Two possibilities.

Get some "deer corn" from a feed store and place it where they will do no damage. My grand daughters have a tree house and I built bird and squirrel feeders on nearby trees so they could feel like they were out of the city. They also put out yarn and cloth strips for the birds to put into their nests but I did see squirels carrying this also.

If this fails then go to a feed store or Home depot in the gardening section with the chemicals you will find large green or yellow cylinders about 1 inch in diameter and 1.5 inches long with a hole through the middle just nail these about 4 ft off the ground and replace when gone until the squirrel population is controlled. Last year I had a bumper crop I counted 8 to 12 in my trees several times and 5 was the normal number. They dug up everything within 3 ft of the trunks. After a week of the spools I was down to 3 squirrels and I could tolerate the small amount of damage that they did.

Put the spools where any dogs will not be able to get to any remains, at some point small pieces will fall to the ground but these are usually eaten by the squirrels.

Bill

Two possibilities.

Get some "deer corn" from a feed store and place it where they will do no damage. My grand daughters have a tree house and I built bird and squirrel feeders on nearby trees so they could feel like they were out of the city. They also put out yarn and cloth strips for the birds to put into their nests but I did see squirels carrying this also.

If this fails then go to a feed store or Home depot in the gardening section with the chemicals you will find large green or yellow cylinders about 1 inch in diameter and 1.5 inches long with a hole through the middle just nail these about 4 ft off the ground and replace when gone until the squirrel population is controlled. Last year I had a bumper crop I counted 8 to 12 in my trees several times and 5 was the normal number. They dug up everything within 3 ft of the trunks. After a week of the spools I was down to 3 squirrels and I could tolerate the small amount of damage that they did.

Put the spools where any dogs will not be able to get to any remains, at some point small pieces will fall to the ground but these are usually eaten by the squirrels.

Bill

Two possibilities.

Get some "deer corn" from a feed store and place it where they will do no damage. My grand daughters have a tree house and I built bird and squirrel feeders on nearby trees so they could feel like they were out of the city. They also put out yarn and cloth strips for the birds to put into their nests but I did see squirels carrying this also.

If this fails then go to a feed store or Home depot in the gardening section with the chemicals you will find large green or yellow cylinders about 1 inch in diameter and 1.5 inches long with a hole through the middle just nail these about 4 ft off the ground and replace when gone until the squirrel population is controlled. Last year I had a bumper crop I counted 8 to 12 in my trees several times and 5 was the normal number. They dug up everything within 3 ft of the trunks. After a week of the spools I was down to 3 squirrels and I could tolerate the small amount of damage that they did.

Put the spools where any dogs will not be able to get to any remains, at some point small pieces will fall to the ground but these are usually eaten by the squirrels.

Bill

Haven't had any squirrels in mine....only squirrel ever in our immediate area, got transported out by the HOA gestapo, who branded him a "digger of flower beds".....which to be perfectly honest, I consider nonsense.

However, the tree is very capable of taking care of itself, as when I planted mine, my 2 pups liked to play games on opposite sides of one of them, and they gnawed the bark through, all the way around it. After they got older, I cut away the dead trunk, and then shaped new growth from the roots, so it grew as vertical as possible, and now it has grown completely up over the cut off, and you would never know it had been damaged so severely.

I have large Chinquapin Oak also and live in Dallas and am having the same problem. Squirrels are bark stripping and even girdling on 3 - 5 in. branches..I've lost 7-8 limbs already. Can you share with me any solutions you have found? Thanks

I wonder if you could spray the bark in the canopy with a cayenne pepper and soap solution to make it not so tasty. Do not overspray the leaves as this could possibly burn them. Doing it in the late hour just as sunset should minmize this potential. Just a thought. The soap is more of a sticker to keep the cayenne pepper on the bark. You may need to do a few times over a month but I would expect them to move to easier less hot options by then.

I would guess like your arborist's that they can survive this but it could take years to undo the look and shape problems from this kind of damage.
Good Luck and Happy Growing David

They are very damaging when building their nest and other activities. I know a guy that shoots them with a airgun. He lives in town but he is a good shot. They have taken out some of my rare potted plants. Needless to say I aim for them when I drive.