- Keep your distance from the snake – most rattlers will leave you alone.
- Go around the snake at a safe distance if the terrain allows. At best, rattlesnakes can strike a distance of two-thirds their total body length (this means a three-foot-long snake can snarf a bit of your leg within two feet of where they lie). Play it safe and give them a wide berth.
- If you can’t go around, throw a few small pebbles around the snake from a safe distance (this is not a squash-the-snake game, you’re just trying to get the snake to move).
- Most of the time, someone won’t be crouching behind a rock and holding the rattler like a javelin to throw at you once you pass.
- March and April are the months when the rattlers often come out of hibernation and enjoy sunning themselves on rocks. In the summer, rattlers are most active when temps hit between 80 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Late summer and early autumn are months when the rattlers gleefully slither around before hibernation.
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