[cpdiii]

My experience in the desert of West Texas (in the 60s) is much different. If in the open and no avenue of escape, they would coil and rattle. If they were in the brush they would try and get away. I did not follow them into the brush, and I have not been bitten my a rattlesnake.

I can get along with rattlesnakes, but water moccasins are bad.

[cpdiii]

bitten my a rattlesnake should read as, “bitten by a rattlesnake”

[Flycatcher]

Yes, rattlesnakes are predictably unpredictable, if that makes any sense. For the most part, they do prefer to retire from any sort of conflict, but if they feel cornered, as you pointed out, they will assume a threatening posture.

You and I are both lucky we haven't been bitten (yet). I've handled -- in the wild -- nearly 100 rattlensakes (six different species) and I look back now at my sometimes reckless behavior.

I never physically handle them now. I must be smarter. ;)

But in a wild setting, I never kill them either. I'm an old-school Conservationist with a capital C, which makes me the philosophical enemy of the socialist Environmentalist with a capital E.

[coon2000]

Water moccasins are the worst. They are mean and fearless.

[Mr Rogers]

Your experience agrees with mine. Rattlesnakes that can run away normally do, and do so quietly. If cornered, what I’ve seen is about 50:50 rattle/quiet.

On one occasion in Yellowstone, I had a large (4-5 feet) rattler that attacked our lunch site 4 times. The first three times, we took a large stick and tossed him away. The 4th time, we pinned him and killed him.

But as long as it lives at least 100 yards from my house, I don’t mind them.