When I was about 10 or 12 years old, my dad told me if I ever saw a black rattler to leave it alone. Well, I was in my 50s on the river in Kimberly when I saw one.

It was very hot. I decided to lean against my truck. For some reason I looked down at the ground. Two feet away from my feet, I couldn’t believe my eyes, for there was a black rattlesnake. My four banty chicks were following that snake.

I started to leap onto my truck, but if I missed I would have landed on that snake. My everything stopped, until it passed.

That snake was pure black, no markings. I learned from a friend if you kill a rattlesnake its mate comes looking. I’ve seen it twice. That black rattler may have been looking for its mate, because we had killed a snake right there.

Are black rattlesnakes more venomous, more agile? I do not know. Those banty chicks knew something.

J. Haynes

Mt. Vernon