The most interesting deflection I've seen occurred with a 250-grain Nosler Partition on a bull eland 20 years ago. Had been chasing (sometimes literally running) after three bulls with my PH for a while, when suddenly one of the bulls was standing broadside, feeding, about 200 yards away. The one problem was that a scrawny little thorn-branch, no thicker than my little finger, was right in front of the pocket right behind the bull's shoulder. But I knew I couldn't hit the branch with a box of ammo, so aimed at it, and when the reticle steadied down a little, shot.
The bull immediately disappeared behind some nearby brush, but we'd heard the bullet-thump and seen dust fly from the right spots. In fact, the PH turned and shook my hand heartily. We waited a little while, then followed up--finding the bull still standing, but head down after 100 yards or so. I quickly shot again, and the bull dropped.
When we walked up, there were two bullet holes, one round hole in the center of the lungs (the second shot) and one perfect silhouette of a 250-grain Nosler Partition, surrounded by little swirls in the fine hair, where the thorn-branch had actually been whipped against the bull's body by the bullet.
Don't know how far the sideways Partition penetrated. It didn't exit (wouldn't have expected it to), while the point-on second shot did. Would have really liked to recover it, but between the two bullets the chest cavity was pretty torn up, and the first was never found.
