Hiking in Black Gap WMA , a gigantic swath of hunting land by Big Bend in west Texas . Got about 2 ft away from a sizeable rattlesnake before it started rattling . Apparently they ' ve learned not to rattle because it makes them more vulnerable to humans . Stood there for about 23 minutes aiming my pistol loaded with snake shot at it before it slithered off . Yeah , I could have shot it but I ' m not real big on killing snakes unless I absolutely have to . Honestly looking back I probably should have just blasted it . I was about an hour and half walk uninjured walk away from my vehicle , which was in turn about 4 hours away from the nearest hospital . 2 hours drive until you get cell reception back . If I would have gotten bitten I ' m not sure I would have made it .