RYE-- For David Tilton, the number of unleashed dogs on his property has reached a tipping point.

Tilton owns 56 acres of land at his 390 Washington Road residence, where he’s lived since the early 1970s. With the majority of his land abutting town property, Tilton said for many years he’s allowed people to walk along its perimeter near the town forest. He’s even cut trails of his own and said he’s met some wonderful people down there.

“The town people became so used to using my land that a majority, while they were walking, thought they were on town land,” said Tilton, adding one couple thought he worked for the town when he was clearing brush on his property.

Recently, though, even with the signs he’s placed banning dogs there, the number of unleashed dogs crossing into the interior of his land has increased.

“I don’t have anywhere near the wildlife I used to have,” said Tilton. “I’m here and the land is here because I want to enjoy it.”

Tilton said the issue has surged in the last two years with the closing and barring of dogs at Peirce Island.

“I’m a small part of the dog problem in Rye,” he said.

Tilton’s neighbor, Shawn Joyce, has also voiced his frustrations.

Joyce and Tilton wrote about the issue in a joint letter to the Rye Board of Selectmen in December, stating they’ve been reporting the dogs to the Rye Conservation Commission for years with very little being done in return.

“Allowing dogs to run at large and disturbing the wildlife and habitat is against NH state laws,” they wrote.

The letter was filed, and Tilton attended the selectmen’s meeting in January of this year to make a statement about the dogs on his property.

“In an effort to put a halt to it, I put out live coyote traps,” Tilton said. He said one dog was in the trap for almost two hours before the owner found it, and another dog was in the trap for an hour. But a few residents at the meeting said the dogs were attracted to the traps because of the baited deer parts, so he removed the bait.

The state law says dogs have to be under control by their owners, but Tilton said it’s unenforceable. Though the Rye Conservation Commission now has a leashes-required section from cars to 150 feet inside each of the town forest trails and signs that define control, Tilton asks how this will help him and his neighbors who own land on the other side of the trails?

“RCC seems to be doing everything and anything to avoid having a leash law,” he said.

Tilton said one of the entrances to his land is by Parson’s Field. “What’s wrong with exercising the dog in Parson’s Field, but coming in the trails with a dog on a leash?” he said.

Police Chief Kevin Walsh said he understands Tilton’s frustration. Walsh said at the deliberative session the public watered down the warrant article that had been submitted for a leash law, and eliminated leashes from it.

Tilton’s land is home to deer, raccoons, foxes, fisher cats, coyotes and birds among many other species.

Sitting in his sunroom at home, Tilton has enjoyed the sight of wildlife roaming his yard. He said one time he watched three deer and three foxes interact with each other, and he’s seen many fox pups playing in his yard.

He has a feeding station he fills daily when it’s not hunting season, where he pours deer food and apples for the deer to feast on. He also has many bird feeders in his yard.

Tilton set up 20 deer stands along his property, where he often goes out into the woods to just watch and enjoy the wildlife. During hunting season, he said he’s very picky about taking a deer when he bow hunts, only choosing to take a buck. He wants to preserve the ecosystem there.

Having set up cameras to track the wildlife, he has since filmed many of the dogs running through his property. In January, he counted 19 unleashed dogs had entered the interior of his woods, and has witnessed many dogs chasing the wildlife there.

“All it would take is a leash law along the edge of this property. Is it that complicated?” said Tilton.

Tilton said the dogs drive animals away and affect the reproduction of wildlife in the area.

“They’re vulnerable,” said Tilton.

A wildlife biologist at N.H. Fish and Game, Brendan Clifford, said even though they’re not portrayed that way in the media, the majority of hunters, like Tilton, are “very conservation-minded.”

Clifford said for most hunters, hunting is a tradition passed down to them from prior generations and they usually are hunting for meat and food.

“They don’t want to hurt their resources,” Clifford said.

Clifford said 19 dogs on a property in one month certainly sounds like an excessive amount. When there’s repeated behavior like that, it will flush the wildlife out of the area or “deter wildlife in that area.”

“They’re not a natural thing to be there, so an animal will react adversely,” said Clifford, noting that in areas where there are dog parks, there typically isn’t wildlife surrounding them.

“You’re certainly not going to attract wildlife there. You’re only going to lose it.”

As Clifford explains, when dogs chase after wildlife, they might be curious or think they’re being playful, but that “adds stress to the animals there.”

Clifford said many species would see a dog as a predator. “To an animal, it looks like a coyote.”

But it isn’t only the wildlife that is in danger of a predator.

Tilton said recently there was an unleashed dog on his property at 5 a.m. “If that dog happened to be near a pack of coyotes, that dog doesn’t stand a chance.”

Tilton said this has happened before, and he’s even reached out to the RCC to have them warn people.

“It’s only natural for a dog to pick up a scent and come in here,” said Tilton.

“If they were on a leash, they wouldn’t be here,” he said about dogs near his live trap, which he said is about 50 yards into his land from the town forest.

The live trap is a metal cage that drops the front door when the dog steps toward the back of it. It doesn’t wound the animal or dog, but Tilton keeps the cage shut now so no dogs are being trapped. It’s there just to deter people from letting dogs run unleashed on the property.

“I love dogs. I’ve got one of my own,” said Tilton. Someone had suggested to Tilton to get rubber pellets to shoot at the dogs and scare them away, but Tilton refused to do that.

“I don’t want to hurt dogs. It’s not the dogs’ fault,” said Tilton, and added it’s the owners who chose to let the dogs run free.

“I just plain love the land and the wildlife,” said Tilton.

After recently being away for a week and coming home to the footage of the many unleashed dogs running through his property, Tilton felt so angry he went to the Board of Selectmen’s meeting on Feb. 26 to make another plea about it.

“I’m getting up in years. I’m in very good health, but I’m not going to be here forever. It will be my determination what will happen to those 56 acres that I own today, and I can tell you right now the town of Rye is at the bottom of my list,” Tilton told them.

“We’re going in circles,” Walsh said, adding even though it’s Tilton’s property, he’s been very generous in wanting to share it.

“He doesn’t have to do that,” said Walsh.

Walsh said Tilton has been cooperative and very open to talking about the issue.

“The selectmen have heard from Mr. Tilton, the police chief, and several residents as well as residents who are against any type of leash law, and are planning to put together a committee to try to come up with some solid solutions,” said Walsh.

Joyce said he and Tilton just want to be treated respectfully and not have the issue continue.