That isn't surprising that you have never seen one. Most people will likely kill them on sight, so the chances of one surviving being in even a lightly populated area is pretty slim. We are just 3/4s of a mile from the Apalachicola National Forest, and most of the houses around here are on a fair amount of land. We have a creek that runs from the national forest through the north end of our property, so that would be a natural conduit for a lot of wildlife.
Most of the rattlesnakes we have found around here have been real mellow and rarely rattle. Connie obviously surprised this one as it buzzed like crazy as it hurredly retreated into the brush. It could have turned out pretty ugly had she actually stepped on it, I'm sure. But she says it was pretty darn big, so I doubt that would have happened.
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