About Blue Hill Wildlife Nursery

Who we are

Blue Hill Wildlife Nursery is a Pennsylvania-based wildlife tree nursery that specializes in low-maintenance, heavy-producing soft and hard mast trees for wildlife — especially the whitetail deer. We grow and sell newly named and proven varieties of apple, crabapple, applecrab, pear, persimmon, chestnut, plum, cherry, peach, and oak trees, along with rootstock and the planting supplies needed to establish them successfully.

Our story (in Ryan’s words)

Ryan Haines started planting food plots over 20 years ago, in 1999. As he watched how deer responded to food plots, he decided to improve his hunting ground further by planting trees. When he bought his first wildlife trees, there wasn’t much quality information available, and he wasn’t happy with the results as those first plantings grew. He learned the hard way that “an apple or pear tree is not just an apple or pear tree” — there are huge differences between trees that produce the same or similar fruit.

That realization sent him searching for trees that weren’t commercially available at the time. The qualities he wanted in a wildlife tree were:

  • Abundant, annual fruit production (not every 3–4 years)
  • Fruit production at a young age
  • Good taste and strong attraction for whitetails
  • Later drop times — starting in October and beyond — so he had fruit on the ground when his neighbors’ orchards were already empty

After moving back into the original farmhouse on his family farm, Ryan found a few outstanding trees growing among the thousands of wild apples in the old fence rows around the farmstead. One of those discoveries became the tree he now calls Sweet Advent Pear™ — he still remembers the snowy December morning he found it loaded with large, sweet European pears “hanging like Christmas balls on a Christmas tree,” with amazing deer sign underneath. He knew he needed that tree at home and on all his properties.

Over the years he located and observed thousands of wild apple and pear trees from Central PA to Western NY, propagating only the very best. He has also gathered and grafted standout trees shared by other wildlife enthusiasts. Those unique finds, combined with his own, are what Blue Hill brings to the retail market today.

Our mission

We want every Blue Hill tree to:

  • Produce abundant fruit
  • Taste great and attract deer
  • Have strong disease resistance
  • Offer later drop times
  • Begin producing at a young age

Our goal is simple: help you avoid costly mistakes, establish healthy trees, and create a dependable food source that attracts deer, turkeys, and other wildlife year after year. Every tree we offer has to earn its place — if it isn’t productive, it doesn’t make the catalog.

Why “grafted”

Only through grafting can Ryan bring the exact trees he discovered — with the same taste, drop time, disease resistance, and growth characteristics — home to his properties and to you. Trees grown from seed would not grow into the same tree. (See Grafted vs. Seedling Trees for the full explanation.)