Mulberry tree with lots of dead in it.

I have a large 36” or more mulberry in my back yard with lots of dead limbs. I’ve been cutting them for firewood this winter!
What do I do to try and salvage the tree?
Do I need to nub it back to where there is no dead left? There wouldn’t be much tree left! Seems the main trunk is great and I could save 5 ft or so of 4 of the large branches.

My home had been abandoned before I purchased it during a drought and I belive the drought got the tree, but I’m not really sure.

 

One that big may be nearing the end of its life span. Never pruned a mulberry so 8 don't know how it would regrow . It does make good firewood .

 

Yea I love the firewood. I hate to loose it as a tree though. It’s probably a 1976 model, that’s when the house was built.

 

A 36" DBH Mulberry is an old Mulberry. It will sprout if it has any life left in it but you will run into decay problems down the road.

 

Dead branches all over is typical of an unmaintained old mulberry. Can you post pics?

At least cut out the dead to clean it up a little. Pruning (AKA: removing the tree's food factories) doesn't "invigorate" a tree. Bad pruning can force a new flush of growth because the tree is desperately trying to re-establish new branches to grow leaves (food factories) so it doesn't starve...but that comes at a cost - it can't use its starch reserves somewhere else.