Peter--

Interesting that you mention seeing timber rattlers on your hikes. I am curious whether your dogs avoid them?

I have a friend who lives in central PA who says that they feed the birds, the rodents come to eat the bird seed, and the rattlers come to eat the rodents--and he kills the rattlers for their skins.

We see large black snakes both here in Ohio and at our place in Florida--and after the series of photos showing one eating a rattlesnake I am glad to have them around! We have a couple of dogs--and the border terrier doesn't back down--so I keep hoping none of the poisonous snakes come around when we are in Florida.

Larry