Mistletoe in pinoak

It’s not good for a tree, but I’ve seen thousands of them with bushels of mistletoe growing all over them (visible in winter when leaves fall off the tree), but I’ve never known a tree to die from it. There are several such mistletoe laden trees in my neighborhood, and they’ve been that way for 20+ years.

The only way I know to get rid of it is hire one of those tree service monkey guys who climb up in there with a tiny chainsaw to thin the interior of the crown.

We did that as kids. You knock hunks of it out, but I don’t recall ever getting the entire growth, including where it attached to the tree.

it will eventually lead to the tree's death

I used to shoot it out of oaks around my place in middle of nowhere NWLA. Helped keep my aim sharp as I used my grandad's .22 bolt action with open sights (I basically learned to shoot with the same rifle around age 6). Even .22lr ammo ain't cheap anymore though.