You then need to dispose of the head. A neighbor chopped off the head of a small pacific rattler at his grandsons birthday party. He then reached down to grab what he thought was a harmless dead snake head. The head pulled a 180 and latched onto his wrist. He had to receive 40 doses of antivenin and barely survived.
1. Cut off the head with the edge of a shovel.
2. Beat the head to a pulp with the flat of the shovel.
3. Dig a small hole (still with the shovel) and bury it.
Or shoot it. Tiny litle hollow points.
Heh.
I kind of sympathize with the snake; he had good reason to be p!ssed off.
On a more serious note, I saw a tv show about a doc who treated snakebites out west, and he repeatedly remarked on how nasty those west coast rattlers are. They run smaller than diamondbacks and carry a more toxic and complex venom, often neurotoxic. They are more dangerous than people realize. It seems nobody bitten by any kind of rattlesnake avoids a severe penalty; they all wind up with considerably less than they started out with.
I can imagine myself thinking the same thing this guy was thinking: "well I better toss this little bastard out and away from the kids..." It's good to be reminded.