Rattlesnake encounter

This is my Uncle Kent holding a rattlesnake he killed on his property near Valley Mills, Texas. My wife, two small children, and I were with Uncle Kent when he noticed this little fella stretched out on the road. Kent carefully straddled the snake and tried to cut its head off with a pair of pruners, but the snake coiled up and tried to strike, so I handed Kent a shovel, and he beat the viper to death. His policy on rattlesnakes is kill first and ask questions later. My friend David would agree with that approach; he unwittingly stepped over a monster rattlesnake on the adjacent JBG Ranch a couple of years ago. The snake wasn't too happy about being disturbed and made a beeline for me (or my wife, depending on who you ask) before deciding to slither off into the brush. That feller was about four times the size of the one shown here.