Kudu stones

[TokkieM]

Every now and then you come across something weird while hunting. Found this gallstone type clump in a old Kudu bull I shot 7 or 8 year ago. Seems that he ingested some metal which lay in his stomach for a while and the sediments of minerals attached to it,beside it is a metal piece starting to show the same sediment attachement. Anyone else seen this before on African Game. 500gr 458 Solid for scale.

 

[CAustin]

Wow!

 

[spike.t]

@hunthardsafaris i think there was something in i think magnum magazine poss late last year or beginning of this one, with a small article about something similar. it was in the small article section near the back of the mag..........it was put in by one of the regular writers who had been sent it from an old acquaintance of his who was in zambia i think.....sorry cant be more specific

 

[BRICKBURN]

Interesting little oddity.

My question: What were you doing running around in the gut? and did you have a trip to the dentist after you chewed on it?

 

[TokkieM]

@BRICKBURN we put the guts out as bait for the Bushpigs and Jackals,we break the stomach open to get the smell going a bit and this is how I found them Nothing went to waist on the farm,we just recycled a bit differently.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Plausible.
At least you were not doing a direct recycle.

 

[Wheels]

Interesting bit of info.

I doubt I will be digging for to many of those stones.

 

[Sand Rat]

Domestic cattle will ingest all kinds of metal and objects if there diet is low in mineral content. Used to be quite common and sometimes fatal, known as hardware disease. After eating old nails and rusty barb wire it could puncture the stomach and make it's way to a vital organ. With the wide use of mineral supplements today you just don't hear about it anymore, in the U.S. that is.

 

[ActionBob]

Not totally true... domestic cattle are not eating metal for the mineral content! It is accidently. Can be cronic if you have careless carpenters dropping nails or screws and they get in the feed... we go to lengths to prevent it, magnets on feeding equipment and actually give the cows a cattle magnet which is heavy enough to sit in the reticulum (one of the 4 stomachs) and will (usually) grab a nail, etc., and hold it so it is blunt and harmless. A common problem is a piece of wire in a field going through a forage harvester and getting chopped into short sharp pieces and killing several cattle. So now we have sensors on the harvesters that will slam the feedrolls to an immediate stop if metal enters. You can bet when it goes off and you have to shut down a $1500 per hour operation to pull out a shotgun shell, 3 times of course, the goose hunters will not get permission to hunt again.

I wonder if that kudu had access to hay?

 

[TokkieM]

No access to hay. Most game farms were converted from cattle,sheep,goat or crop farms,so when breaking down fences,cattle pens and other constructions used for domestic animals it is very possible that metal gets left behind. The farm was also a campsite in the days of the oxwagon and I am sure old pots and pans got left behind as well.

 

[Adrian]

I don't think the oyster farmers will be worrying too much about their 'Kudu pearl' rivals!

 

[KMG Hunting Safaris]

Tokkie,
Not the first time that I have heard of this. Never seen it personally, but speaking under correction. Is it not a calcium medium? I've heard of this before a few years ago.
Very interesting stuff. Glad you take the time to look after the dentures on your bushpigs. Ours maar have to eat bullets and all that comes with it.

 

[TokkieM]

Marius could be calcium like you say.
Off course we take care of their dentures,they have to measure up
Personally prefer some mushroom with my meat