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Contenderizer, you are spot on about the size of Florida versus Western rattlers.
I remember three of them in particular. I saw the first of them while bowhunting in Bull Creek Management area. Good thing I was in a treestand, because the snake slithered by right under me. It had to have been six feet long and at least twelve inches in girth at the fattest part - and I'm not scared of snakes, so that's not a panicky estimate.
The second one did induce a bit of panic. I stepped over a palmetto trunk and the instant my foot hit the ground, that familiar buzz erupted. I was straddling the log and the snake, frozen in place. I slowly drew and fired my Single Six and the .22 Mag shot load straight down. The muzzle was just above my kneecap, so the range was only about a foot from its head. I leapt straight up and off to the side at the shot, and didn't dare go back to check the snake - going back is what gets people bitten.
The third snake was found and killed by a pair of bowhunters along the St Johns River west of Melbourne (probably a subdivision now...). The one hunter could lift the snake above his own head before the tail left the ground, and upon slitting it open, the snake had a three-pound swamp rabbit in its stomach. BIG snake.
I actually see very few snakes out here in Utah. They aren't really active in the hot part of the say, and the few that I have seen are good snakes, so I leave them alone. The one rattler I shot with the Jennings was along a riverbank on a trail, and there were kids nearby on that same trail. I thought that killing the thing was a safer idea than not. I just slowly eased up to it until it reacted to me and coiled. I popped it from about five feet away with one shot load.
I still carry a shot load or two along with me when hiking, usually with one in the first cylinder to come up, or up the snout of a semi-auto. Ya never know when there might be a palmetto trunk!
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