SALEM — The Oregon Department of Justice has hired a special prosecutor to crack down on illegal poaching.

Jay D. Hall joined the DOJ in February as a new assistant attorney general after 12 years with the Lane County District Attorney’s Office in Eugene, where he made his mark prosecuting fish and wildlife crimes.

In 2010, Hall was named Prosecutor of the Year by the Oregon State Police for using the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organization statutes, or RICO, to topple an organized poaching ring that killed more than 300 deer and elk.

Capt. Casey Thomas, with OSP’s Fish and Wildlife Division, said Hall will work with state troopers, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and local prosecutors to provide training and resources that will help discourage poaching.

“(Hall) brings an impressive resume to this position,” Thomas said.

Before he was a prosecutor, Hall served as a sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps. He later worked for former U.S. Rep. Bill Young, a Florida Republican, as a member of his traveling security detail and handled veteran legislative issues.

Upon returning to Oregon, Hall initially worked as a reserve deputy sheriff in Deschutes County. He went on to earn his law degree from the University of Oregon, graduating magna cum laude. From there, he joined the Lane County District Attorney’s Office.

The hiring of an anti-poaching prosecutor marks the final step in a three-pronged campaign to fight poaching in Oregon.

In 2019, state lawmakers approved $4.2 million to establish the Stop Poaching Campaign. Part of the money was set aside for education and awareness; part was used to hire four new OSP Fish and Wildlife troopers and one new sergeant; and part was earmarked for the new prosecutor.

Yvonne Shaw, campaign coordinator with ODFW, said hiring Shaw is “a big step forward in our campaign.”

“This is a wake-up call for poachers,” Shaw said. “There are going to be some repercussions for what they’re doing.”

According to the latest data from ODFW, poachers illegally killed at least 447 big game animals in 2020 — up from 324 in 2019. That includes 220 deer, 161 elk, 15 pronghorn, 13 bears, four bobcats, two wolves, one cougar and one bighorn sheep.

Several wolf poaching cases have also garnered headlines in recent months. Eight wolves were poisoned in northeast Oregon last year, including all five members of the Catherine wolf pack in Union County.

Two wolves were also found killed in the same region earlier this year, including one near Wallowa on Jan. 8 and one near Cove on Feb. 15.

Only a fraction of cases are reported to authorities, Shaw said. Oregon has vast landscapes and waterways, and the crimes often take place at night, which makes poaching difficult to detect.

“That is why it’s so important to have this campaign,” Shaw said. “We really rely on public involvement to report these cases.”

Oregon relies on its Turn-In-Poachers program, or TIP, on which callers can anonymously report poaching and claim a cash reward. The program is cooperatively managed by OSP, ODFW and the Oregon Hunters Association.

In 2020, TIP paid out 61 rewards totaling $20,599. Shaw said the campaign looks forward to working with Hall to raise the prosecution rate for poaching.

“No matter what our own personal values and beliefs are, poaching is wrong,” she said. “It’s nice to have the final facet of this campaign in place.”