On May 23, 7:36 pm, "Mike O" wrote:
I have a large, mature oak tree, about 40 feet tall, the trunk is about 3
feet thick at the base. The tree appears healthy, but there are a number
(about 10) dead branches near the bottom of the tree. The largest of these
branches is about 2 inches where it exits the trunk, although most are
around 1 inch. They have no leaves on them at all and they smaller shoots
break easily. Also, most also have very blunt cut ends where it looks like
they were pruned years ago (by the previous homeowner). By far, most of the
tree is fine, with very full, green leaves.

I'd like to remove these dead branches, but I'm not sure when is the best
time of the year to do this...

Dead of that size is immaterial when it is removed.

Major pruning is best in fall or very early spring, but dead is
already dead and certainly anything less than 5-6" is of no concern at
all.