Years back I was hunting near Marken for kudu bulls. Climbing a tree to have a look around I saw a kudu bull coming towards me. I waited till he was about 30m from the tree. He stopped and started eating from the ground, at approx a 45 degree angle facing me. His huge horns was covering the centre of his neck from my direction so I went for a neck shot from the side, but at the angle, from high above the kudu. At the shot he jumped one time forward and made a complete soumersault (spelling?) and off he went. His horntips made two furrows in the ground. This complete acrobatic jump is the strange behaviour.


Rest of story:

Two specks of blood was all to be seen. I took his spoor to find blood only after about 300 m. Tracking was now easy and after another 700m or so If ound him lying under a bush and bleeding profusely from his mouth. A side head shot finished the matter. A postmortem revealed no exit wound and no damage to any internal organs. I could also not find the bullet in his neck. I bet the bullet deflected from the neck vertebrae because of the angle and nicked and artery, passed into the oesoephagus or windpipe and into the stomach or lungs.

30-06, 180 gr Hornady Interbond at 2540 fps mv.

Measured 58 7/8 inches