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Last year my wife and I took her sister and bro-in-law from England on a trip out west. I was careful to inform them that virtually everywhere we went was rattlesnake territory. My bro-in-law had thought they weren't very dangerous. I told him they were very dangerous. I may have overdid it, but I wanted to make sure they were careful where they walked and where they stuck their hands.

And in reality, there are very few states that don't have rattlesnakes. My own area, the hill country of western Wisconsin, is or used to be one of the best (or worst) rattlesnake areas in the country. But despite hiking the bluffs of the area a lot when I was younger, I never saw one rattlesnake. I only once came across a dead one while hiking in a state park when I was older.

But one time on a nature hike with a nationally known snake expert, the expert walked up to a boulder on a hillside, stuck his snake under the rock, and pulled out two rattlesnakes. Then I knew that all the time I was hiking those bluffs as a child, the snakes were hiding under the boulders.

My brother and I used to kill rattlesnakes with machetes back in the ‘60s when we were teenagers. Killed and skinned quite a few and once even ate one (tastes like chicken :)).

On one occasion back then I was out hunting rabbits with my Remington Nylon 66. It was a cold drizzly day with heavy overcast and as I was stalking a likely bush I stepped on a coiled rattler. I could feel the spongy feeling under my boot and stepped back and shot it in the head. Just then a rabbit broke from the bush and I pulled the trigger again hitting the rabbit in the neck. A rattlesnake and rabbit, all in one moment.

Lucky for me it was cold and the snake was sluggish or it would have gotten me for sure.

We hunted in South Texas for years and saw/killed a lot of rattlesnakes. I shot one with my deer rifle and it blew the snake up in the air. I have killed lots of snakes but that was my only rattler. I hate snakes!