One of my old geology professors called them buzz tails. I just call em "oh chit" cause that's the first thing that crosses your mind when you hear one or see one. If you've ever heard one you'll never forget it and if you're in a field or some such and you hear it but can't see it...Oh Chit!

I killed my first one while working on a drilling rig in Hobbs, NM. It was a big old sucker too. 5 foot or better and 3 inches through the middle. I had a shovel with me and stuck the handle end to its face so it would strike it...felt like I had hit a baseball with a bat. Bam.

One time I was doing some geology field work. Broke a piece of rock off a small ledge reached down to pick it up and saw this lightening fast flash of something come out from under the ledge then I heard that tell tell sound of buzzing tail. Lucky for me he was a bad shot or I'd have been bitten. You know what I said...yelled really, when that happened...Oh Chit! Another professor, who I guess had heard such from his brother who was bitten, hollered out...who's been hit?

We killed that bastard along with every other one I ever saw.

I witnessed some guys out on a rattle snake hunt once. There was a small "cave", or maybe it just qualified as a large ledge, they were gathered around it looking, pointing, discussing, then one belly downed and crawled in after the buzz tails. Are you fricken kidding me!

Every year they have rattle snake round ups and people come from miles around afterwards to look at the catch, buy stuff made from the snakes, and eat them in all manner of rattlesnake dishes. Now the envior's are worried about the snakes. You go out there a live with the evil bastards and maybe that'll change your mind...if it doesn't you're a bigger idiot than you look like.

As far as I'm concerned...we should kill em all.