That faint sound of water running in a very dry bush..

We all periodically come across rattlers. The trick (according to the fates) is to stay still until you have located the source of the rattle, and then back off. You will want in the verdant seasons to avoid tall stands of grass .. meaning one should stick to the ubiquitous cow paths that meander along the ridges or walk along the washes.

The first time I encountered a rattlesnake I was by myself. It was summer and approaching 4.30 or 5 in the morning (the best time to set off, as the temperatures soon rise). Suddenly there was a sound not unlike anything I'd ever heard before .. like water trickling over a brook, but somehow extended by the fact that it was occurring inside a vacuum cleaner. The first encounter is uncanny .. thereafter, the sound to my ears is much drier and unremarkable, but that morning it occupied the whole of the air.

I have trained two enthusiastic terriers, whose natural wont is to attack all manner of creature, to avoid rattlers. This is effected — upon sighting a rattler — by screaming full pitched and then running away. For myself, I'd be happy to hang around and look on the rattler a little bit further as their markings, as those of most deadly creatures, are quite beautiful if somewhat subtle. Subtlle in the sense that they so closely camouflage the terrain upon which they sit ..


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No one is ever bitten in this little pocket of southeastern Arizona. And rarely do people die of bites, except one unfortunate German tourist last year. The few stories of people being bitten deserve recounting. Here goes. The first concerns a fellow who, as a youth growing up in Florida, was keen on killing rattlers. Years later, on a dark moonless night, he was bit as he headed to his pick-up truck in his flip-flops. The local sentiment expressed was that this was pay-back.

The second story is better. There is an outcropping called snake hill .. basically because that is where everyone has traditionally brought their rattlers (once caught in garbage cans) to be released. Recently, many new houses have sprung up (in a fashion we call "wildcat"). Residing in one is someone who is reputed to have slaughtered up to 12 snakes over the course of the past couple of years. His most recent effort however was less than successful. The fellow was attempting to beat a snake with a long stick that kept breaking off as he struck. The last strike was of greater benefit to the snake than the attacker.