No, but I've been a fruit thief a few times when I was still in my teens.

Here's a story- in 1969 I was coming onto some LSD, tripping with a buddy and we had intentionally wandered into an orchard of an estate right next to the famous surfing point in Malibu CA.

The house and the land where the extensive orchard existed was divided by the Pacific Coast HWY so we always felt like it was a pretty safe raid- not to take the fruit away but to eat our fill amongst the trees.

We were a bit distracted by the combination of of a potent psychedelic and perfect tree ripened tangerines when the caretaker stumbled on us. He yelled at us to stop and come to him but I was off in a bolt of adrenalin, making my escape.

My friend heeded his command so I left him while I hiked to a swimming hole up the canyon about a mile and waited, wondering if my friend would need to be bailed out of jail.

After about half an hour, my buddy showed up grinning with relief- the caretaker had let him go with a warning.

I don't think I ever went back to that orchard but it wasn't the last time I'd get into trouble with that particular friend.

Don't know whether to count kids.

At my previous place, I gave up growing grapes because I couldn't keep the brats out of them.

A couple 8 or 9 year old boys were raiding my raspberry patch this year - they were kind of comical peaking around the neighbor's house to see if I was in my orchard, running away when they saw me, carrying their little toy guns and one had a pirate eye patch on.
All they would have had to do was ask, and I would have shared with them like I have with some other neighborhood kids - but they would not have had as much fun ;)

I waited 2 years to try a Contender peach. Then my son in law took it to CT to plant. I bought another 3 and waited 2 more years to try it.I picked 2 the deer left and put them on the kitchen counter to try after dinner. I came in from weeding the garden to see my grand daughter with that cheshire cat smile.(she was 4) I have about 40 on the trees this year and wife said maddie wanted to pick them and hide them cause it was funny last year.

We had a lady from Tonga who loved our figs. She always walked up to help herself. One time my dad yelled at one of the kids (grandkid?) who was climbing the trees. She came down with some object in her hands and started chanting and waving it at the house. Mom said to go out and apologize so she would stop cursing our home. She also picked my flowers for her hair. She was very large and walked very slowly. She would pick anything she could reach.

When the men got landscape jobs at nearby homes, the ladies would come and spread out blankets on the lawn and picnic and watch the kids while the men worked in the trees or the yard. They loved those kids. I never saw them yell at them once. Ever. They just hugged them no matter what.

When she passed away, all her family came from everywhere even overseas to have a weeklong feast with music and singing. People even slept out on the lawn. They had bbqs going all day and sang late late into the night. She had been the matriarch of the large ( clan? family?).... anyway everyone wore traditional dress with black tribal markings on the skin. The young men wore the traditional (palm?) fiber waist wrap with modern printed t-shirts. Everyone else was 100% traditional dress.

When all the figs were gone that she could reach, I always gave bags of them to the kids to take to her. I always hid out when she walked by or she would have me getting the ladder out to pick all the rest for her. Nobody refused her anything at her house.

I once saw a yard crew strip a tangerine tree in the front yard of a client that was on vacation.

None of my trees have fruited yet, but I am not sure if Im expecting any run ins with my Apples and PawPaws. There are a few wild apple trees and a Mac tree on an adjacent street and they are right near the road and never touched as far as I can see.

They dont spray like I do, I guess wormy apples are a great deterrent.

After my trees are close to harvest, im going to stick a FAT "No Trespassing" sign out on the front yard.

Are there any deterrents that work better?

"Are there any deterrents that work better?"

Well the sign would make me look, and probably take them all out of the arrogance of it all. No sign would work a hell of a lot better. Reminds me when I had these tires, and put them out front with a "free" sign. No takers. So I put a "for sale" sign on them, and somebody stole them.

Neighbor kids come in my yard and pick fruit, which is OK with me as long as they don't abuse the privilege.

Once one of the neighborhood kids came in the yard and decided to strip a young apple tree by throwing all the apples at my young son. I was looking forward to tasting that apple for the first time that year, so it was a disappointment. That merited a "talking to" to the youngster and nothing like that has happened since.

My frankenapple is on a public boulevard - it's adjacent to our property, and we paid the sids that made it possible, and maintain it- but legally it ain't ours.

Lots of people walk by and might help themselves, but I printed signs saying "Please, Don't Pick the Fruit ... thank you very much" and hung several of them on the tree. I made a good job of it, complete with lamination and good hangers, and for the most part it does the job. One sign got partially ripped down (that hurt whoever did it!), but people have been mostly respectful. I did chase one kid off who was ignoring the sign.

Before the signs there was one woman who just drove up (according to my neighbor), jumped out of her car, and picked a grocery bag full of Prairie Spy apples. I'd waited a long while for those and I was not happy. I put up the signs right after that.

All my neighbors know about my obsession with that tree and they let me know when it's being hit on, and my next-door neighbor has stepped in for me a couple of times to chase kids off. This year I'm tempted to line harvested apples up on the curb for passersby, there are so many, but I don't want to get something started that I can't keep up with. I'll give excess to the food bank or to neighbors.

One morning,I was by my Apricot tree,checking out the the first developing fruit the tree ever had.I am basically renting and there an improvised path going by my place and the commons area where it is okay to grow some of my plants.Some people use it to get to an office park,and then to the main road,which isn't really necessary,but they do it anyway.
So,this fellow comes up behind me and says,"pick one",almost like a question,but reaches to pull one off.I immediately tell him they are not ripe yet and he leaves.
The next morning,I'm looking out a window and he is walking by and goes to the tree and tests a fruit for softness,doesn't take one but goes for a nearby Blueberry.
I then made this sign,with the aid of a Spanish speaking coworker,because I'm pretty sure that is his native tongue.The guy who helped said the Spanish is stronger,in this case, than the English I chose.It seemed to have worked.Actually,it wasn't untrue,because I did use Spinosad to help stop an insect problem.
I think a fruit grower has to almost expect someone or something to take fruit and be happy when it's not a lot. Brady

That sucks Mark, understandable, and really sad you need to put a sign up at all, but I see you do need to.
I live on a court and my fruit trees are in the backyard, and I have a big dog, so even the meter reader knocks on the door before entering.

"No tientes la fruta esta fumigada". ??????

"Don't ???? the fruit has been fumigated.

Last year, some young kids stole my pomegranates. Sad.

OK,Time to confess. Nobody around anymore(there all dead) that knows me! (I'am 83) As a junior in high school, one night I loaded my 1930 chevy 4 door up with my "Buds, told them to get the change out we need gas >15 cents a gallon. We headed for a local orchard, drove through the orchard , rolled down the windows and picked peaches from the car."We all thought it was fun then-----well it was!!!

To minimize thievery, plant a quince. Most years I find one or more discarded near the curb a distance from my tree with one bite taken.

I've seen the same phenomenon at other quince trees in the neighborhood.

weatherman,
I just looked it up on a Spanish/English translator site.It reads on there as:Do not touch(tempt) the this fumigated fruit.
It makes sense to me as probably to that joker. Brady

This year the birds stole my stone fruits.

"This year the birds stole my stone fruits."

Wow, you must have big birds! My dog keeps the birds out, he can jump over 4 feet high, has almost grabbed some in flight, just like the frisbee I train him to catch. I don't need netting for even the strawberries, Nothing is protected, and nothing has been taken.

I see my neighbor stealing some of the raspberries between the houses (kind of a shared spot). Not a big deal, as I steal some beans on my side of the fence, and she also gives me some food as well. I have gotten her addicted to blackberries!

I do grow more plants then just fruit - like castor beans, and I had to chase down some teens who a bunch. I managed to track them down - they thought it was weed, and man would they have gotten a shock when they smoked it....... I had to tell them what it was. OF course they didnt believe me. I had to use one of their phones to show them the differences. Ive had cops stop and ask what it was as well.

Stolen fruit from my orchard? Nope, taken right out of my house. Was about to make applesauce the other day. My apples are all measured out and ready to be peeled. As a pal of mine and her children dropped in to say hello. They all wanted to see the orchard and pick raspberries. No problem. I said 'fine follow me out to the orchard'. Not looking back until we reach the orchard, I see both hands of my good friend and her children are filled with apples from the kitchen. Oh well, apple crisp instead! I was in a good mood! Mrs. G

Since relatives apparently count, I will tell you DH ate some late blueberries 2 years ago, during a bad blueberry year. I had gotten some from my great-uncle because we didn't have ANY on our bushes (rain and the bees weren't out to pollinate?). I was going to make jam, but didn't have enough left after he ate a whole PINT. So I mixed in some wild blackberries and came up with "Black and Blue" jam - won a blue ribbon at the fair!

"So I mixed in some wild blackberries and came up with "Black and Blue" jam - won a blue ribbon at the fair!"

Awesome and a great mix. I made wild backberry with mulberry and with kiwi. The Kiwi is better. Well both are pretty good! A sweet and a tart fruit make the best jams. Try the kiwi! I grow both blackberry and blueberries, so for sure I will try it. I foraged the wild ones. i also forage red and black raspberries. Mixed together the jam is awesome! I also grow black, red, and yellow raspberries, but the wild ones are still awesome!
Here's the wild raspberries...

"Wow, you must have big birds!"

It was the Mojave desert finches, they are small but ferocious---they will destroy an entire crop in just one week.

I'll probably have to train my chihuahua because my cat is just to spoiled to catch a bird. I had two cats that did scared the birds away from the trees but they are gone, I don't know what happened to them---probably a coyote killed them.

They tried to steal my pomegranates again. Luckly we catch them before they got inside our yard.