Gophers are really bad at my place, especially destructive of fruit trees and lawn grass. To protect the trees, I dig a huge hole before planting them and line it with two layers of chicken wire. This is time consuming but fully effective.
Birds also try to steal my peaches, though not other fruit. I put up a reflective tape and scarecrow this year. This has mostly worked, but one day I did see several fruits with beak marks on them.
