Saw mills frequently come across lead shot in timber. Driven steel nails do
a lot of damage to the saw!!. When hunting, the majority of bullets seem to
end up in trees to no ill effect.
The injury will soon be recovered by the cambium and in a season or two
any scar will probably be gone.
Meanwhile a simple plugging with clay might be the best to avoid
infection~~ which is realistically unlikely.
Many years ago, during deep snow and hard frost, rabbits completely ring
barked every young tree in our orchard at about three feet above ground. The
gap in the bark was about nine inches. Nearly every tree survived after bark
grafts between the gaps. After five years little evidence remained.
Best Wishes
"Bradleygreig" wrote in message
...
Any advice is appreciated... I live in South-East Texas.

I have a water oak, about 12 feet tall, with a trunk circumference of
about 12
inches. It's growth is being hampered by a sweetgum tree growing next to
it
that is about 30 feet tall, with a couple of dead branches. My desire is
to
remove the sweetgum and allow the oak to grow.

The oak appears to be very healthy this spring, with vigorous growth and
bright
green leaves. My concern is that about 5 feet above the ground, where it
begins to branch out, it was inadvertently shot by a neighbor with a small
caliber, high power rifle (.223). This occured about 6 months ago, just
before
fall. The wound looks nasty, going through the center of the trunk. When
I
pulled on the water oak, I heard the faint sound of wood cracking. The
tree
still seems very healthy otherwise, however, and my question is whether or
not
I can expect the wound to heal. I definitely want to keep this tree, is
there
anything I can do to facilitate the healing?

Is it possible for this to heal and for it to be a healthy tree? Thanks
in
advance for responses.

Thanks,
Brad Greig