Looking for a combination of short & long term fruit trees for deer & bear. I'm thinking Apples, Pears, Persimmons, & Fig (?) trees. We can't bait in VA so this is the next best thing. Any types of Apples or Pears in particular? Any other trees I should consider planting?

well all fruit tree's will draw animals, BUT unless your willing to do some REAL sturdy structores around all these tree's, your NOT going tio be happy once they make fruit there first yr IF that

deer will EAT fruit tree's when there small, and browse the crap out of them enough to kill em

bears will break branches and or just pull them down

there is a LOT more to growing fruit tree' ion bear country than just planting them, you have to take major steps till there REALLY old(30+ yrs) as even then they will climb them and walk out on thin branches and break them

I have 70+ yr old apple tree's and I see 300-450+ lb bears walking out on 4 inch thick limbs like tree monkeys> it amazes me it holds them and they can walk like they do on them

have a look over here, and see all the complaints about bears and fruit tree's LOL

electric fence and sturdy fence is an almost MUST have , pending bear and deer numbers in your area!

and also, make sure you plant enough of each to ensure you get male and female tree's , expect a good 15% loss that DON"T take as well!

if you have enough land, planting CORN might be your better option!
join the National turkey federation, and you can get discount bags of corn seeds for about 40 bucks a bag to plant 3+ acres! round up ready too!
that will draw bears and deer and produce a TON more food in the process!
work every yr to plant, but?? if you plant fruit trees's TOO< it might help save some from damages! allowing them to eat other things!

Thanks mrbb - this is for a mountain property w/ only about an acre of cleared land w/ moderate + sunlight to play with. A food plot is out of the question due to logistics of equipment & rocky ground so that's why I was thinking trees...

tree can be planted, but they again will need protection, check into the hybrid fruit tree's they have today, many make fruit in a LOT shorter time than traditional tree's
that link I gave you above, has a ton of smart guys with tree info for wildlife

its worth joining to get good info from the many super wise folks there with fruit tree's

My farm is in Va, and I have bears and a ton of deer. Deer love to eat young apple trees, so protection is a must. What I’m about to say will not stop a bear, but works great for deer. Buy a roll of concrete reenforcing wire...the stuff that is typically imbedded in concrete. Using bolt cutters cut off the bottom horizontal wire so u have spikes sticking straight down. Figure out how big of a circle you want to make to go around the tree, mine are probably 6 feet in diameter and cut the roll vertically, in the middle of the section that gets u to the diameter u have decided on. Go around the tree, sticking the bottoms spikes in the dirt and when you close the loop use the vertical spikes (where u cut the roll off) to bend them and close the circle. These things last for years, if u avoid hitting them with your tractor mower that is... I have over 40 fruit trees, many of which are apples with pears, peaches and plums mixed in. These wire rings have protected all of them from deer. A bear will tear through just about anything other than an electric fence, but I’ve not had that problem.

As for Apple trees, it’s essential you make sure your trees cross pollinate each other. Just because two trees are different (advice u might get at a Home Depot or Lowe’s) does not mean they are good for cross pollination. There are genetic reasons behind this, as well as blossom timing. So before you buy make sure u purchase trees that pollinate each other. Another thing that’s worth doing is looking into crab apple trees and mixing them into your orchard. I believe they are all (biggest word in the dictionary...) self pollinating and many are great pollinators for regular apple trees. Dolgo, Transcendent and American crab apples fit this category. A mix is nice because they fruit at different times, as well.

I’ve purchased my trees from Century Farm in Reidsville NC. The guy who runs it is great and he will give you great advice on trees to plant together so pollination isn’t a problem. They are mostly old southern type apples and the trees I’ve purchased from him have done really well. In fact, I haven’t lost one and after 4 years I got my first apple crop this year (I knocked apples off last year so the trees focused on growth vs. fruit production).

I hope this helps.