Apple Trees

So I learned the hard way that deer REALLY like apple trees. They like apples, they like the leaves, they like the bark, they like everything about these trees. Also, they aren't the gentle creatures from the Disney movies. The first picture is one of our apple trees which made it unscathed until I got the fence up around it. The second picture is of an apple tree that used to be the same size as the other one. We got these trees on sale outside of a Kroger for $3 each. We put them in the ground late in the Spring as a $6 gamble, long after we should have planted them. By the time I got the fences up two weeks later it was out of necessity to save them. Clearly, I should have made building the fences a priority. I cut off the damaged branches just above a promising looking bud and am hoping that they rebound. One is a Mollie's Delicious, the other is a Fuji. Not sure which one is which since I mixed up the tags at one point. Not my proudest project to date, but it'll be fun finding out which one is which if they make it to maturity.