I've never seen a rattler that would not leave the vicinity of a human if he had the chance and felt threatened. Cottonmouths are a whole different thing.
We were once gigging bullfrogs in a pond of ours at night, in a paddle boat. We came around a little point of land and there was a very healthy canebrake rattler in a coil .............floating in about 6 ft. of water, about 5 yards out from the bank. Never saw that before or since. I was shining and paddling and my bud was gigging. He stuck that big rattler with that gig before I knew what he was doing. Said rattler was most unhappy about the situation. Can't say I blamed him.
I go out of my way to leave them alone if they are away from where people work or inhabit. They've got a tough life. But, I make no apologies for killing rattlers and cottonmouths where they are near people.
SRH
Last edited by Stan; 06/16/18 08:05 PM.
