Maximizing Land Potential with Brad Farris

VIDEO SUMMARY

In this video, Brad Farris is on his family land in Mississippi, showing how he’s transforming the woods into a productive wildlife habitat—using nothing more than a chainsaw and a squirt bottle. Brad walks us through three different compartments: one he’s actively thinning, one that was improved a year ago, and another that’s next on the list.

By removing mid-story trees like beech, elm, and sweetgum, he’s opening up the canopy to let sunlight hit the forest floor—sparking growth of beneficial vegetation that deer and turkeys rely on. You’ll see the dramatic difference a year of sunlight can make and hear Brad’s strategy for placing habitat improvements near a key food plot to encourage more deer activity, especially during tough weather and the rut.

If you’re managing your own hunting property, this video is full of practical insights and simple tools that can make a big impact.

FULL TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00:00 - 00:00:17:03] Brad Farris
All right. So here's what we got going on today. I'm in Mississippi on my family place. And, as you can see behind me, this is where I'm working, you know, today getting all this stuff here just now breaking it down into getting rid of the mid story, so to speak. Right here you can see where I'm working.

[00:00:17:03 - 00:00:38:08] Brad Farris
Look at how open that is. And then right over here is what I did a year ago. Look at the sunlight. And you ought to see all the good deer and turkey habitat there. I'm going to show you three different compartments: one, two, and three. One is to my left, right here, and that's where I'm working this whole ridge. Two will be where I'm working today.

[00:00:38:11 - 00:00:55:20] Brad Farris
And three is going to be over here—what I did a year ago. And these big beech trees are probably some of the trees I'm targeting most—beech, elm, and gum. I'm actually killing those with herbicide, and some of the elm I'm not. I'm letting the stump sprout just to give more habitat and quicker response time.

[00:00:55:23 - 00:01:15:04] Brad Farris
You can just do so much with this—a chainsaw and a squirt bottle by yourself. It's actually enjoyable. Not too terribly hot today, but it sure is fun to do. One of our best food plots is about a quarter mile right south of me. I'm creating this habitat on the north, west, and southwest sides of that plot.

[00:01:15:04 - 00:01:28:12] Brad Farris
So hopefully these deer don’t have to go so far. It's not going to hold a lot of deer, but you know it may hold one a day or two if he's moving around during the rut. Just something close to this plot. We see a lot of deer here, and I'm just trying to get them closer to it.

[00:01:28:12 - 00:01:32:19] Brad Farris
Or maybe they'll come out just a touch earlier on those bad weather days.

MAXIMIZING LAND POTENTIAL: Brad Farris’s Habitat Improvement Project for Whitetail Deer and Turkeys

BRAD FARRIS | LAND AGENT

VIDEO SUMMARY

FULL TRANSCRIPT

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