Believe it's a red oak, is this a goner? Damaged/Diseased area is about 18"

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Tell which side this damage is located e.g. E, W S N, SW, etc.

Does that wound face the west? How long has it looked like that? Do you see any tiny holes in the trunk?

It does face west. Not sure about tiny holes but took some close ups, I could see what looked initially like tiny black ants crawling in the diseased area, but they may be something else. It seems to have gotten exponentially worse in the last 2-3 weeks, maybe 2 months ago I noticed something going on, and then this seems to have blown up recently.

DISCLAIMER: I am not an arborist.

Looks like oak wilt or some other type of fungus. The insects may be beetles, which are a risk to spread it together trees.

https://agrilifetoday.tamu.edu/2024/02/06/texas-am-forest-services-pruning-tips-to-prevent-the-spread-of-oak-wilt/

Likely since it faces west sun scorch damaged the bark, this allowed all sorts of nasty stuff to get inside & go to work.

I'm not an arborist but an A&M horticulturist thats been in business for 20yrs. As Apache said it looks like sunscald. Most susceptible trees when young are Red Oaks, Chinese Pistache, Live Oak. The trunks need to be wrapped while young till they can develop a canopy for protection. I will defer to a licensed arborist for whether it can be treated or needs to be removed. We've sub'd out to Getth Nelson w/ Arbormasters for years.

Thanks all, appreciate the comments and insight.

TMfrisco said:

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It's done, it's just a matter of time. It will never be a thriving, well-growing tree.

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I've had trees that were worse that came back and thrived. Also lost some that weren't as bad. Best I can tell you is to pry off all the loose bark with a screwdriver, make sure it does not retain any moisture in the open wounds which increases the rot, treat the tree with anti-borer chemicals and give it some suprthrive for good measure. If the topside totally turns brown and dies it is a goner, it you have green on top it might make it.

The problem could be scalding from our summers, but more likely IMHO to be wood borders. After you take all the loose bark off look for bore holes.

Same advice for red oaks and live oaks... just my opinion based on 4-5 that made it and 4-5 that didn't over the years.