Raber Bay Outfitters

05/30/2026

05/22/2026

Upper Peninsula families and sportsmen have had enough. Wolf numbers have exploded while our deer and moose populations are taking a beating. It’s time to restore balance to our forests and protect our hunting heritage.

I introduced legislation this week that would require the DNR to establish a science-based wolf hunting and trapping season within 90 days of the gray wolf being delisted from the federal Endangered Species Act.

The wolf management plan is already in place and the wolf advisory council has met. We can act quickly once management is returned to the state. It's not the only thing impacting our herds, but predation is a massive place to start.

Our kids and grandkids deserve healthy, huntable game populations.

05/15/2026

I hearing a lot of people complaining that the NRC did not listen to the hunters in the U.P. Many of us were against the one buck rule and contacted the NRC to tell them that. Most exclusively UP sportsmen organizations were against the one buck rule and killing more does so the process did work. My feelings were that nothing being talked about would help. What regulates the U.P. Deer herd is winter weather and predators wolves in particular. Let’s say the one buck rule would save 1500 bucks a year not a significant amount.
Now the real problem the average wolf population (not the lowball amount) is probably between 1400 and 1500 so let’s just say 1450 on page 39 of the Michigan wolf plan it says one wolf will kill between 37-50 deer per year. So let’s lowball that number to 25. 25x1450=36,250 deer killed by wolves each year plus bears, plus coyotes, plus bobcats, plus Eagles and now even mountian lions. Are you starting to get the picture what the real problem is? And we haven’t even including winter severity yet. Until we address these problems nothing will change.

04/22/2026

Straits Area Sportsmen’s Club

Over 400,000 License hunters in Michigan did not vote in the 2024 election and you can bet that every anti-hunter did vote. We must get every hunter in Michigan to vote. To many people now days say I am just one vote well that one vote will cancel out the vote of an anti-hunter. Hunter numbers are down 37% since 2013. What we are asking is to get as many hunters registered to vote and vote. The anti-hunters are at every NRC meeting and show up at many legislative sessions our voice is at the ballot box! VOTE!

02/06/2026

From late January through February, Burbot begin spawning by gathering together in writhing, rolling clusters of fish, usually on shallow sand or gravel flats near deeper water.

They spawn at night, often in complete darkness, with multiple fish intertwining in a rolling motion and releasing eggs and milt simultaneously.

Burbot are the only freshwater fish in North America that spawn in mid‑winter.

Tagging studies show burbot return to the same shoals, reefs, or river mouths every winter!

02/05/2026

House OKs Ending Deer Baiting Ban in Lower Michigan
https://wgrd.com/mi-deer-baiting-ban-lift/