Thanks everyone! It was a bit startling for a NH couple who've never seen one of them rattle things!
We went last night again to pull the camera, straight in and out, no snakes, just lots of cool antelope pictures :-) We just took our hiking poles and smacked all the bushes and rock piles we had to walk past.
I'm from Texas Born and Bread, lived here all my life. We do have big serious snakes here, though thigh size s a little bit of a stretch. I've seen 'em big around as my forearm but I haven't see a python in a zoo big around as my thighs.
But our snakes are truly dangerous if you step on one or get too close, so I do exactly as you describe, I beat the grass and every where I walk if the ground isn't clear to walk on. And to say a snake would rather get away from you, well that may be true, but it doesn't always happen like that. Some times the snake doesn't know you're there until you're almost on top of him. If you get close to a 6 foot snake he can strike out at least 3 feet. If he's a foot and a half off a trail and you startle him he can strike at you and give you a bad bite. Snake leggings to the hip are the way to go, especially where there there are snakes known to be five-six feet long. and a snake that big is going to inject a lot of venom if he bites you.
