The Only Good Snake

“The only good snake is a dead snake.” This was a commonly held belief when I was young and still holds true for many people. This is especially true of rattlesnakes.

On one of our recent evening drives, Donna, Sage (her dog), and I spotted a dead rattlesnake along a rural road. It was only a hundred yards from a farmhouse. Donna remarked, “That’s way too close for comfort for the landowner.” She had grown up on a farm, and she has no ill will toward rattlers. “But, when I was young,” she said, “we had a couple get within 50 yards of our house. Dad had to kill them for safety’s sake.”

The dead...