Picture? How big are the branches? Do you have any nearby neighbors that have a reason for wanting those branches gone? It seems very curious indeed!

Likely a porcupine.

Raccoons are a possibility. They go on a feeding round as family. They climb fruit trees and break branches because they are heavy and sometime can go in two on a branch.
I just removed my sweet&Sour cherry because it was full of cherries and disfigured by raccoon because of broken branches, big and small, as they kept coming night after night. It ws the 2nd year of this problem so I removed the mishaped tree.

Squirrels do a lot of pruning.

Porcupine! I'll bet, as it wasn't broken but "cut". Porkies can do a lot of damage, and have no problem at all climbing. Good call, Bucky.

Awesome (note the sarcasm)! Now we need to be cautious since my older dog is determined to conquer the porcupine population.... marknmt- I would have preferred a neighbor! I had NO idea that porcupines climbed trees but thinking about it, the majority of the branches are thick. UGH!

Sure they can (pick & paste)

http://www.appleman.ca/korchard/porky1.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXr7S3MbAaE

This post was edited by ottawan_z5a on Thu, Sep 5, 13 at 12:36