/Is there a route for 44.0.0.1 in your routing table?///> Not that I can see. I'm running ampr-ripd.
Probably an older version (before 2.0)? These had a hard-coded ignore of routes to 44.0.0.1 so it does not appear in your routing table, and as a result you may send traffic to 44.0.0.1 via your default route, with your public IP as source address. Then, you get replies. (whether this actually works depends on your configuration w.r.t. "ip rule" and using multiple routing tables)
Rob