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DARBY - An outfitter in the Bitterroot Valley is revamping his entire business approach because he says that wolves are taking a big bite out of his bottom line.

Scout Boulanger is always busy. When we stopped by on a recent day, he was loading up some of his 50 horses for a trail ride near Hamilton.

That was something he didn't do much of before because his business was all about outfitting. "Clients used to call and ask 'What's your success rate?' Now it's 'How many wolves do you have in your area?'" Boulanger explained.

He has a special use permit from the U.S. Forest Service to work as an outfitter in the West Fork of the Bitterroot, where he operated since 1998. But with the wolf numbers up, he lost 75 percent of his clients, so now he's trying to keep his operation afloat.

His seven to eight employees are now busy by offering horseback rides, trail rides and pack trips, while hoping that the outfitting numbers will return.

"An elk hunter pays $4,000 for a seven-day hunt with us. Trail rides are $40, so you can see the challenge of trying to replace lost revenue," Boulanger stated. "You lose 20 elk hunters...it's $80,000. That's a lot of camping trips and horseback rides."

Boulanger has been so concerned about the elk and deer numbers that he even wrote a letter to Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks, urging the state to close the West Fork to hunting.

"I'm shooting myself in the foot, but it's the right thing to do for the wildlife," Boulanger explained.

The move not only raised a lot of eyebrows in the Bitterroot, it also raised a lot of questions according to Boulanger.

"I got a lot of calls 'Where did you get that information? Is that true? 52 wolves per 1,000 head of elk?'. [It's] true."

He pointed out that the FWP numbers show the West Fork is 62% below population objectives. Boulanger also told us he doesn't want wolves totally wiped out, but wants some common sense used to address the issue.

"We all know they're here to stay. I view them as another predator that need to be managed and brought under control. We managed the lion. We managed the bear and the wolf are just running wild.

Boulanger filed an appeal to the U.S. Forest Service and hopes to get permission to relocate his back-country camps to other hunting areas that have better elk numbers.