We have rattlesnakes around here that get pretty big. Fang
is 6’4” tall and we have a photo of him holding one out
to his side (that he had killed). It’s as long as Fang is
tall. He has killed many rattlesnakes & copperheads in the
30 yrs. we have lived out here. Rattlers will warn. Coppers
do not warn. (We don’t go out of our way to kill ANYTHING
any more.) We may have to one day for food; but so far have
not.
When I was stationed at Cecil Field in Florida, they caught a rattlesnake somewhere around the airfield, and the guy was standing in the bed of a pickup holding the snake by the head, and its tail was touching the ground. Being bitten by that snake would have been like being introduced to Vlad The Impaler and his twin brother!