What started out as an evening of dove hunting turned into a night of animals to find. While hunting near a water hole, I came across a hole in the ground. I thought it might be a den for some small animal but I wasn't sure. Then I looked further in and a rattlesnake started rattling at me! It was a young Western Diamond-backed Rattlesnake. We looked at it for a while but then the dove started flying so we let him be for the night. After we finished hunting we were heading back to our car when we came upon a 4.5 foot long Gopher snake lying in a ditch all spread out. It shook its tail against the ground trying to imitate a rattlesnake. It also hissed and posed in a striking position just like a rattlesnake. And with its splotchy pattern it also can look similar to a rattlesnake which is why some people kill them just because they are scared. We put a dead dove down to see if he would eat it. He looked interested several times but just wouldn't take it. I touched it a few times but he kept turning around and hissing. But finally I was able to pick him up and he let me handle him. So my brother and I each held him and then let him climb up into a tree where he stayed as we left.
As we got on the road we soon saw a dead javelina in the middle of the road so we moved it off to the side. We had been by that road 3 hours earlier so it had just happened and probably within 2 hours. Rigor mortis hadn't set in yet so we were pretty sure it hadn't been too long. But we kept going. Just past that a ways was a dead rattler on the side of the road. It looked as if someone had already drug it to the side of the road and cut off the rattle. It was a fairly large Western Diamond-backed rattlesnake.
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