Dr. Ken Nordberg's Bear Hunting DVD Info

At this time, Doc has two different DVD products for bear hunters. There is a significant difference between the two so let's do a quick comparison of the two products.

Dr. Ken Nordberg's Trophy-Class Black Bear Hunting School DVDs

This is a two Disc DVD product. It has 3-1/2 hours of video. It is designed as a stand-alone product that covers Doc's most important steps for the baiting and hunting of black bears using his innovative technique, that is: hunting at close-range, from a tree stand, using a bait crib and positioning bait. These DVDs include a fire-side presentation Doc gave to his hunting school, Doc with his students in the field scouting (from 2004 and 2005), digitally scanned and remastered photos, and, it is very entertaining. This 2 disc DVD set first came out in 2009.

Dr. Ken Nordberg's Do-It-Yourself Black Bear Baiting Hunting, Fourth Edition DVD

Doc updated his bear book, Dr. Ken Nordberg's Do-It-Yourself Black Bear Baiting and Hunting (first in 2014, with his Third Edition, and then in 2017 with his Fourth Edition). They have almost exactly the same text. Their main difference is their formats. The Third Edition was made for the Apple iBook format and it includes color photos and HD video. The Fourth Edition was made for Amazon's Kindle format and it does NOT include color photos or HD video. The Fourth Edition only has small 4-inch wide black and white photos. Doc felt, rightfully so, that readers of the Fourth edition might be disappointed that they do not have the color photos and videos. So, the color photos and videos were put on a separate, optional DVD.

For the most part, the video clips in the the Third Edition ebook and the Fourth Edition DVD are much newer that the video from the bear hunting school DVDs. Doc and his son John made a beautiful bait site from scratch in 2013 and video taped every step. There are a few short video clips from the bear hunting school's scouting trips that are duplicated on the Fourth Edition DVD, but for the most part the video clips on the Fourth Edition DVD are new. For example, the key sequence of building a bear bait site from scratch is all new.

So, to recap, while the Fourth Edition DVD has better video of building a bear bait site, it does not have the fireside chat of Doc explaining his technique to his bear hunting school students. The Hunting School's 2 disc DVD set is complete by itself. The Fourth Edition ebook's DVD is only a 1 disc DVD that just has color photos and video clips. This DVD gets its value when purchased with the Fourth Edition ebook. Finally, keep in mind, Doc's bear ebooks (both the Third and Fourth Editions) go into much more detail than his bear hunting school DVDs.

Summary of Purchasing Advice

If you purchase the 2 disc bear hunting school product, you are set. You can simply sit back and watch the 2 DVDs. There is enough info there to sucessfully hunt black bears. However, the books go into much more detail. If you want more detail — and most hunters do — then you are going to want either the Third Edition or Fourth Edition of Doc's bear book. If you get the Third Edition, then do NOT purchase the Fourth edition DVD — that info is built into the Third Edition. If you get the the Fourth Edition, it is highly recommended you get the Fourth Edition DVD. The best of both worlds is to get the Buck Hunting School DVDs (just to see what Doc's schools were like, if for nothing else), AND, get either the Third Edition ebook, or the Fourth Edition ebook/DVD combo. (The reason for choosing between either the Third Edition ebook or Fourth Edition ebook/DVD combo is format only — Apple iBook vs Amazon Kindle — not content. The content is almost exactly the same.)