Hey guys,
I bought and planted this pear tree spring 2018, this spring after winter i noticed a good chunk of bark missing, probably some animal… There is only about half inch of bark left on one side thats allowing supplies to flow but still worrying me for the long run. Its still alive and looking healthy (for now ) if i look along the edges, it is healing up and callusing, making walls along the exposed wood. But having the wood exposed to the sun i am not crazy about.
I am not a fan of tar, would you guys cover the wound with anything or just let it be and hope for the best? Ive had this happen to a apple tree and about 3 years after that exposed wood is going black,cracking and tree just died. Zone 3-4 winters are not nice to my trees! 
Painting it white, the whole trunk, would be a good option.
Ya ? How come the whole trunk and not just that spot ? Jw. I havnt painted any white yet, i have only one apple variety that i should of done it a few years ago to both trees i have of that variety, they get bad sunscald every spring, both almost dead cause of it.
I have some that look like that and I keep meaning to try a bridge graft. You might consider one- I don’t think anyone on here has ever done one, or at least I’ve never seen anyone talk about it.
Here is a good example. You can skip to about 0:35 on video to save time
For me, if this was a rare super duper variety, I would clip it’s tips in due season to graft onto another tree. If it is just a common variety, it would get replaced. Money and effort spent to rehab it is not guaranteed to result in a satisfactory outcome anyway…Like the old gambler song, “You got to know when to hold’em, know when to fold 'em”. And it’s replacement might be insured with a slit cylinder guard of 1/2" hardware clothe from the ground up to the first branch. If you were a hobbyist just wanting to improve your Florence Nightingale nurse skills, you could spray a couple layers of clear coat acrylic enamel in the wound from all angles. The chemicals in it could quickly poison the surface pathogens and seal out new external visitors that float by, but infection inside the tissue would still be able to continue their battle against the tree’s internal defenses.
Curious if your tree is still ok @greenthumb21x or what you ended up doing. I’ve got a William’s Pride apple tree with trunk damage as bad as your pic (damage happened last year). The tree is still fine this year though, and has a great fruit set as well. I’m not super keen to just replace it when it’s still alive and seemingly happy enough.