighborhood near 1170 Kuehler Ave., New Braunfels, was discovered with its head likely removed as a trophy.
Another buck was shot dead from a roadway near 109 Mission Dr., New Braunfels, around the same time.
Charges filed against Maguire include:
- Hunting without landowner consent, a state jail felony
- Hunting white-tailed deer at night, a Class A misdemeanor
- Hunting white-tailed deer from a vehicle from a public roadway, a Class A misdemeanor
- Failure to retrieve and keep white-tailed deer in edible condition, a Class A misdemeanor when committed in conjunction with other Class A offenses
- Possession of a controlled substance PG 1/1B (methamphetamines) 5.86 grams, a 2nd degree felony
- Possession of marijuana, a Class B misdemeanor
Maguire also faces multiple Class C Parks and Wildlife Code violations.
TPWD’s Texas game wardens enforce laws related to the conservation and management of natural resources and public safety through community-based law enforcement.