I was out hunting some chukars here in southern Idaho over the weekend with a double 20 g and had some fun times. I was out in the high desert and had a few shots at some quail and then ran into a covey of chukars taking 3 of them. I then hiked up to a high ridge to look around at the beautiful site and catch my breath. I sat on a flat rock that was about 8" high and about 2 feet square on the top. After gazing around at the sites I look down at my outstretched legs to see a rattlesanke coiled and ready to strike at about 3 feet from my boots. No rattles that were heard, although the wind was blowing around 35 mph and may have hid the sound. I had my shotgun across my lap and did a backwards crab crawl of about 5 yards in approximately .000002 seconds. After rising up I looked closely at the snake to see if it indeed was a rattler and not a bull snake. Then seeing the diamond shaped head, the rattles, and watching a small strike forward my thoughts were confirmed. A 1oz load of 7 1/2's at five feet took his head off. After the heartrate returned from 200 down to a normal rate I picked up the body, which was around 3feet long, not a big snake, to cut off the rattles. AT the first touch of the knife blade to the tail the headless end turned around and coiled back up towards my hand. Even though the head was gone, thanks to those 7 1/2's, it still scared me again to fling the body away. I then went over and stood on the neck area and cut the rattles off and watch the body continue to coil around. Lesson learned: even though it was cold 50-55 and windy around 35 mph, still be mindful of what can be found in the environment you are in!!!!!!!!

Neat little story. Glad you didn't have your family jewels gnawed on (for your sake).

Last year, when cuttinv into a large gator's tail on order to put a tag on it, it whirled around as well. Interesting, as it had been dead for some time (arrowed, speared, two .357 mag rounds to head via bangstick, AND the spinal column severed with hammer and chisel (for safety). His face was taped closed too, but it sure had me, um, startled there for a sec'...

Cheers,

KG