I grew up in West Texas. Dove season was also, rattlesnake time. We would come across one or more, every year. A 20 Ga load of 6s took care of the problem.
Only 2 episodes of anyone coming close to getting bit.
Dad walked by a big mesquite and seen a huge rattler, just as struck. It never rattled, just struck. Dad jumped back and shot his 870, point blank. The snake hit the side of boot, just above the sole, on the ball of his foot. The leather looked like it had been sliced by a razor and threads of his sock pulled through.
The load of high brass 16ga didn't make the snake very happy.
The 2nd episode was early turkey season. We were headed out, just before daylight. 5 of us in an old mail carrier DJ-5 Jeep.
I was first to get out. Standing in the ranch road, watching the Jeep drive off. Waiting for the sky to light up enough to see the trail. My stand was 150 yards up the trail. The sun finally peaked over the plateau and I started up the trail. About halfway to the stand, I'm 2 steps from a scrub cedar and see the rattler stretched out in the sun, under the cedar. The rattler coiled and rattled. I am standing there, 5 foot from a coiled rattled with a scoped rifle in hand. I slowly sling the rifle and draw the 1911 .22LR on my hip. I start shooting and snake is writhing. 1 in the barrel and 10 more in the mag. I soon run empty. Hit the mag release and ram another mag in. Continue shooting, the snake rolling. Mag empty, drop it and put in 3rd mag. Empty it and take a box of shells from my pouch. Trying to load a mag, I am dropping shells, all round.
I hear an engine shine and see the Jeep flying up the trail. The night before, we had seen a group of 16 illegals, all men, skylights on a plateau, behind our camp. The Jeep was coming to see if I had started a war. LoL
We were looking at the rattler, looking like Swiss cheese. Took a stick and draped the snake over the hood of the Jeep. It drooped down the hubs on both ends. We could count 29 bullet holes.
I quit shaking about 2 hours later
We had a dove and duck lease, down on the Gulf Coast, we called Cottonmouth Central.
The first season, 3 of us, shot 29 cottonmouths, in Sept.
We walked very slow and were very careful before sitting down.
After the 2nd year, se decided we didn't want to hunt there, anymore.
Funny, because we bagged our limit, or very near, of duck and geese, every time we hunted.
Never had another lease with that kind of success.
Here in Oklahoma, rattlers are a problem during dove and squirrel season, but copperheads are encountered more often. The creeks and lakes have cottonmouths, but the tend to try and stay away from you. Copperheads will chase you.
