250 
CREATURES OF MYSTERY 
where he would find safety during all seasons of the year. 
It’s Safer to Really Know the Rattler. A reliable informant 
related this brief but tragic story of an old gentleman who was 
employed to hunt down and destroy rattlers for a large land- 
owner along the Ocmulgee River on a per capita basis. By 
chance he happened upon a veritable gold mine one day— 
twenty or more little ones not more than six or seven inches 
in length, piled upon each other in a tangled mass enjoying the 
warm sunshine of early summer. Having a 22 cal. rifle with 
him at the time he commenced picking them off one at a time, 
maneuvering about to find a favorable shooting position, finally 
stepping squarely upon the mother. This unfortunate old gen¬ 
tleman was uninformed on just one seemingly unimportant 
point, but it cost him his life. Baby rattlers are not weaned 
until they attain a length of at least twelve inches. When en¬ 
countered in numbers at such an immature age, one may rest 
assured that the mother is conveniently near, keeping a watch¬ 
ful eye over them. 
Mention has been made of the fact elsewhere that every one 
of nature’s creatures, no matter how wily, have one or more 
inherent weaknesses. It would therefore appear the part of 
wisdom for those hunting any specie to make a painstaking 
study of such weakness. When hunters located them in a 
gopher hole they often save themselves much labor by placing 
obstructions in the mouth of the hole. On the first warm, fair 
day during winter or early spring, he will come up until he 
encounters the obstruction and coil there. By marking such 
holes the hunter can return on a favorable day and bag them 
with very little effort. There is not much danger of them bur¬ 
rowing out before the first of March. 
When infested territory has been burned over during Janu¬ 
ary, February, and the early part of March, rattlers leave their 
holes, because of their barren surroundings, and will seek more 
favorable homes. On such occasions it is a simple matter to 
trail them to their new quarters. The ground being littered 
with new ashes, they make a trail which can be followed with 
ease. 
