Flintknapper
Member
Around here, early bow season & squirrel season we have rattlers & copperheads, but their
numbers are dropping.
I never kill a rattler but copperheads are very aggressive on occasion so they don't get a pass.
My Grandfather was a Warden here back in the 40's thru early 60's & I went with him to catch
rattlers quite a lot. I would only be guessing as to the purpose but he never killed them, he sent
them somewhere like for venom research or something. I do remember one time I went with him
to clean out a rattler den that had shown up beside a local lake.
They were huge or I was to small back then but I haven't seen any that size any more.
I think the rattlers are beautiful but the copperheads beauty is diminished by it's aggression.
The rattlesnakes you have (Virginia) should be Timber/Canebrake Rattlers and they DO in fact get very large. So you are probably remembering them correctly. They are one of the more docile rattlers (as rattlesnakes go). I'd wager you are much more likely to be bitten by a Copperhead if in close proximity to either.
I don't know what it is about Copperheads that seems to make them (most) so quick to bite. Perhaps their relatively small size makes them feel vulnerable and therefor more apt to act aggressively. Who knows.