When I was a boy we had lots of timber rattlers around. There was a den on the hillside above our hose and in the spring and fall they would be going or coming at the den area. I killed a few in the yard with the mower and shot a few too; something I would never do today because their numbers have declined. In the late 1960's when I was away in the navy some yahoos came in and found the den and put dynamite in it. Now, rattler sightings are few. There are still a few crushed in the area roads but nothing like it was when I was growing up. Back then we never went through thick ferns or berry picking without a lot of care. They are beautiful reptiles, especially the yellow and black ones.
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