Wolves are starting to ruin what used to be an elk-hunting paradise, according to the president of the Dubois Outfitters Association.

Fritz Meyer wishes more people would take note.

While many citizens and government officials celebrate the recovery of gray wolves in the Northern Rockies, Meyer said he believes the mid-1990s federal reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone National Park was a terrible mistake from the start.

Not only has it hurt his business, he said, but it has taken a serious toll on elk herds in the Upper Wind River Valley.

"The one thing that's really been sad to a lot of us is since the reintroduction of wolves, we've seen a steady decline in our elk and moose numbers," Meyer said. "Today somebody will come up and tell you when they see a moose. In the past we used to see them everywhere."

Meyer has owned an outfitting business in Dubois for about 20 years and has been a guide for more than 30, he said. In previous years, a significant part of Meyer's business was guiding elk hunters on "antlerless" hunts.

"I would take up to about 50 antlerless elk hunters per year," Meyer said. "This year I didn't take any antlerless hunters, because no one could draw a tag. A year ago I took two."

In the past, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department would issue a large number of hunting permits for elk cows in order to thin the herds. Game and Fish has cut the number of those permits in his region because of the presence of wolves, Meyer said.

"Now the wolves are thinning the herds, and there are not many left for hunters," he said. "That hurts the whole community here, because the hunters spend money in the motels, gas stations, restaurants. And this is just one small area - it's hurting the whole state the same way."

There are no elk feedgrounds in the Dubois area because the wind-blown slopes nearby, with their exposed vegetation, are ideal spots for the elk to winter, Meyer said. But those traditional winter range spots are now the primary haunt of the wolves.

"What I've seen, personally, is that a lot of the traditional wintering grounds - and even summering grounds - where in years past we could go up see huge numbers of elk, since the wolf population has increased you don't see that any more," Meyer said. "Where we would normally see 200 or 300 elk in a day in the summertime, now we might see four or five. And they're nervous."

While the removal of the wolf from protection under the federal Endangered Species Act is a step in the right direction, Meyer said, he hopes the Game and Fish Department will take an aggressive approach to the management of the canine.

Meyer's outfitting business is inside the trophy game zone for wolves, where they will enjoy a higher level of protection than wolves outside the zone.

"It's just really sad to me that we've let this predator get this far out of control," Meyer said. "I feel it was the worst thing that has ever been done to the ungulate populations of Wyoming, and to the ranchers, as well… It's really been a bad deal."