A suspected poacher in Texas is facing a whopping 74 charges after being accused of a slew of wildlife infractions. According to the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD), the investigation into Darrell Maguire, a 55-year-old from New Braunfels, began in June 2025, after whitetail 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,” explained a TPWD spokesperson.
That September, game wardens arrested Maguire on wildlife and drug possession charges. They soon executed a search warrant, which turned up evidence allegedly linking Maguire to “multiple poaching scenes.”
Ultimately, TPWD game wardens say they found evidence to determine that Maguire illegally killed eight whitetail bucks in residential areas from June to September 2025, while “often shooting the animals with a crossbow from his vehicle, removing only the heads and leaving the carcasses to waste.”
Additionally, they are accusing Maguire of allegedly taking five whitetails over the season limit in 2024. The 74 charges that Maguire faces include felonies for hunting without landowner consent and the possession of a controlled substance—5.86 grams of meth—as well as misdemeanors for hunting whitetail deer at night, hunting whitetail deer from a vehicle from a public roadway, failure to retrieve and keep whitetail deer in edible condition, and the possession of marijuana. He also faces additional citations for Parks and Wildlife Code violations.
Maguire’s case is currently pending. TPWD has not released the potential punishments he could receive if convicted.
Photos Courtesy of Texas Parks & Wildlife Department
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