When I was a kid, an uncle who lived out in the country had an apple tree in the back yard that produced small, sour apples that he hated. They carpeted the yard and made it impossible for him to mow.

His solution was to set a vertical steel pipe in concrete in the ground, and make a LARGE slingshot with 3-foot bands, the stem of which fit in the pipe. With lots of kids around, there were never any apples in the yard for more than a day or so, no matter how many fell.

I've often wondered, as an adult, where they eventually came down. Most went so high you just lost sight of them...