The rattler was "tag teamed", so to speak. It startled city-boy huntin' buddy Ken bigtime when it began rattling and coiled up into strike mode about 12' feet away. He sprayed and prayed at it with at least 10 rounds from his Glock 22. I had my new Glock 29 out in low ready position and was putting the safety block in my left pocket when Ken paused long enough to let the dust settle, then looked over at me.
The 5' snake still had it's head up about 12", moving it back and forth, showing us his fangs. I looked over at Ken and said "Do you want me to shoot it now?", then popped it in the head with the second shot of 135 grain screamers from Double Tap. When Ken's adreneline finally stopped pumping and he began to reload his magazine, he looked over and said "Smart ***!"
Counted 17 "rattles" on the tail, plus another bead just started. Cut it off to hang on office wall next to pheasant tailfeathers.
3 out of 4 of us had on snake boots and/or chaps. The 4'th guy (another semi-city boy) said he's going to own some before he goes out there again.
