I also live in snake territory, two hours south of Valerie. We just removed a mojave rattler from my front yard last week. Our new 1.5 year old cow dogs found it at 9 pm in the dark by my barn and barked, but thankfully had sense enough to not get near it. It never rattled and was coiled flat when we reached it, looked very much like a cow pie. Three and a half feet long and darker colored than others I have seen, usually they are green or yellowish. It never moved and I kept a flashlight light on it while my husband went and got our thick gloves, the snake stick and bucket. He removes them from the airport runway and facilities where he works on a military base and they have a no kill policy so they catch and release, as we did, in the dark. We have a professional snake stick, it’s got a special flat tip that does not harm the snake and is nice and long and we used a five gallon lidded bucket to contain and transport. Also I was a professional herpetologist (and I like snakes) so both of us know how to handle poisonous snakes but what we did I would not recommend to other folks less experienced. We drove ten miles out to a remote location and released the rattler. It still never rattled until we put it in the bucket. That was the melloist mojave I’ve ever seen, usually they have a short temper.
I hiked the entire Arizona trail last year in August SOBO. Did not see one rattler in 800 miles, but I was very very paranoid about it as I was in a hiking skirt and in chaco sandals half of the time. Since I am solo I am hyper aware of my foot placement and always tap the other side of logs and rocks before going over them. And the vegetation was hugely overgrown for much of the trail due to heavy rains. I always pitch my hiking poles ahead in stride pushing the grass and plants aside, but at a fast pace it’s a crap shoot. I tread not hard but just hard enough to warn snakes I’m coming, since their main sensory tools are vibration detection so perhaps my pole tapping and footfalls warn them. One way to be more aware is that if you see their prey, like lizards and small critters, there’s a good chance there is a snake in that area. Also water, everybody needs it, is a good place to find rattlers. Trails that are ledges that face south are also good places to find rattlers and southwestern slopes in the mornings and afternoon. Once while hiking, my husband accidentally cornered one, another mojave, which did strike at him and hit his jeans, a glancing blow thank goodness and he jumped off the trail away as it struck. That one did not rattle either before striking, I think the snake was just as surprised as Tim was. This is a yellow phase of Mojave, the one that struck at him.
On my PCT hike this year I saw four rattlers, none of them rattled. All were crossing the trail just trying to get out of the way and minding their own business, but not rattling was kind of scary, no warning at all. By the way, we have some of the rarest and toxic rattlers in the world here on top of the mountains, above 7,000 feet and they have been known to come out to sun themselves in cold weather so we have to watch out for them also when most snakes are denned up. They are on the protected and endangered lists, they are Banded Rock rattlers and the Willard rattler. Both subspecies are small rattlers, rarely getting over two feet and the rock rattlers are brownish purple with moss green spots/diamonds and blend in well with the rocks here, and the Willard is colored exactly like fall orange oak leaves, reminds me of the eastern copperheads. They love to hang out near agave plants, where the young agaves grow in clusters on rock piles, so if you are ever in the Huachuca mountains watch for them. They rarely rattle also and if they do it sounds like a bug buzzing.
