It may have something to do with how often someone sees various critters, I can't imagine mistaking a rattler for a stick.
Perhaps he was stoned and that’s why he thought the snake was a stick.
Back in college we were working in the desert and got a truck stuck in a wash. As we went to find sticks to shove under the tires in the loose sand my last comment was “Don’t pick up a rattler thinking it’s a stick!”
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I turned from the truck and saw a good-sized stick 20 feet away. After a few more steps I realized it was a rattler laid out in the sun! (But agreed - I figured it out before I tried to pick it up).