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I recently did an arduous prospecting hike on the N. Fork of the American River near Iowa Hill.  I was upriver about about 3 hrs from my truck.  I found a nice little sand spit in a steep canyon and set up my campsite.  The canyon was narrow and the afternoon breeze was picking up my little tent, so I thought to put a flat rock on the corner to anchor it.  I walked 10 ft to a rubble pile and reached down for a decent looking rock when I spotted movement out of my right eye (fortunately that's my good eye) about a foot and a half from my hand.  While my frontal cortex was trying to figure out what it was, my "lizard brain" assumed all executive function and commanded me to "get away from THAT"!  I was compelled to execute a difficult triple reverse crow hop.  Now I expect I would have garnered high marks owing to the degree of difficulty and a bonus for the colorful invective issued mid-flight, though the landing was a bit awkward, given the uneven ground and such.  In the outside world an "excited utterance" is quite prized.  It is one of the few exceptions to the "hearsay" rule in court.  It is thought that a statement made in the heat of the moment is more credible than one made after thoughtful deliberation.  With that in mind I can't be certain that this particular serpent was engaged in unseemly carnal knowledge with someone's mother, or that it had a fondness for oral sex with males, but I accused it of all this and more.  That little monster had allowed me to step over his little shelter and had lain there all the while I was setting up my little camp.  He never rattled until I was mid-flight. 

I probably run into half a dozen rattlers a year and I don't normally kill them, but this was an exception.  I just couldn't afford to share my little spit of land with a venomous serpent.  Just too risky given the distance to civilization and help.  He wedged himself into a crevice and wouldn't come out.  I decided to smoke him out with some dried brush.  Imagine trying to get that little pile lit without getting my hand near the crevice.  Got it lit and he made quite a fuss, but just wouldn't come out, so I added more wood and barbequed him place, I think.  He quieted down and I never saw a sign of him afterwards.   The next day as I was hiking up a steep ravine, I ran into his cousin.  I saw this one in plenty of time to avoid it, but it sure made a racket as I went past. 

Naturally, I was all goosey about where I was putting my hands and feet for the rest of the trip.  Saw one more dead one a few days later. 

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