Misshapen apple "trees"

Here is my tree with ugliness issues!  The tree has 2 varieties.  The main trunk (to the right in pic. Ugly_1) is a winter apple.  That gets very large (Wolf River?) and the other is a "cow dung" apple from my family homestead (we don't know the exact variety).   I had to lop off the central leader of the trunk on the right side because it died from Japanese beetle damage 2 years ago.  I had put netting over the entire tree this past summer to protect it from further Japanese beetle damage.  I didn't realize how much it influenced branch growth.  So, what kind of pruning to do to correct the shape of the trees?   See pictures attached. Thanks, Bill  

That is freaky.

If it was me, I'd leave it. Nature knows what she's doing. Less work for you, more work for mother nature.

https://permies.com/t/11230/

j

You've got the beginnings of a decent scaffold structure there. Shorten those main branches by about 2/3 and get rid of the vertical leaders. As new growth comes out, knock off most of the leaders while they're still soft and that will encourage the tree to fill out.

I got a little anxious and did cut back some of the crossing over and rubbing vertical growth.  I just don't want to over-prune as I have a bad habit of doing!   I'll see what other comments I get.  So warm here today, but it is not going to last.  Too warm, too soon.

I had to read your post a couple of times...so it is the netting that has made the tree mis-shaped? Are you going to have to net it again to protect it from the beetles? maybe you need a taller cage to keep the netting ​off the tree this year.
Generally the harder you prune a tree, the more vigorously it will grow back....I would tidy the stub of the trunk on the right so that it is almost flush with the top branch. Stubs like that (at least in my climate) tend to die back and can start disease. I tend to agree with Phil and would cut most of the wiggly growth away. If you're nervous, tie bits of coloured string round the branches first to help visualise what will be left

I don’t know if they would like the spot or not, but Salix ericocephala or Missouri river willow grows all over near me, and because the Japanese beetles like them better than almost anything else (they are not bitter) they are not really a problem for me. Their leaves are also edible (as the beetles will tell you) and don’t taste bad. But maybe they wouldn’t be a good choice for the drier climate.