Author: Chris

Good Morning Happy Campers, welcome to March! Each day we inch toward spring, the sun is warmer and higher and the end of Winter is near! Not soon enough for us here, and as I write, another bitter morning and at -15 F at 8:45 a.m.

We, like everyone else, are so eager to get the pandemic under control and gain some sense of normalcy. I do understand the borders being closed, but I also wonder why their has an continues to be free travel of any goods across the border here in northern North Dakota? Frustrating as today, which is Sunday, there will be a steady stream of cattle trailers out of Manitoba to Rugby, North Dakota for weekly cattle sales. It does seem odd that they are allowed to come into the US, you mean that cattle sales are essential, what don’t we have any beef in the USA?

On a somber note, CeCe was killed last week by someone from the area. When I came back from Bottineau someone had killed her and layed her body in my driveway in a pool of blood. If you know me, I was and am deeply angered that anyone would do this. The anger burns deep inside of Magoo and I, and we worked last Saturday taking CeCe to the island on Gravel Lake. Last spring I built a campsite on the island and CeCe was layed to rest their and her ashes will forever be part of Gravel Lake. Tina, CeCe’s sister and lone survivor, went along and watched the proceedings. So now Tina will hunt mice alone and there is no doubt that CeCe and Tina would have raised holy hell with the Mice of Happy Camp. Watching the 2 of them work together in our compound trying to catch birds was fascinating to say the least and sadly they will not hunt together at Happy Camp.

I need to ask all of you, why is there so much hate and anger in our country? Why do so few people seem to care for anyone else except themselves? Times certainly have changed and each day Magoo, Tina and I walk this world we will laugh with each other. Magoo is snoring on the floor, Tina is in her hut and I at the computer looking for more coffee.

So as I end this bit, I hear maybe the end of summer will come a time to ease up on the border, keep our fingers crossed it is much sooner, but I sure wish I had Cattle!

Take care and keep in touch!!

Hi Happy Campers.  We lost another good one over the weekend.  Doug Rogers left us over the weekend, and while we are saddened by his loss, his pain is over and hopefully where he is now there is lots of sunshine! 

Doug was the morning host of Frog Country and then WTCH Radio in Clintonville where I was born and raised.  Well before Happy Camp I listened to Doug and he brought many laughs and smiles to our faces.  As with far too many these days, Doug was taken way too soon and will not be forgotten. 

How could we forget one whom yelled HOLY COW when Happy Camp Bear Hunt was trying to solve trivia and phoned in many times.  As luck would have it we finally did win and wouldn’t you know it, we won a Gift certificate to the Hungry Bear Restaurant!! 

We tried so hard to fill the void after your chats with the Memory mall in Nichols from Happy Camp, but luck was not in the cards for this to happen.

Many mornings everything would stop while Doug was on the air.  Usually it would start at 7 am with the news then Trivia.  Later, out in North Dakota, Doug woke me everyday as Alexa chimes in at 6 am with WTCH.  Although each day still I am woke with WTCH, it is nor will it ever be the same without you Doug!  

So Doug, from Frog Country and his move to WTCH, Morning Trivia, you calling a ballgame or so much more, you always brought a smile to my face and later to the faces of the Happy Camp Crew.  I remember a whole host of folks sipping coffee as we tried to get Trivia correct.

Thank you so much for that, your laughs, smiles and wit were second to none!

I believe we become who we are by some of the lives of others that touch us.  You, my friend, have touched us and all are better for knowing you, and until we meet again, God’s speed.  

I heard earlier today that God had built this huge hotel and how your room is full Doug, but perhaps down the hall you see Dad, Mike, Grandma’s and Grandpa’s, Tom, Shadow, Buster and all the family, friends, pawed and hooved friends who have gone before. please leave the light on for us to share a laugh at a later date! 

With that said Happy Campers, it is time to go to the wilderness in Northern North Dakota with my right hand girl Miss Magoo to look for peace and sanity in this insanity.  Take care and keep in touch.

As I look at the site, I look into Shadow’s Spirit! I gaze into those big brown eyes and tears come to my face. Oh my Shadow I remember the days you and I romped all over the place. The spirit you brought me, the desire to please me and me please you was second to none! To have you at my side for as long as I did I was truly blessed, thank you!

In front of me is an aging wonderful companion in Magoo. Her paws are running now as she dreams, hopefully of one of our adventures. As you know, each adventure is special in its own right. Magoo’s face is greying like Shadows and her spirit is while very similar to yours, it is truly unique. One day, hopefully not soon, the 2 of you will meet and have many adventures but save some for all of us, 10-4 OLD BUDDY!!

So each of you leave your imprint not only on my heart, but also on my spirit. I can only hope that others lucky enough to have such best friends like I have been blessed with have imprints left on their heart and spirit like I, god bless my pawed friends we call the DOG!

Good Day Happy Campers! What a whirlwind we live in, it certainly is interesting to say the least. As we try to move forward in every facet of our lives, from Covid to Peace, Winter and much, much more, I can only say one word to me that encompasses it all, Respect!

If all of us have respect starting with ourselves from within and then everything around us, the world will become a much nice, better place again. Sure we can not turn back time, but we all can do our part, as little as it is, to help shape this change. It doesn’t matter if you are Canadian, US, Black, White, Native, Asian, Man, woman, child, dog, cat or Guinea Pig, we all have a place in this world! So, how about taking a huge breathe of fresh air, exhale and start with you. After all, it all starts with just one, doesn’t it!

So life on the northern Prairie goes on, day to day. Magoo and I have been fishing, and actually had a fresh fish fry last week, ooh it was so good. Nothing like Happy Camp, but was tasty never the less. We did use a batter called Andy’s, it was in a small reddish bag and created a little Kick to the taste.

Late yesterday Magoo and I went out for a romp on the prairie and although the Pheasant season is over with, Magoo certainly flushed them up. She flushed about 10 birds, some nice Roosters and then on the way out a bunch of Hungarian Partridges flushed, that certainly created a release of Methane, WOW!

As we look to 2021, we certainly hope to be up at HCO and see some of you and be once again in the bush, and can not wait for the adventures. From Jamies, “Best Place in the World”, to romping on Shadow Island, playing in the BMA, and taking the girls for a swim or as Sadie says, a “Paw Dip”, in their favorite pool, it will all bring a smile not only to our faces but to our hearts for we go north to heal and the Happy Camp Wilderness certainly heals me, that is for certain!

I did hear tell of a Wolf pack in the area, that certainly would be worth trying to hunt not soon enough don’t you think? Also, the girls say it is time, so lets all do our part, take care of ourselves and ones around us, and come and catch the good life with us at Happy Camp Ontario!!

Finally, to the Packers, you put on a hell of a show last week, we can’t wait for the encore, Go Pack Go! Take care everyone.

Good Morning, Happy New Year and a New Beginning! Hi everyone from Fog filled northern North Dakota, Catfish Chris here with a brief update, welcome to 2021 everyone. We hope you are hanging in there looking forward to this year. While it will take time to put this behind us, we hope the pandemic will slow down and allow some “normalcy” to return. Our fingers are crossed in hopes of that.

We ended 2020 in our bubble and are hopeful to get out one last weekend to Bird hunt. Southwest of here there is a nice winter group of Canada Geese that are always a challenge so the plan is to head there once the fog lifts and roads get less slippery. So if the plan works out, I will be plucking a couple Geese tonight, time will tell.

Alexa wakes me each day with the sounds of WTCH, a radio station coming from Shawano, Wisconsin. This is the sounds that I was raised on and they play much older music, some good, some bad. I very seldom listen to the song, but as I put coffee together, this song came on and I heard the words. I didn’t just listen, but actually heard the words. The sweet sounds of Charlie Pride help, but the words actually make sense to Pay it Forward. Sad so say, not enough of this in the world today, never enough.

So as I end this bit, I wish you all a pleasant day, and a great start to 2021. We do hope to see many of you this year, shoot me an email or call to book your spot in the great Canadian Wilderness. Below are a couple links to the song and another in memory of my Dad who we lost way too soon, miss you Dad!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Hi everyone, the holidays are soon upon us! Actually 2020 seems like such a blur and while when we turn the page to 2021, one would hope that we can put Covid behind us, but as we all know this is hardly the case.

2020 will mark the first time I will not be with my family for Christmas, Magoo and I will be isolated in northern North Dakota. I would hope that you are spending your holidays with whom you live with and follow the guidelines to hopefully slow this soon and get Happy Camp going in 2021!

I hope all of you are being safe, healthy and doing all you can to cope with the Covid and resist the urge to grab your cup of Covid and spread your Holiday Uncheer with others. 2020 was a mess, like the narrator in Rudolph holding his umbrella during the blizzard, then saying brrrr in hopes it was over, we could only hope, right?

As you know, we continue to try to get Bear hunt area closer to Happy Camp, but Wawa MNR has turned us down again stating there are too many bear harvested in our zone 21B. With that said, one only knows how the Moose season will shake out too? So for now, we have our same bear area and hope for the best, we shall see how mother nature dealt with the Bear area when we are able to get north.

News from south of the border, not too much. We still teach virtually with no end in sight. Waterfowl hunting ended way too soon, ice up came around October 15th, only 2 months before the end of the season. Sure it warmed a bit, but no migration from the north happened, so Magoo and I are going to the Missouri River. Hunting honkers is ok, still a few days left in that, but not the same as your home turf. Pheasant, Hungarian Partridge and Sharptails have been seen and harvested, but there’s nothing like the ducks, Magoo and I agree!

We did see a Snowy Owl perched on top of a fence post today, have not seen one of those in years, so cool! As of this writing, we are getting some snow, but only a few inches are on the ground. Locals are ice fishing, but far too warm for us, we shall see what the next few weeks bring.

As we close 2020 and look to the future, all of us hope you are looking forward to Happy Camp as much as we are. For 2021, our prices will remain the same as listed on our site. Should you want to make a reservation, shoot us an email at getthenet@wi-net.com or phone me in the states at (715)-630-4444. We look forward to hearing from and seeing all of you real soon!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year Happy Campers!

Good Morning Moose hunters, soon the Hillsport bush will have you there in search of Bullwinkle. It is our hope that you have a fantastic time, the weather, food, drink and stories are great, you enjoy the wilderness, perhaps see some Moose, Grouse and other critters along the way.

We wish you all the Best of Luck in your escapades, wish we were there to share the stories, but not to be as we work to keep Covid at bay.

Be safe, take care and have fun everyone! Hope to see you in 2021. Time will tell.

Hi everyone. It is with deep sadness that I am posting that we have lost one of our fellow Moose hunters, Tom Boucher. Tom passed away earlier today after a lengthy illness.

Tom was part of the Seagull Crew which were one of the first to ever come to Happy Camp and Moose hunt. Tom always had a smile on his face, a fresh biscuit for Magoo and truly a class act and Tom was more of a friend than a customer, so sad to see him go.

Perhaps Tom is sitting along Thomas Lake Road watching for the Great Eternal Bull Moose, shoot straight Tom!

To Tom’s family, especially Brian, please remember you are in our hearts and prayers, and the light will always be on for you at Happy Camp or wherever I am!

Below is Tom with the crew, Tom is the hunter in the far right, behind the long bearded fellow known as Seagull, one of Tom’s buddies!

So as 2020 Moose hunt is upon us, I would hope Happy Camp Moose hunters would raise a glass in honor of Tom. Thanks Tom for a lot of good times and God’s Speed.

Hi everyone, it is the end of August and Fall is just around the corner! Here on the northern Prairie of North Dakota, this morning Magoo and I awoke to a balmy 38 degrees. To Happy Campers whom don’t know, this is about 2 Celcius!

September is coming in quickly and with that more thoughts of hunting come around. We sorely missed all of the Bear hunt, but perhaps 2021 will be a banner year. If any of you have thoughts of giving this a try, shoot me a message or phone me. Soon the moose hunt will begin. It has been way too long for me to catch up with all the old hunters and some new, but you all are simply the best. I do hear that Seagull is doing ok and that brought back eating the Moose Tongue and his famous Spaghetti! If Dan, Paul or the Bouche’s remember, his sauce was second to none! Take care Seagull.

As we are on the prairie, I do need to update all of you that Magoo seems to being on the mend after her surgeries. She is walking pretty good, running some and getting ready for the hunt, she deserves a long, great hunt after the last few years on her knees. The other morning while walking on the prairie, a small flock of Honkers flew over, and to see Magoo’s head spin, watch and follow them as they went by, simply priceless. As they flew off in the distance, Magoo look back like saying, “What the hell man, shoot them, I need feathers in my mouth, what is wrong with you!”

Not much else to tell except we miss Happy Camp, the lakes, wilderness and all of you! As the sun is shining here, I can imagine the beach, waves crashing into the shore of White Otter and in the distance the train making its hoot through the woods.

Enjoy your hunt everyone, be safe, take care and we hope to to see you once again in 2021!

Good Morning Happy Camp Bear Hunters, the day has come and passed for our 2020 Bear Hunt! Sadly this will mark the first time in 10 years we are not out in the BMA after Bears. It certainly is a huge change, we have tried everything to divert the thoughts of the hunt, but none have worked! We know that Donna is missing the Bear hunt and all of you too as she made a slideshow with clips from the BMA, brings back many memories of the years. Hopefully 2021 will start new memories with all of you and that can not come soon enough!

Last night on opening night, I watched the sun go down and waited for the nighthawks to appear, but none have come. August 15th is their first day for the migration, has been for years, and they are not around, what is up with that? As for other items, leaves are starting to show signs of fall coming around. Last week I took Mom up to her land near Saxon and signs of Fall have arrived there. While it was really hot, almost 90, it was nice to smell the forest, but not like Happy Camp!

With fall upon us, Magoo is getting ready to hunt and chase birds. Although her recovery has been long and extensive, I hope she can romp and play like a few years ago. She did have to meet a new vet in the northwoods as she had some ear issues, but that seems to be all taken care of. Along with that, we are starting to see Algae Bloom and if you see that do not let your dogs go into as it can be lethal.

Enjoy what you can away from Bear Camp hunters and look forward to 2021 when we will start new memories! Take care and Be Safe!